Elementally Yours, Playing With Fire
Leanne Will
New Concepts Publishing [link to buy]
ISBN 978-1-60394-463-2

Rating: 3 out of 5 paddles

Playing with Fire was an interesting read, even if it stretched the bounds of belief in places. It is the story of Willow, who was born sometime in the 10th century, and who keeps coming back to life after her body spontaneously combusts.

In the modern era, her body is found by fireman Marcus Bennington in a burned out warehouse-but she herself is not burned at all. He manages to bring her out, then goes to the morgue to talk to the undertaker about why the body is not charred.

Instead of the undertaker, he is confronted by a beautiful woman wrapped in a sheet-the same woman he pulled from the building. He hides her from the coroner and takes her home with him.

This is where I started having trouble with reality. He simply accepts that she came through the fire unscathed, and takes her home and makes love to her.

Willow herself has no idea why she lives her life over and over, but she has learned to deal with it, inventing a young cousin or niece to inherit all her property and leaving it to them in a will for whenever she does die. Because she was 23 when she originally died of the plague (about 300 years before the actual bubonic plague hit), whenever she regenerates, it is in that same form. She can then claim her property as her own relation.

It turns out that this time, she was murdered and she and Marcus, assisted by his lifelong friends Beth and Zach, must find a way to deal with the killer. In the meantime, she and Marcus fall in love and continue to enjoy their love making.