Madeline Smith keeps getting a ghost-like visit from Jon Barnett. She doesnt believe in ghosts but he wont leave her alone. He keeps asking for help. He's been injured and stuck in a well just outside of Taurin Bay. She doesn't want to get involved, she isn't about to fall into a CIRCLE OF FIRE, not again.

With the astral persuasion comes the truth that 16 teenagers have gone missing from that area. They were all stolen from their homes without a trace, now those missing include her nephew, Evan. Madeline travels to the rescue both Jon and her nephew. She promised her sister she would find her nephew and Jon knowing the dangers tries to send her back home to safety.

Almost immediately Maddie finds herself in a strange new world where nothing is what it seems to be, not even Jon. A world she is a part of, yet untrained. They have so much more in common than either would imagine. He's a shifter investigator with the Damask Circle and she can call fire and has visions. A match made in magic?

CIRCLE OF FIRE throws you into the action immediately and keeps the fast pace going all the way to the end. Maddie had retreated to isolation in fear after a fire started by her kills her abusive husband but breaks free of the fear to try to rescue a stranger and her nephew. Jon is an investigator to the bone, protective yet at times hostile. It's as if his heart isn't allowed to become involved though in this case he can't stop it.

Author Keri Arthur has a way of creating magical beings that make you believe they are real and has you involved in their lives. My one complaint is the way this book ended; it is one that is not a favorite of mine, though a number of authors use this method. I guess because I prefer my forever after to be immediate not have long separations. I do understand the reason Ms. Arthur did it this way. It is an easy way to tie up all the lose ends to a storyline. One note that might come in handy... this is a reprint from Aug. 2001.