Smoke and Mirrors, a romantic suspense collection (2016)
This is an ebook box set of “hidden identity” Christian romantic suspense novellas. At present, it’s only available for Kindle.
Some characters are in witness protection, some are undercover, and some are just plain hiding – either from danger or for nefarious purposes. It can be love at first sight, a relationship that’s been developing for a few years before the story opens, or characters with a past connection now thrown together again.
Stories are set in various parts of the US, including Alaska. Sometimes the tension is high, other times more moderate.
My pick of the set is Heather Day Gilbert’s Out of Circulation, mostly because I always enjoy her characters and her writing, but also because her protagonist walks with a limp and isn’t as beautiful as her sister. It seemed I met a lot of gorgeous people in this collection.
I also found a spiritual nugget in Connie Almony’s The Long View, where one of the Christian characters searches his Bible for a verse to tuck into his mind to meditate on in his worship time. His reverence for God’s holiness challenged me.
If romantic suspense is all you read, then devour the whole collection in one go. I like more variety, and should have spaced them out a bit.
These eight original novellas are written by authors Connie Almony, Sally Bradley, Hallee Bridgeman, Heather Day Gilbert, Kelli Hughett, Alana Terry, Rachel Trautmiller, and Alexa Verde. In some cases they’re stand-alone stories, and in others they either begin or continue other works from the authors.
[Review copy from my personal library.]