Book Review: When the Smoke Clears by Lynette Eason

After a brush with death due to equipment failure, smokejumper Alexia Allen is ordered to take time off while the incident is under investigation. She 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 struggles to accept and forgive her family's past, 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.

Series: Deadly Reunions, #1

My rating:

Umm . . . wow. For a romance, that was phenomenal.

The upsides:

-The female protagonist, though determined to solve the mystery, wasn't the stubborn, do-it-all-myself type, which was fabulous. Because I tend to, um, highly dislike those. XD
-Chad. I mean, (SPOILER) I suspected him of the murders almost from the beginning, but when he actually sobered up, I liked him almost more than Hunter. And I was so glad he ended up not being the killer. (END SPOILER)

-The real murderer completely blindsided me. I mean, I guess the clues were there and really pointed to it, but...idk, maybe I'm just unobservant. But it all made sense. And it was fabulous.
-The love triangle. Before you start shaking your head or rolling your eyes at this, let me tell you that I'm not a fan of love triangles either. But idk, maybe it was because I actually liked all the parties involved that it didn't bother me...? Anyway, I thought it was pulled off really well, and everyone's attitudes about it—*SPOILER* especially poor Chad's *END SPOILER*—really impressed me.
-Um...all the characters?? I just loved them all. I mean, Hunter almost seemed...idk...shallow sometimes? But his faith was there and it made the whole thing better.
-Alexia's vulnerability. I know that sounds kinda cruel, but I could relate to her y'all!!
-The couple didn't start out disliking each other!! I'm so stinkin' tiredof couples falling in love after being mortal enemies. They let each other know about their mutual attraction pretty much right away, which I could've done without, but it was definitely better than hating each other. MUCH, much better. I can't even describe how refreshing that was. XD

The downsides:
-The romance. Ugh, please, please don't give me so many details about a kiss. I don't want to know that it starts out lightly, exploringly, then turns deeper. I don't want to hear about kisses all over eyelids. *shudders* spare me plz. I mean, I guess some people like that kind of thing. But there's SO MANY romance books out there, can there please, please please be just ONE intense book out there with amazing cops in it without all the romance?? Pleeeeeeease?! I think this book would've been amazing without it.
But *coughs* that's just my humble opinion.
-And yeah, that's it...? Like I said, it was amazing, and the only thing I didn't like about it was the romance. It was okay when the couple wasn't kissing. I could handle that (except I don't wanna hear about how you think each other smells plz)

I fall in love with each Lynette Eason book I read! Who's your favorite romantic suspense author?