Awakening the Fire has a complicated plot, but almost everything else about it is rather simplistic. World-building is lacking, characters are predictable, and the writing style is a bit dull. There are also plenty of implausibilities, not just of the paranormal sort: a Canadian villain with a French accent who actually seems to speak with a New York truck driver's accent? a heroine who doesn't know what a thumb drive is (the book was published in 2012)? a paranormal story where the characters don't much use their paranormal abilities? I don't know what other reviewers are raving about, but if you compare Ally Shields' book to those of Patricia Briggs, Anne Bishop, Ilona Andrews, J.C. Daniels or Jeaniene Frost, you'll find Shields' writing to be pretty unsophisticated.