REVIEW: Lit Fuse (Nashville's Finest #0.5)

Lit Fuse (Nashville's Finest #0.5), by Caisey Quinn
Publish Date: January 31, 2017
Publisher: Intermix
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 5 STARS

(Synopsis) When Chase Fisk enrolled in the United States Army, it was mostly to escape a dead- end job working with his alcoholic father. The military provided him with a sense of belonging, and his brothers in arms became the family he never thought he’d have. He’s ready to embrace his promotion to Commanding Officer over a group of new explosive tech recruits—but he isn’t ready for her.

Vivian Brooks grew up in a military family and is unlike any woman Chase has ever met. The recently enlisted recruit is beautiful, tenacious, and as steady with her hands as any EOD technician he’s ever seen. She tempts him in every way possible, challenging him at all turns and taunting him with a body that haunts his waking moments and most of his sleeping ones. But as their forbidden romance could threaten their careers if it’s discovered, Vivian’s buried secrets threaten to destroy them both.

Holy. Smokes.

What an explosive beginning to this new series by Caisey Quinn. Seriously - it was ON FIRE. Okay. I'll stop. 

But, explosions definitely play a big part in Lit Fuse. Chase is a Corporal in the Army. He's an expert in bombs and explosives, and he's training a new class of recruits on how to not get blown up. Vivian is an Army brat who's all grown up and ready to make her own path. One steamy hook-up with a stranger, though, and she's questioning everything.

Chase Fisk could burn her alive and reduce her to ashes. He'd lit the fuse that night and now was a ticking time bomb waiting to detonate. Needing to explode. Soon. The blast wave could destroy them both, destroy their careers, their common sense. 

I can't even believe this was a novella. It didn't read like a novella. It didn't feel like one. Chase and Vivian's story was complicated and messy and had build-up and backstory and chemistry and sex. Lots of hot, hot sex. It was this delicious forbidden romance that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, wondering if they were going to be found out. 

But, the craziest thing about Lit Fuse is that, you're thinking this whole time that the Chase and Vivian's story is going to be about one thing, and then at the very end, you realize that it's actually going to be about something completely different and totally unexpected. The cliffhanger ending will leave you breathless and wondering what in the heck is going on. And it will definitely leave you begging for the next book, which will be Chase and Vivian's full-length novel. 

If Lit Fuse is any indication of how Caisey Quinn's new series is going to go, it's sure to be completely amazing.