So, I heard "hey, Adrian's POV is in this book in addition to Sydney's!" and my inner fangirl jumped up and down and screamed with glee. Wow, what an idiot I was. Who is this guy masquerading as Adrian Ivashkov; is he a clone? Brainwashed? Does he have a parasite and is being mind-controlled? Either way, my enthusiasm waned with every page I read. I should mention this book was excruciating to read and took me weeks to finish because I couldn't take it. The others were bad yet tolerable but the Fiery Heart is like having your wisdom teeth pulled. (In my experience anyway; my face hurt and swelled for almost a week afterwards.) 
 As usual, first I'll talk about the plot... hahaha, just kidding. There's no plot in this book; it's a huge Sydney/Adrian mushfest, hence why it was so difficult for me to finish. Sure, there's a few scenes dedicated to Sydney trying to recreate Marcus' anti-compulsion ink and Adrian helping with some Spirit related anti-Strigoi measures, but all of that is over shadowed by Adrian and Sydney's twu wuv. Sydney joins Mrs. Terwillinger's witch coven, but it seemed pointless because nothing ever comes of it. 
 So, a month has passed since Indigo Spell; that means Sydney and Adrian's relationship must be moving along swimmingly, right? HAH. No, I'm sorry, but since Zoe showed up, Sydney leaves during independent study to make out with Adrian in her underwear for an hour before going back to school. Adrian mentions that they talk sometimes, but obviously they have nothing to talk about other than their undying love because most of the time they're making out. Oh, and Sydney brought a bunch of colorful panties and bras just for him, isn't she super thoughtful? I just love romance based on nothing but physical attraction... that was a joke. They made their first couple compromise; Adrian can't smoke and can only have one drink a day while Sydney can't have any caffeine. Great, the pair is going through addiction withdrawals together, that's going to be a real relationship booster. They've also bought new cellphones and dubbed them "the Love Phone" (someone please kill me...) so they can trade naughty text messages and gushing outbursts of love that the Alchemists can't trace. 
 Okay, I have to stop this review and start ranting. You know madness that's induced by Spirit? I hate it; not because of what it does, but because it is only brought up for plot convenience. Lissa's issues have never been revisited since Blood Promise; she doesn't cut herself, she doesn't get into dark and wrathful moods, she's well adjusted. The only reason she was 'going mad' was to put her on the pills, then take her off them and show the after effects. I know she's not one of the main focuses anymore, but nothing is ever brought up about how she's coping with it now that she and Rose aren't bound anymore. The same goes for Sonya; after she was restored she's had zero problems with it. Now, just because it creates conflict, Adrian's slowly going crazy even though he's been fine since Frostbite other than the rare, random rambling. He's seeing his dead great-aunt Tatiana, getting violent, becoming depressed... it's exhausting and I hate it. There's a half-assed explanation that his self-medicating with cigarettes and alcohol staved it off, but that's crap because he made the same deal with Rose in Spirit Bound and had none of these side effects. You know why this is coming about now? So Sydney has something in Adrian to "fix". I am not even kidding. She has a breakdown and sobs that he's a problem she doesn't know how to solve. That stopped me cold and I was screaming, "Adrian, abort mission!" into my e-reader. What the hell, Ms. Mead? No one is a 'problem that needs to be solved'; I wanted to toss my e-reader in disgust and swear off the rest of the series. I also want to know what happens to my former favorite character that's been swapped out with a clone so I kept reading because apparently I'm some kind of masochist. It's not just a one off thing either; Sydney mentions this several times: 
 "That was what scared me, and I wanted to control the situation before it controlled us." 
 "And that, as Adrian had astutely pointed out, was what really ate at me: my helplessness to come up with an immediate solution." 
 "Because of you! Because I love you, and I don't know what to do! I can solve almost any problem, but I can't solve this. I don't know how to deal with that." 
