Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite

Playing with Fire by Cris and Clare Meyers is Volume 1 of the Criminal Elements Series. Renee Devereaux is a bit of a loner; she is also a thief who has plenty to hide and doesn’t trust anyone. Stone Anders is a mercenary for hire, but he isn’t finding it as thrilling as it used to be. While Renee and Stone may be criminals, they are not common criminals. They are what is known as Talents with supernatural powers, and this puts them ahead of the game in a job that carries the highest of stakes. Things begin to go wrong when they take on a job that could give them the chance for revenge for a previous job that went wrong but, this time, they may just have bitten off even more than they can chew. Retrieving a magical artifact before it falls into the wrong hands puts them in the way of others, and things could be about to go horribly wrong.

Playing with Fire (Criminal Elements Series Volume 1) by Cris and Clare Meyers is something very different. It’s an action-packed paranormal mystery with a little romance thrown in for good measure and plenty of suspense at the same time. This is an incredibly strong story, an edge-of-your-seat tale that you won’t want to put down. The plot is unique and very cleverly woven, with each of the main protagonists melding into the storyline seamlessly. The characters are very well developed and, although this is a paranormal tale, the way it is written makes you believe it could truly happen – maybe it does, who knows! It draws you in and holds on, pulling you into the tale, into each scene, and only lets go when the story is done. I am so glad that there will be more books in this series and I truly look forward to reading them. It makes a refreshing change to read something so different and so well-written.