Title: Smoke and Mirrors
Series: Outbreak Task Force Book #2
Stand Alone Title: yes
Author: Julie Rowe
Genre: Romance, Romantic Suspense
Blurb: 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.
Thoughts: Those who take a quick glance and the cover and offer up a few moments to read the blurb are likely to write Rowe’s books off as standard ‘military romance’ fare, and be quick to write it off as one of the many books out there in this genre. I urge you to take a second look, particularly if you’re looking for something with a little more meat to the story. Julie Rowe really differentiates herself from all the other authors in this genre, focusing on biological and chemical weapons/warfare as the main theme in her books. The books are heavy on the suspense, light on the romance, and it is vastly different than your other romantic suspense novels. I can still remember reading the first book in this series, Viable Threat, and how pleasantly surprised I was to find something so different from everything else out there.
With that being said, while I enjoyed Smoke and Mirrors, I enjoyed Viable Threat so much more. The story was still there, but for me it came down to the characters. I just didn’t enjoy Kini and Lyle’s characters as much, and they fell kind of flat to me. Still a good addition to the series though, and I look forward to more from Julie Rowe!
Rating: B
Other books in this series: Viable Threat (Book one)
Other reviews: Sarah’s Review of Viable Threat
