The Fire Within

I really had high hopes for this one. First impression was that this was beautifully written in the way that all the words came together and the mental pictures those words conjured. This was the first half of the book.
The first half of the book centered on Nuria and the tests she had to take to finally become a full fledged Phoenix. She would always be a Phoenix but her final test would allow her to get her wings. She had a love interest but I felt uneasy with him. I wasn't always sure about the authenticity of any connection that could be there. The second half of the book, Nuria had received her wings and booked it out of her realm and into the human one. She landed in Illinois and most of the second half was spent in Chicago. I know it was a book but I live in Chicago and this didn't feel like Chicago. Farmers Market in the middle of Downtown? Where? This is minor. My biggest pete peeve was how disjointed I felt the second half of the book was. It felt like too much was going on and things jumped around and I didn't get the same flow at all from the first half of the book. It felt as if things happened just to happen and just to have action scenes in it. I welcome action but it was the flow. Just like the first half of the book, I didn't trust the second love interest the entire time either.

I will definitely pick up more books from the author because I liked her style initially. It was there the second half of the book but just disjointed/rushed a bit. So, yes, I want to give it a go again and see if the other books are a bit more fleshed out.