I met Mirren at Supanova Sydney in 2018, and along with several other authors we swapped books with each other. Being unfamiliar with Mirren’s works, I asked her to pick one I might enjoy. She handed me Crimson Fire.
The cover has a romance feel, featuring a young woman holding what looks like a bedsheet around herself. While romance is involved, the story’s not based around Tabia’s romances and certainly doesn’t follow standard romance conventions. It’s more about Tabia discovering her own power and destiny, and what she wants to do with her life.
Plot: Tabia gets sold into slavery to cover her father’s debts, and soon finds herself far from home where she’s quickly caught up in the political intrigues of her new mistress, the heir to the throne no less. She also discovers she has magical powers. This is where it gets a little difficult to say much more without dropping spoilers, but that’s just the beginning of Tabia’s adventures and she’s about to discover what’s she’s really capable of and where her loyalties lay.
Crimson fire is a very easy read with a solid pace and storyline. I found Mirren did the most important thing overall – she made me care about the characters and what happened to them.
Very enjoyable. I can definitely recommend it.
You can find it wherever you buy books, but here’s the links to Amazon US and Amazon everywhere.