 Oh my poor Adrian, what happened to you? Not only does he cave in to Sydney's crying, he goes on mood stabilizers just to make her happy again. Honestly, they're just a way for something to happen later on that I'll eventually get to. He's also super amazed and impressed that Sydney went on birth control but... why? People go on birth control for tons of reasons and not all of them have to do with sex. I'm more surprised that she isn't on birth control already. However, Adrian needs to be shocked and in awe of this 'new Sydney' constantly even when there's no reason for him to be. Heck, he even becomes super impressed with Sydney's sudden sexual prowess because - get this - she learned some techniques in a book. *bangs head off desk* He flirts with two other girls during the book, claiming it's part of his personality and therefore it's okay, except he never flirted with anyone while he was dating Rose. The two situations are a bit different since his relationship with Sydney is a secret, but I seriously doubt anyone is going to get suspicious when he doesn't hit on everything that moves. Adrian has standards, people! (Poor standards, since his true love is Sydney, but that's an argument I've been making since Bloodlines.) It's like a lot of what made Adrian Adrian since Frostbite are gone because of his 'epic love' with Sydney and he wants to change everything she doesn't like about him to appease her. Once again driving home that this is an unhealthy relationship; sometimes they can act cute and sweet together (very rarely), but when they're not making out or getting physical, they're fighting. It's like a Young Adult version of Christian and Ana from 50 Shades of Grey; have sex, fight, have rare moments of sweetness. They have zero in common and can't keep their hands off each other; that kind of relationship never lasts, but of course this one will because it's fiction and they're 'perfect' for each other. Adrian even says that he and Sydney never fight, although just reading through the book you can see how they argue a great deal. 
 Sydney has gotten ever more unbearable, which I didn't think was possible. She's gone from cold, clinical Alchemist who can't make up her damned mind to a sexually charged nympho who never wants to wear clothes around her boyfriend. She's thinking about sex with him all the time, even before they do the deed. She's careless with her actions and is constantly lying and ditching her sister to mess around with Adrian, even though it's terribly suspicious and she can't keep passing it off as 'independent study' forever. She also has a habit of saying "Oh, Adrian" which Adrian thinks is endearing but I always read it as her talking to a child and not her adult boyfriend. Basically, she's gone from one extreme to the other and both Sydneys make my brain hurt. Once in a while we get 'super genius Sydney' if the plot calls for it, but she's mostly been reduced to an overly hormonal teenager. 
 Let's talk about something terrible that was added into the lore of the VA/BL universe; dabbling. It's where a Moroi drugs a human to feed off them and they don't remember (basically date rape for blood drinking). And Adrian has done it 'sort of'; he fed from a girl he partied with who got wasted. We learn about it from some of Adrian's old, douchebag friends from pre-VA and Adrian, instead of telling Sydney what it is, lies and then she finds out the truth and freaks out. The whole thing is disgusting enough and tarnished Adrian for me a bit, but what's even worse is why it was done; to create more conflict between Adrian and Sydney. After she storms off in a huff, the douchebags from before grab her to try and 'dabble' her and of course, Adrian isn't with her because they fought. He does show up to save the day though, and that turns Sydney on so much she wants to tear her clothes off and have sex with him in the street. What the hell is wrong with you, Ms. Mead? You created a horrible thing (dabbling) and used it just so Sydney would want makeup sex with Adrian. What. The. Hell. She was almost 'blood raped', yet she's all hot and bothered and wants to have sex immediately after. Who... what... I can't even put into words how much I hated the whole situation. This is not cute or romantic, it's downright creepy. Ugh. 
