This was a “plod along” read for me. I literally did plod, very slow start.
The characters in this book made me feel ancient due to their drama and antics, and, I felt strung along by the author. I wanted to know what the big secret was behind the couples pending divorce and ages, ages later (did I say ages!) by that time I didn’t give a fig.

I’ve read other books by this author and loved them, so went back on a few past books.

It was ok…..if you don’t mind plodding I guess.

This book was just too slow for me. It just too long for me to care much about the characters or the story. I didn't find it to be suspenseful. I didn’t like the way it was written as I found it a little confusing at times.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for and honest review.

This was a nice surprise of a book that I waited too long to read.
This was a story about our MC , Elizabeth who is a Private Investigator in town who had experience as a fire fighter in her previous career. She is in a unstable marriage , recently had a fight with her best friend and dislikes her job. Slowly her story comes out in detail as a fire burns in her town of Nelson and she is set on the case to find out who started it.

I really enjoyed this one and will be looking at Catherine McKenzie’s other books! She reminded me a bit of Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain.

Recommended for fans of Contemporary, Romance and strong female characters.
A definite 5 star that will stay with me for a while.

This novel focuses on the demise of a marriage of a firefighter in California and her husband during a California drought in the face of a fire that threatens their home. I really liked it.

“Smoke” by Catherine McKenzie

An intriguing novel with twists and turns from one story line leads to many others. Who started the fire that ends up ravishing thousands and thousands of acres, threatening homes, making one man homeless and leads to unforeseen consequences for some and unity for others.

Elizabeth has been fighting forest fires for years in one way or another. First as a look out, then in the field, then as an incident commander. She knows them better than most and is good at her job. She also quit a few years ago so she and her husband could start a family. Little did she know that two years later there would still be no baby and that a forest fire is threatening the home and community she and her husband, or is that ex-husband, love. She has also been placed in charge of investigating the cause of the fire for the DA, although working the fire is continually calling to her.

Meanwhile Mindy is feeling like her life is in a state of unease and the forest fire is not helping. Nor is the strange behavior of her son over the last year, but particularly lately. She is constantly wondering if he is the one responsible and he isn’t saying much.

As Elizabeth navigates her job, her unsteady marriage she wants to try to save, her love of her past work, and her feelings toward a lost feiwndship, she comes to many conclusions about her life and current job. Her husband, Ben, does the same but as a result of different circumstances that fall into his lap. As he works through many of his own issues, confusions, and questions about who he is, who is wife is and what he and they need to start over he comes to many conclusions.

Meanwhile everyone has theories of who started the fire, worries about the consequences if their theories are right not just in regard to property damage or cost, or short and long term issues, but what will come of their lives once the fire is contained. Personal feelings and the need to protect others come into play and finding the actual person leads the reader and the characters down several different paths, some which seem as combustible as the fire itself.

A well written novel that will keep you keep reading “just till the end of this chapter,” which leads to one to read through to the end. “Smoke” will pull the reader in from the very beginning and not let go. The one issue I had: it ended. I loved the characters. I loved the story. And though it did have a resolution, I still felt like I wanted to know more, particularly about what was hinted at by Ben and his job and Elizabeth’s job and their life in the future. But alas it is one for the reader to pull together and know they will all eventually come through okay and as they are all meant to be.

A definite now read. It is another by this author that will definitely not disappoint. I am only sorry I didn’t read it until now. Some how I skipped over it. Big mistake.

Rating: 4.8
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


** I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this novel. All thoughts, opinions and ratings are my own.

McKenzie gives us another haunting narrative that explores the relationships between people and the literal and figurative haze that exists between them. What McKenzie does best, as far as I'm concerned, is tell a story that pulls at you and makes you feel more than you thought you could from a book. Her sensitivity to human emotion remains powerful in this text.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

After a decade-long career combating wildfires, Elizabeth has traded in her former life for a quieter one with her husband. Now she works as the local arson investigator in a beautiful, quaint town in the Rockies. But that tranquil life vanishes when she and her husband agree to divorce and a fire in nearby Cooper Basin begins to spread rapidly. For Elizabeth, containing a raging wildfire is easier than accepting that her marriage has failed.
For Elizabeth’s ex-friend Mindy, who feels disconnected from her husband and teenage children, the fire represents a chance to find a new purpose: helping a man who has lost his home to the blaze. But her faith is shattered by a shocking accusation.
As the encroaching inferno threatens the town’s residents, Elizabeth and Mindy must discover what will be lost in the fire, and what will be saved.

