I pulled an all-nighter to finish this book, and I was doing Wiggles of Happy the entire time. I found myself alarming my cat by squealing incoherently as I turned pages.

What we have here is a brilliant gaslamp (steampunk but fantasy instead of sci-fi) reinterpretation of Beauty and the Beast. Rosalind Hawkins is left destitute by the death of her father, and has to travel across the country to take a tutoring job offered by the mysterious Jason Cameron. When she arrives she discovers that there are no children for her to tutor, and instead she will be translating old magic books for Jason because he has suffered a debilitating injury and is unable to read them himself.

Rose is a marvelous heroine, feminine and intelligent and vulnerable and resourceful. Jason is fascinating too, mysterious and larger than life, and undeniably sexy despite (or because of) his realistic flaws. The story is written mostly in third-person from Rose's point of view, but some sections switch to Jason's or Jason's secretary, Paul du Mond's. It was jarring the first few times, but I discovered that it allows the characters to plot individually and for us to know what's being planned without the characters knowing. The plot delivered on every promise it made, but using the plans characters made that were at odds, I never knew who was going to come out on top. There was a perfect blend of romance, mystery, and action.

The Fire Rose was immensely satisfying, detailed, and an utter joy to read. It is the first of Lackey's Elemental Masters series, all of which feature reinterpreted fairy tales in the same time period and system of magic, but not the same protagonists. I'd love to hear more about Rose and Jason, but I'm also looking forward to book 2, The Serpent's Shadow. ( )

A great retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast and we also learn something about Elemental Masters who figure into a recent series by Lackey. Everything I've read by Mercedes lackey I've liked and this book was no exception. Recommended for Lackey's fans and for anyone who likes fairy tales revisited.

Enjoyable with a very likeable heroine. ( )

I'll be honest, I love Mercedes Lackey. I started with her 500 Kingdoms series, and thought the bridge to the Elemental Masters series would be a natural one. I was definitely right.

This book is a marvelous retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Lackey takes the original story and gives it her own twist to make it a beautiful story and an impressive way of intertwining magic with America's own past. Whether you are a Lackey fan or not, pick this one up. Trust me. ( )

A reasonable enjoyable read. I didn't much care for some of the characters in the book, especially Paul du Mond. The chapters meant to show how evil the bad guys are drag more than I would have liked, but since I know other books in the series (especially The Gates of Sleep) are more to my liking, it was worth it to see this one through to the end. ( )