*A Hint of Passion* When the Smoke Clears by Lynette Eason

Description:

As a member of the North Cascades Smokejumpers, Alexia Allen always takes care of the equipment that keeps her safe. So when she nearly dies in a fire due to equipment failure, she knows something is up. Ordered to take time off while the investigation continues, Alexia makes a last-minute decision to recuperate at her mother's home and attend her high school reunion. Yet trouble seems to be following her, and within hours of arriving home she's involved with murder, arson--and a handsome detective. But the conflicts ahead are nothing compared to the ghosts of her past. As she strives to remember and forgive her family history, she must also decide if the secret she's been guarding for the last ten years must finally come to light.

Chock-full of the suspense and romantic tension readers have come to expect from Lynette Eason, "When the Smoke Clears" is the explosive first book in the Deadly Reunions series.

My Opinion:

I don't read many Christian suspense novels because normally I find them pretty corny. Nothing really bad happens and it's like the authors are afraid of having anyone get hurt or even die in their book. It's just a book, and when it comes to crime scene investigations I expect stuff like that to happen! Thank the Lord this one did not disappoint on that level! Now, I don't want to sound like a freak but come on, "Crime Scene", "Suspense Novel". I thinks it's okay.

I wish the investigation would have prolonged a while longer. The whole book took place over a time of about a week, except for the Introduction. I practically knew what happened every single second of everyday.

Another thing I didn't like was that it seemed like everyone that worked Alexia's case: Cops, Forensic Scientists, Detectives... all went and graduated from the same High School as her. That was not realistic and it kind of got annoying that she knew everyone already from High School.

I liked the romance between Alexia and "the detective" but I wish that the time period in the book would have been prolonged also because of that. After not seeing each other for years and then all the sudden sorda dating after a couple days was also not realistic in my opinion.

I liked how Alexia came to know God through seeing how he worked in people's lives she would have never thought possible. She thought she was to far gone to be forgiven for anything, but once she saw some people after years of isolation from them and then saw their forgiveness and love. It just pushed her to her breaking point, and that I really liked! 

All in all, it was good but their were definitely things I would have changed.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars.