Review: Touching Smoke by Airicka Phoenix

Title: Touching Smoke

Author: Airicka Phoenix

Source: eARC from author for review

Estimated Release Date: July 31st

goodreads...

“What am I?”

“Mine… always!”

This summer… their love will annihilate the world!

For sixteen-year-old FALLON BRAEDEN, being haunted was just another day in the life of a gypsy, like being on the run had always been a closely guarded secret her mother would have happily taken to the grave… if her past hadn’t caught with them. 

But when Fallon is stalked by fire-throwing demons, nearly killed by rebel mutants and finds a soul mate she can never have, even her normally unusual life is thrown into a tangled web of love, lies and betrayal.

As worlds collide, secrets unfold and blood is spilt, Fallon comes to several unsettling revelations: she’s not entirely human, her creator has a bounty on her head and the only one who can save her is the one person she has to keep at arm’s length or risk destroying the world for.

My take...

Fallon is just an average girl who travels with her mother in thier old Impala. Sure it's not a typical life for a young girl of 16, but she loves it and loves being with her mother. Every so often they stick around somewhere long enough so her mother can get a little bit of traveling cash. And during that time, her mom puts Fallon up in some prestigious private school with the money her dad left her when he died. Fallon was just a little girl when it happened so she doesn’t know much about him.

One day everything changes when her mother runs a mysterious motorcyclist off the road. Something deep inside her mourns for this man that she has never even met. And soon life becomes increasingly weirder; earthquakes happen, men who can throw fireballs emerge, and Mr. Motorcycle is there at every turn. What’s next for Fallon? Who are these strangers seeking her out? And who will she trust at her lowest point?

Man o’ man, this book was packed full of action at every turn. I was drinking in everything this book had to offer: the romance, the action, the plot. Loved it all! Like Fallon thought at one time in the story, I assumed I had another vampire story in my hands. But I was way off. Airicka Phoenix gives us a great story full of everything a good book should contain and I am now hooked on this author.

I just adored these young characters too. I loved Isaiah and his fierce need to protect Fallon. Fallon was a great character as well. She had this strong need to protect Isaiah just as much. From the start of the book we watch her grow from an awkward girl…into a strong young woman. She faces chaos and loss and comes out kicking. Even when all the cards of their future are laid out before them (and it’s not looking good)…I am still holding out hope for these two. I look forward to the next book in the series, praying I am right, praying they get a happy ending.

If you are a YA romance junky like me, Touching Smoke is just what you are looking for. Enjoy a little fighting action to keep your interest? Touching Smoke has that too. Fans of Kelley Armstrong’s Darkest Power’s series will absolutely fall for Touching Smoke.

         Swoonworthy line….

“What am I?” I whispered, my eyelids already drooping in the promises of sleep.

   If at any point I doubted that he felt half of what I felt, he pressed his lips to my ear, and whispered, “Mine. Always.”