Review: Fire in You by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance
Series: Wait for You #6
Publisher: Self Published
Source: Libby (My Library app)

From the # 1 New York Times and International bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout writing as J.Lynn, comes a richly moving story about heartbreak and guilt, second chances and hope. Full of familiar, fan-favorite characters and no two people more deserving of a happy ending, Fire In You will burn bright beyond the last page…
Jillian Lima’s whole world was destroyed in a span of a few hours. The same night her childhood love, Brock ‘the Beast’ Mitchell, broke her heart, her life was irrevocably altered by the hand of a stranger with a gun. It takes six years to slowly glue together the shattered pieces of her life, but Jillian is finally ready to stop existing in a past full of pain and regret. She takes a job at her father’s martial arts Academy and she’s going out on her first date since a failed relationship that was more yuck than yum. Jillian is determined to start living.
She just never expected Brock to be a part of her life again. But he’s firmly back in her life before she knows it, and not only is he older, he’s impossibly more handsome, more teasing and more everything. And when he sees Jillian, he’s no longer capable of thinking of her as the little girl who was his shadow growing up or the daughter of the man who gave him a second chance at life. He sees the woman who’d always been there for him, the one person who believed in him no matter what.
Brock knows she’s the one he should’ve made his, and what begins as a tentative friendship quickly turns to red-hot chemistry that sparks a flame that burns brighter than lust. Falling for Brock again risks more than her heart, because when the past sorrow-filled and guilt-ridden past resurfaces, and a web of lies threatens to rip them apart, the fallout could lay waste to everything they’ve fought to build together, and destroy the dreams of those they care most about.

A little backstory… our main characters, Jillian and Brock, grew up together and were essentially inseparable, the best of friends! However, when tragedy strikes, Jillian cuts Brock out of her life and embarks on a miserable, tasteless life where she isn’t really living for six years. The agony only ends when she’s conned into working for Brock at her father’s company, and they become “friends”. Notice quotation marks. He’s actually wooing her but she’s completely oblivious and it’s adorable.

GAH this book was so freaking cute!!! <3

Not to mention the amount of fangirling I did over Jillian’s fangirling!!! It’s so awesome to read about someone who is like you, and bookish characters are my favorite. She loves the Black Dagger Brotherhood, even named her cat after Rhage….so many awesome things that had me “eeeek!”-ing while reading :) All she needed was a Hamilton reference and I would have immediately asked why JLA was stalking me because Jillian is so obviously me ;) LOL

I think I already mentioned what a yummy hot guy Brock is. What a hunk :P

Brock’s wooing of her was pretty cute…especially because she was completely oblivious to it all. He brought her lattes and munchies, and delivered her lunch… gah!! I want a Brock in my life :)

I feel you, girl.

One aspect I really liked was Rhage, the cat, not the badass vampire from Lover Eternal. This cat has more arrogance and attitude and pompous-ness in his little paw than an entire class of high school boys. I loved how she made Rhage a character of his own, and he added his own brand of loveliness to the story. Every character needs her animal sidekick!!

I think you get that I ADORED Jillian’s characterization, but her growth through the book was truly fun to experience. I did find the ending a bit abrupt for my taste…I feel like this book would have been SOOOO much satisfying it was more substantial. It had so much potential for a longer story, and I was disappointed that JLA kept with her theme of shorter romances for this series. Their relationship had so much more room to grow and I was disappointed to see it stop so abruptly and prematurely. Other than a few other loose ends that I thought needed to be tied up, I LOVED IT!! JLA is Queen of the adorable couple and adorable romance, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.

If she could take the adorably sweet, slow-burn romance from her Lux series and apply it to her contemporary style, I think she would be dynamite in the book world: absolutely unstoppable.

Have you read a JLA book? What are your favorite second-chance or office romances? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!