Title: Smoke and Mirrors (Outbreak Task Force Book 2)
Author: Julie Rowe
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Book Blurb:
He looked like he came straight out of her naughtiest fantasies… Someone scratched a death threat in the paint of CDC nurse Kini Kerek’s rental car. She’s in Utah researching Hantavirus, but damaging rumors about the CDC have left residents suspicious and uncooperative. Thank goodness for hot, sexy, former soldier Smoke, a man of few words, who’s assigned to protect and help her navigate the isolated desert town as she races to identify a deadly virus before more people die. Memories from the combat zone leave ex-Special Forces soldier Lyle Smoke in a constant state of battle readiness, and he finds no solace, even after returning home to Small Blind. When he meets Kini Kerek, he discovers his heart isn’t entirely dead. But, that might not last long, because this outbreak is no mistake, and he’ll need to use all his survival skills gleaned from the military and his Native American upbringing to keep him and the beautiful, but secretive, Kini alive.
My Review:
Julie Rowe is back in another smokin’ hot romantic suspense dealing with a biological warfare e-market where innocent men, women and children are the victims and Homeland Security is caught unaware.
Smoke returns home to Small Blind after years in the combat zone but there’s no escaping his guilt. He tries to bury his demons and act normal, but he can’t outrun his own traitorous heart. Fate throws CDC nurse Kini in his arms but when someone blows up her car, he steps in as bodyguard. He calls his friend River and demands to be on the CDC payroll. Using all his instincts as a soldier and warrior, he investigates the outbreak and vows to bring vengeance to those responsible. What he underestimates is Kini and her healing touch. Will he push her away or is she the medicine he needs most of all?
Sweltering-hot romance with a serious medical thriller, Smoke and Mirrors is a pulse-pounding must read! The meat of the story deals with very bad men using lethal diseases as weapons and selling them to the highest bidder online. Smoke and Kini are pawns in a very dangerous game and with each plot twist, I gasped aloud. I loved how broken Smoke and Kini were yet in the end, they have the chance to heal and love again. Rowe also sheds light on the societal issue of the mistreatment of Natives in America (and elsewhere). Very well done.
If you love romantic suspense with depth in a very serious threatening situation which could happen (if it isn’t already), pick up Smoke and Mirrors! I can’t wait to read the next book.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the author in the hopes I’d review it.
Favorite Character/Quote: “He glanced down. There was a woman in bed with him. Christmas? Months away. Birthday? Months away. Hallucination? Months too soon.”
My Rating: 5+ stars
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Author Biography:
Julie Rowe’s first career as a medical lab technologist in Canada took her to the Northwest Territories and northern Alberta, where she still resides. She loves to include medical details in her romance novels, but admits she’ll never be able to write about all her medical experiences because, “Fiction has to be believable”. Julie writes romantic suspense and romantic military thrillers. Her most recent titles include Viable Threat, the first book in the Disease Control and Enforcement series, and Viral Justice, book three of the Biological Response Team series. You can find her at www.julieroweauthor.com , on Twitter @julieroweauthor or at her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JulieRoweAuthor
Social Media Links:
Twitter: @julieroweauthor
Reviewed by: Mrs. N