Jessie has gone to hell to recover her lover, Cooper Marron. To get them back, she has broken every magical rule that the Governing circle had put in place. She also killed a Virtus to save Cooper. When she returns with him, she has one hand that is a constant flame. Her familiar, Pal, has changed from a ferret to a six foot spider with the fur of a ferret. It all takes some getting used to.

Jessie and Cooper have a meeting with the Governing Council to see what they plan to do about her killing of the former head of the council. After placing some restrictions on her, they acknowledge that she had little choice in her actions and set up rules for the future.

As Jessie and her friends leave the meeting, the Virtii come after them in retribution for the death of one of their members. Pal and Jessie help Cooper and his brother, Warlock, escape from the Virtii but they end up in a small town in Texas which has some strong spells dampening any magic. They are unable to escape.

They discover that there is a demon controlling the town and all attempts to remove her have met with failure. Jessie's father, whom she believed to be dead, has told her to look out for her brother who disappeared after being sent to Cuchillo. The town has been divided into two camps, those who have given into Miko and have been turned into zombies and those who opposed her and formed a camp at the local college where they are overrun by cats who have the ability to overturn the magic dampening spell. When Cooper and Warlock are taken by Miko, Jessie must do what she can to rescue them and save the town.

Ms. Snyder has written a fast-paced book with a snippy heroine who plays by her own rules. Fans of paranormal romance will really get a kick out of her writing. She has created a unique world which meshes well with reality. The only drawback for me was the profanity, the erotic encounters and the gruesome aspects to the story; but then I'm a wuss. My preference would be to have all the violence take place where I didn't have to observe it.

Book Summary

BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE For Jessie Shimmer, everything changed when she went to hell and back to save her lover, Cooper Marron. After tangling with supernatural forces and killing an untouchable spirit lord, Jessie finds herself gifted—or perhaps cursed—with dark powers. And when she and Cooper make love, her pleasure throes light the whole house on fire. What is a sorceress to do?

Jessie is about to find out. The circumstances of her birth, the mystery of a father she never knew, and the help of a cuddly ferret turned fearsome monster have made Jessie not just an outlaw from mundane society, but an accidental revolutionary in the magic realm. Encountering portals stitched into thin air and a fiercely sexy soul harvester, Jessie rushes headlong among enemies, horrors, wonders, and lovers into a place of self-discovery—or destruction.