REVIEW: Smoke and Ashes by Danica Winters

In Smoke and Ashes by Danica Winters, Heather Sampson is blindsided when her husband leaves her a note on the counter informing her that their marriage was over. She knew things had been bad, but she wasn’t prepared to take care of herself; David had made sure of that. At the same time she struggles with the attraction she feels towards her neighbor and single father, Kevin Jensen.

Kevin has his own problems. A widower, he’s raising his two children alone while being busy with his job as the fire inspector. He faces pressure at work to keep his investigations to a minimum to keep costs down. At the same time, the amount of time he spends working takes away from the time he spends with his children, causing his oldest, Colter, to act out by skipping classes and missing baseball practices.

When he believes a serial arsonist is loose in town, Kevin becomes increasingly concerned when Heather is in her friend’s house when the arsonist lights it up. He’s determined to solve the crime even though he’s feeling pressure to just close the case. When Heather’s house is set on fire with her inside, he comes to the conclusion that there’s a link to Heather and rushes to figure out the culprit before he takes her life.

I liked Heather and Kevin both as individuals and together. I was glad to see Heather realize what she could have with Kevin and how well he treated her compared to her husband, and how she deserved to be treated better. I was happy to see her finally discover her worth and stand up to David instead of letting him continue to walk all over her.

There were two reasons I didn’t rate this higher. One was because I felt the issues between Kevin and Colter were wrapped up too quickly. Colter said he skipped classes to go mudding with his friends. Kevin’s response was “We all make mistakes” and that was pretty much the end of it. It didn’t deal with the fact that part of Colter’s problem was disappointment that his father was never around. It didn’t deal with reasons Colter told his little sister that he wished she had never been born. Clearly he had some issues relating to his father and possibly the fact that his mother was gone, but nothing was truly resolved with it other than Kevin’s promise to try to be around more.

The second reason was that I thought things with the arsonist ended too quickly. I would have liked to have seen him pay for his crimes more than he actually did.

Despite the couple of issues I had, I really enjoyed the book. It’s a well-written novel that keeps the reader guessing as to who the arsonist is. If you enjoy romantic suspense, I recommend reading Smoke and Ashes.

Book Info:

Publication: April 19, 2016 | Harlequin Intrigue|

With a mysterious arsonist on the loose in Missoula, fire inspector Kevin Jensen saves more than Heather Sampson’s house. The sexy single father rescues her from an abusive marriage—and discovers his own past failures don’t have to rule his life. Especially when sparks between him and Heather ignite irresistible desire.

But who’s the arsonist? Why target Heather? What’s his shocking motive? When Heather faces off with him in a brutal attack, she needs her “white knight” as much as he needs her. Both have looked into their souls and risked their broken hearts for each other. Now Kevin will have to risk his life and his heart.