Touch of Smoke

KARISSA LAUREL

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Red Adept Publishing, 2019.

How acquired: Received from the author for review.

First line: The day I left Evansville, I twisted my rearview mirror until it reflected the ceiling of my daddy's '61 Apache and not the road behind me.

My thoughts: Isn't that cover gorgeous?

The paranormal aspect of this romance unfolded very slowly, and I loved the way that happened. Rikki has returned home to Evansville after being away three years. Arriving in town, she's greeted with a little hostility and a lot of hurt from her friends and family over the way she took off. She's here to face her demons and get some answers about the death of her best friend. The narrative jumps back and forth between the present and the past. We follow Rikki apprehensively greeting her mother, her friends, and her former love, Owen, who she blames for Mina's death. In between those chapters, we go back three years and follow Rikki as she first meets and falls for Owen. There are hints about the paranormal aspect sprinkled throughout the two narratives, and we gradually learn more about Owen and his abilities. And when it's finally revealed just exactly what Owen is, or rather why Owen is the way he is, it was quite a departure from the usual paranormal tropes.

Owen is also former military, which ticks one of my boxes, and I was quickly enamored with him. And I really liked Rikki as well. Watching their relationship slowly develop was fun.

“I'm named after my dad.”

"Was he hoping for a boy?”

I balled a fist. “Were you hoping for a fat lip?”

Along with a little humor there's a bit of brooding and plenty of angst without dipping into depressive.

But the ending threw me a little. The narrative is in first person POV from Rikki, and the logical part of my brain couldn't understand how Rikki could be telling us the story at the point. Unless there will be a sequel or a second book. We don't necessarily get an HEA, but there is the possibility of one so that didn't bother me.

Overall, I enjoyed this romance from a new to me author. Her other books, based on the synopses I read, sound a little intriguing but not something I would normally choose to read, not being a big fan of mythology, but I liked her writing here well enough that if I come across them I'm very likely now to pick them up. And I do hope that there will be another book about Rikki and Owen, or at least set in their world. I'd gladly read about Luke next.

Goodreads synopsis: Three years ago, Rikki Albemarle watched her best friend die at the hands of a supernatural evil. Certain she was slated to be the next victim, Rikki fled her small Smoky Mountain hometown, vowing to never come back. Plagued by nightmares and knowing she's the only one who believes Mina's death was no accident, Rikki returns with hopes of finding answers and holding the killer accountable.

Rikki is convinced the key to unlocking the secret of Mina's death lies with Owen Amir, the alluring young army vet who once claimed her heart. But the deeper Rikki digs into Owen's past, the more she's torn between the urgings of her heart and her memories of him on the night Mina died.

After falling further into the rabbit hole, Rikki lands at the feet of an ancient and powerful evil determined to finish what it started years before. To survive, she'll have to make a decision: believe Owen is the monster she always feared he might be or trust him enough to stay and fight for a second chance at love.