Arizona fire chief Brant is a three hundred-year-old phoenix with a woman problem. His girlfriend Phoebe has a strange problem with fire-things, including brushwood, the oven, and even her house-tend to spontaneously combust or burst into flames at odd moments. Phoebe is a salamander who can't control her fire powers, something that causes her great embarrassment.

Both Brant and Phoebe believe the other to be a normal human, and it takes an almost-catastrophe for them to decide to give up their immortality and become human. But their parents aren't happy with this decision, and Brant's father and Phoebe's mother are soon hot-footing it to Arizona to stop their wayward children. The two single parents meet on the plane and it's love at first sight. Now all they have to do is convince Brant and Phoebe that they should remain as a phoenix and a salamander and become true mates.

Scorcher is a short, sizzling novella that packs a lot of heat. I loved the idea of a phoenix and a salamander getting together, and Phoebe especially is a great character, full of tongue-in-cheek humour and sassiness. There's lots of steamy sex scenes here, and Celia Kyle excels at turning up the temperature on the pages. There are some laugh-out-loud moments, particularly when the parents get involved and start lusting after one another. Scorcher is a really fun read for when you're in the mood for something extra spicy.

Reviewed by: Maija