In the small town of Taylor’s Bend, some secrets are about to ignite… When Taylor’s Bend vet Oliver Johnson attends a car accident involving a horse float from a nearby stud farm he’s not prepared for an encounter with Krista Laatonen, the billionaire owner’s stepdaughter. Beautiful, prickly, and entitled, she is everything he despises about the world he left behind all those years ago. But he … all those years ago. But he can’t neglect an injured animal, and there is something about Krista he can’t ignore.
Oliver soon discovers that first impressions can be misleading-the accident was not as it seemed, and there might just be more to Krista than he expected.
When two thugs arrive on Oliver’s doorstep claiming the horse from the accident belongs to their boss, Oliver and Krista are thrown into the middle of a dangerous game of deception and greed. As the threats around them escalate into blood spilled, choking fire, and a violent abduction, Oliver must decide if Krista’s ice-queen mask hides a woman worth risking his life-and his heart-for.
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This is second in the Taylor’s Bend series, but it works as a standalone.
My thoughts:
I read the last few chapters with a big dopey smile on my face. (Really. I checked in the mirror.) Though I’ve never considered myself a romantic suspense fan and have rarely (if ever) picked up a romance as an adult, Where There is Smoke made me happy. I wanted to keep reading. Perhaps after reading several dark novels I needed some sunshine in my reading life. Perhaps it felt like a great beach read. (Minus the beach, as I’m nowhere close to one.) Perhaps I wanted the assurance of a happily-ever-after ending awaiting me. Who knows?
This wasn’t a perfect novel. But there were things to enjoy.
1. I enjoyed reading the realistically-paced romance between Oliver and Krista.
I found it satisfying to see the two romantic leads take their time. Oliver, in particular, knows he must deal carefully with the insecure Krista and not rush her. He cares about her as a person, not just as a body, and it shows in their interactions.
2. I enjoyed the mounting suspense.
A bushfire breaks out nearby. As the novel progresses, this gradually becomes a threat to the village and the land surrounding it. That includes Hugh (Krista’s stepfather)’s luxurious house and horse farm. Elisabeth Rose makes the most of this threat and effectively uses it as both a plot development and an aspect of Krista’s character arc.
3. I enjoyed Krista’s character development.
(I don’t consider this a spoiler, as it’s obvious from the beginning that she must change. But just in case, you can skip this.)
At the beginning, she’s prickly, cold, and hard. But underneath, there’s a deep insecurity. She’s been fired from her job. She has few friends. Men only want her for her body.
Oliver’s secretary Margie nails it when she calls Krista “a bit of a lost soul” (chapter 5). Krista sees her beauty (which she’s incredibly insecure about) as the only meaningful aspect of herself. It’s sad.
It sounds cliched to say she needs to find herself. A series of disasters, both man-made and natural, jar her out of her constant state of helplessness and force her to develop practical skills to survive and protect others. But it also takes the love and acceptance of the people of Taylor’s Bend to help Krista see that there’s more to her than just a pretty face.
4. I also really liked the community of Taylor’s Bend.
Frankly, I’m not a fan of small towns; I prefer big cities. But Elisabeth Rose has created a community that feels welcoming, peopled with interesting characters who have stories of their own. The town’s newly-organized orchestra and drama group are fascinating. Their preparation for Gilbert and Sullivan’s musical Patience happens in the background of the main action. Everyone is helping out, it seems. Oliver’s been sweettalked into playing his long-neglected cello. Even Krista is roped into the action when Abbie (a character from Book 1) pleads for help painting scenery.
I expect that Elisabeth Rose has more stories to tell about the good people of Taylor’s Bend.
There are some aspects that weren’t as strong.
Viivi and Hugh, for example, often seem like stereotypes of the ultra-rich. Angus also seems like the typical rich, entitled brat with too much money and too little discipline to do anything useful with his life. (Each does gets to show a different side of themselves at one point, which saves them from being two-dimensional.)
The slower pace of Oliver and Krista’s relationship, while a plus for realism, made the last chapters slower-paced as well. While I enjoyed that, it also felt a bit anticlimatic for a suspense novel.
All in all, though, this was a good novel. It gripped my emotions and didn’t let go, and as I’ve written before, grabbing my emotions can make up for most weaknesses. If you like clean romances set in a small town, with plenty of suspense thrown in, you’ll enjoy this one.
Thanks again to Netgalley and Escape Publishing for the chance to read Where There is Smoke in exchange for an honest review.
Oliver Johnson, the town vet, is called to an accident. A car and trailer, hauling a horse, has run off the road. The driver, from a nearby stud farm, is hurt, but it’s the horse that has Oliver worried.
When the horse’s owner shows up, Oliver is taken by the beautiful woman. Krista Laatonen is everything he really dislikes in a woman, other than her looks. She’s rich, the step-daughter of a billionaire, an entitled spoiled woman.
what Oliver finds over time is that there was more to the accident and Krista is turning out to be a big surprise and he can’t ignore his feelings.
And when two big city thugs show up claiming ownership of the horse, he and Krista find themselves caught in the middle of a dangerous situation.
This is an action-packed page-turning romantic suspense …. high on suspense that just doesn’t quit. From a raging forest fire to a violent abduction, it’s a riveting thriller. The plot is tightly woven around skillfully drawn characters. Small towns have some of the best characters.. quirky, gossipy, friendly. Small towns also have large secrets.
Although 2nd in the series, it is easily read as a stand alone. Each of the books in this series features new characters, new stories … no cliff hangers.
Many thanks to the author / Escape Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this romantic suspense. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.