Sunfire
Edited by Lynne Connolly

e-Book Review by Lisabet Sarai

I have always thought that telepathy was one of the sexiest notions around. What could be more thrilling than sharing your lover's thoughts while you are making love?  There is no fumbling, no misunderstandings, no miscommunication, only the perfect synchrony of desire and fulfillment.  To be simultaneously linked in body and in mind must be the peak experience, especially when your partner is not only the object of your desire but also your soulmate.

Lynne Connolly's paranormal romance Sunfire gives readers a heady dose of this experience. Aidan Hawthorne, aka Splinter, plays lead guitar for the up-and-coming rock band Pure Wildfire. He is also a shapeshifter whose alternate form is a firebird -- and not just any firebird, but the unique and revered phoenix. When he encounters Corinne Westfall, eldest daughter of the band's ruthless but successful manager, he is irresistibly drawn to her despite all the reasons for avoiding her. She is doubly enthralled by him, seduced by his honesty, respect and lust for her while also living out her fantasies of sleazy liaisons with his public rock god personna.

Corinne's father has used mind-magic to compel her and her bitchy half-sisters Paige and Ashley to perform and make money for him. Aidan frees Corinne from her father's evil influence even as he pretends to serve John Westfall's plans by taking her on as backup player in the band. Corinne, a classical guitarist whose artistic talents have been warped by her father's marketing, finds new excitement creating music with Pure Wildfire. For the first time, she enjoys being part of a group of musicians seeking to perfect their art.  She and Aidan become closer with each overwhelming sexual encounter, though her desire for freedom and her suspicion of Aidan's psychic abilities are obstacles to their complete union. When she witnesses Aidan's transformation from his man- to his bird-self, she flees in terror, but returns after Ryan, another band member, reveals that all of the Pure Wildfire musicians are shapeshifters.

Corinne and Aidan battle her powerful and malicious father as well as an organization of fanatics determined to wipe out the abnormally gifted shapeshifters and their ilk. Each of them makes sacrifices for their love, which rises reborn from the pyre of sorrow.

One of Aidan's paranormal abilities is thought-reading and transmission, and it turns out that Corinne is sensitive also. Thus, Sunfire is replete with incandescent sex scenes made almost unbearably exciting and intimate by the mental communication between the two lovers. The sex doesn't get old; every time Aidan and Corinne make love, the experience further cements their bond.

Possibly even more intense, though, are the wonderful scenes on-stage. For Pure Wildfire, playing together, making music, sensing the energy of the crowd, amplifying it and feeding it back, is as intoxicating as sex. The concert scenes are like orgies, without the physical contact but with heightened mental and emotional connections.  Ms. Connolly does an impressive job of conveying the emotions of the band, their interplay, the excitement of being part of a creative whole made up of talented individuals depending on and caring about each other. I have the feeling that all bands, even those composed of mere mortals, share something of this experience of effortless communication and artistic union, when they are at the height of their powers.

Sunfire is a satisfying, romantic read. I did find myself wishing that Ms. Connolly done more to elaborate the mythos and backstory of the shapeshifters. She suggests that they assume the forms of many different animals, but for some reason all of the band members seem to be birds. I felt as though she missed some opportunities for evoking wonder and awe—the scene in which the phoenix immolates himself in front of a community of shapeshifters is far less involving than the concert scenes. The shapeshifters' story also seemed somewhat confusing and conflicted. At one point she tells us that Aidan and the other members of Pure Wildfire are genetically related (hence the fact that they share their paranormal abilities), which in another section Aidan informs Corinne that Ryan, the eldest band member, found him, sheltered him and brought his up as a kind of foster brother. The phoenix rises immediately from the ashes of his predecessor, but at the same time can be reborn as a human child, only assuming his fated role at puberty. I had difficulty making sense of this.

Perhaps I read the book too quickly and misunderstood the details. I consumed it in a single sitting, while on a flight between Asia and North America. I kept telling myself that I should shut down the computer and get some rest, but I found that I couldn't do it—not until I had finished the tale. This is despite the fact that I knew Sunfire was a romance and was almost certain to end happily.

I guess this fact may be as strong a recommendation of Sunfire as I can provide.

Lisabet Sarai
May/June 2008

Sunfire by Lynne Connolly
(Ellora's Cave, 2008; ISBN: 9781419914386)
Available at: Ellora's Cave

About the Author: Lisabet Sarai has been writing ever since she learned how to hold a pencil. She is the author of three erotic novels, Raw Silk, Incognito, and Ruby's Rules; co-editor, with S.F. Mayfair, of the anthology Sacred Exchange  (Blue Moon); and editor of Cream, the Best of the Erotica Readers & Writers Association. 
Visit her website, Lisabet Sarai's Fantasy Factory for more information and samples of her writing.
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