 Since we're talking about sex, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Sydney is a virgin because of course the heroine in any YA novel needs to lose her virginity to her true love! Adrian obviously isn't one, but that's because he needs to be the experienced male who helps our timid little virgin heroine learn the joys of sex. It's so overdone I want to cry. At least they don't have sex after the dabbling debacle, but they get stranded in this small inn outside of Court during a snowstorm and do nothing but have sex for two days until the weather clears up. Adrian even gets this whole thing about 'gee, I've never been with a virgin before, I need to be careful, this is a new experience for me' which is just laughable and I don't know why some authors feel the need to do this. Yes, those poor non-virgins, taking the virginity of another, poor, poor them, they have it so rough. Give me a damned break. What's worse is now that they've finally done the deed, that's all they do for the rest of the book. Adrian's birthday present to Sydney is even to have sex in his Mustang because nothing turns her on more than classic cars and her boyfriend's penis. When his car breaks down, they just have sex in hers... which is used to transport seven people at least twice a week. Not only that, but after she goes on a dangerous Strigoi hunt with everyone except Zoe and Adrian, she had Eddie drive her right back to Adrian's apartment so she can have sex with him. Wow, way to be careful, Sydney! I swear half of her brain cells died along with half her magic when she lost her virginity. (That's another useless point; virgins have more magical power than non-virgins. Once again, created to cause drama but nothing comes of it.) And luckily for her, Jill can't see any of it because the mood stabilizers Adrian went on not only cut off his Spirit magic, they darkened the bond. Now Sydney and Adrian can have happy naked time whenever they want and Jill can't accidentally spy on them, just like Sydney wanted! (And as we all know, what Sydney wants, Sydney gets!) 
 Sydney and Adrian have a phrase that's repeated throughout the rest of the book and Silver Shadows; "the center will hold." It's brought up so much that I just shake my head, much like how they have to remind each other that they're in love every couple pages. It's supposed to be sweet but I just find it annoying. It's about as annoying as the current chapter rehashing everything that went on in the previous chapter. Seriously, if you're going to write from two different POVs, don't have the other person dwell on what just happened with the first person previously. I felt like I was double reading everything. 
 I've been mostly glazing over the pretend plot, so let's recap that quickly. First, Marcus' anti-compulsion ink is made with human magic and the super special ingredient that he has to go to Mexico to get can actually be substituted with... salt. *shakes head* Sydney re-creates the ink and tests it on Trey. Adrian goes to see a recently restored dhampir named Olive and has her blood taken because she's brimming with Spirit. Later on a tattoo ink (why is it always tattoo ink?) is made from the blood to prevent people from being turned. Both inks work, of course, but like I said, these breakthroughs are overshadowed by Sydney and Adrian's relationship. 
 Other than Zoe, who we've seen in Bloodlines and Indigo Spell, another new addition is Neil, a dhampir. He's just there, basically, and serves no purpose other than to be another bodyguard and a test subject for the anti-Strigoi tattoo. 
 Can I just say, what the hell is up with all the pairings? One or two in a novel I have no problem with, but Ms. Mead is determined to pair almost everyone up. Sydney/Adrian, Eddie/Jill, Angeline/Trey, Neil/Olive, even Mrs. Terwillinger and Malachi Wolfe (Sydney and Adrian's self defense instructor) hook up! Hopefully this is a sign that Ms. Mead is hoping to wrap everything up with the final book and does not intend to write another spinoff series (and if she does, I probably will not read it). Either way, all the love drama and pairings are a little out of control and ridiculous. 
 As it is, all (subjective) good things must come to an end. Adrian's 'Love Phone' was left in Sydney's car after her birthday car sex (once again, way to go, Sydney!) and Zoe found it, which she used to lead her older sister into a trap and she's taken by the Alchemists. (Of her own free will, by the way; she agrees to go with her father and sister even though she and Eddie successfully evaded the Alchemist army that's hunting them.) She ends up in re-education, in a dark room and she's naked, but guess what? The Alchemists didn't burn the cross necklace Adrian made for her! It's shown that they don't know it was a gift and are just taunting her with it because it's part of their faith, but of course one of her most prized possessions makes it out intact because Sydney just can't lose anything precious! The book ends with Sydney telling them "Let's see what you've got", in regards to whatever the Alchemists have in store for her.