Book Review: Burning Justice by Helena Smrcek

Book Description:
Romantic suspense, set in French Lick Indiana, first in the Alicia Yu, FBI series.Between a beacon of hope and redemption, comes Jacob. Nora’s future hangs in the balance of his past.

Pacifist Mennonite social worker Nora Martin is on the verge of opening a residential facility for first-time offenders. After years of planning, she’ll finally be able to rescue young men from the violence of prison…or what has been their only other option, the violence of the military.

But then a stranger in camouflage and combat boots marches through her front door and claims to own her house. And he’s not interested in letting Nora change it.

Who is Petty Officer Jacob Schwartz, and why does no one in the close-knit town of French Lick, Indiana want to acknowledge that he exists? What are they hiding? What had seemed like a safe community is now full of secrets and old heartaches, and Nora is caught in the dangerous middle. Her only ally is her best friend, FBI agent Alicia Yu (who readers first met in Glitter and Sorrow), but even Alicia can’t protect her from the way Nora’s heart races every time Jacob’s in the room.

Can she trust a man in uniform?

Nora and Jacob’s choices have taken them down different paths, but God may still show them a safe way back.

***
The mark of good romantic suspense is constant conflict. Chemistry. A push-pull reaction in every chapter, every scene. Burning Justice has all of these things and more.

Alicia isn’t the star of Burning Justice as much as Nora Martin is. Nora’s about peace but nothing in her life is peaceful. Especially when Jacob comes back to town.

The two battle through plans for the farm, whispers about them that threaten the plans for the farm, whispers about his past, fears she has about her own past. There is sorrow and pain, but there is also fun self talk from Nora in the first person POV.

I found this book to be one I knew I should put down to get things done around the house, but I couldn’t. All the things above impressed me so, right down to the dramatic ending.

Each year I share my favorite reads of the year and right now, Burning Justice is in the running. I highly recommend.

(I received Burning Justice in exchange for an honest review.)

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