I am in a bit of a quandary about how to review this story. On one hand, it had all the earmarks for a wonderful suspense novel - on the other, there just wasn't quite enough for it to succeed in any other aspect...

Let's start with the good: for me, the best part of this novel was the suspense. The storyline of the fire and whether or not it would reach - and then devour - the town kept the pages turning for me. Elizabeth's role in that was also vital, and I learned a lot of stuff about the tools used to fight forest fires. Also the impact it has on the people fighting it, and the people hoping it gets put out. The psychology of all that was certainly interesting.

So that was all good...

But, for me, the other side of this story just didn't work for me. I got that Elizabeth and Ben were having issues, and the idea of divorce gets discussed - before being interrupted by a forest fire. But that was really all we knew about their relationship - it was already on the skids when we met them. I hadn't gotten invested in them to care one way or another what happened to them. As for the other characters, I just didn't make any connection to any of them on a personal level - they just didn't seem to be more than fillers for me...

So, overall, it depends on what you want to read this book for - a good, suspenseful story it definitely is, but the characters and situations just fell a bit flat.


Paul
ARH

This was a well executed novel centering on a town and its people in the path of a forest fire. There was a wonderful treatment of the relatiinship dynamics between two former friends and how their falling out hinged on their reproductive and family lives as well as their identity as women. Also a wonderful treatment of fighting fires and the crews that do so . This book was compelling with excellent character development , a wonderfully laid out plotline and a sensitive treatment of bullying and crowd mentality. The authors use of description added much to.the story and her prose and characters as well as the use of timeline drew you in and kept you riveted. Though anyone could appreciate this particular volume I recommend it most to women as the author does a great job of exploring the inner world of the female characters. It will resonate with female readers.

This author never disappoints! Strong story line and characters

I found this story of a fire encroaching on a community to be one that really held my interest. It wasn't my favorite book by the author, but it was good. I found the characters to be very interesting and the storyline compelling. I liked the setting and thought that the fire gave it lots of atmosphere and tension.

Let me begin by saying that I'm a huge fan of Catherine McKenzie's work - and that I read this in August 2015!

I enjoy not only the stories, but the characters and the journey each character goes through. I like that they seem like authentic individuals - full of feelings, angst, flaws and the desire to be good. So I'm a fan.

This is the first time that I had a more difficult time with the story and the characters.

I think for the story I got caught up in details that I shouldn't have - but that still affected my enjoyment of the book. For example, I've been to Nelson, B.C. and so I spent the majority of the book assuming the characters lived in Nelson B.C. And couldn't understand why there were references to elected sheriffs, prosecutors, why Beth would be going out of "state" rather than "province" to fight fires.... Which sounds like a super silly thing to get stuck on - but I just kept going back to that.

Secondly, I usually really like Catherine's characters. I like the adventure they are about to go on and can follow them pretty believably. In this case, I didn't really like Elizabeth/Beth or Mindy. I know that they are meant to be at crossroads in their lives and are both trying to come out the other side.... But I just didn't buy it. I didn't learn enough early on about Beth and Ben's relationship to really care that they might or might not make it.... And I felt that Mindy's storyline was pretty weak. Perhaps it's because we really only had both of their perspectives, maybe adding in Angus' and Ben's narration from time to time -not regularly but a few times to add a different perspective to that of the ladies - would have made everything flow better for me.

By incorporating Angus' narration into the narration I think it would have better brought in the school bullying theme, and would have explained his role in the story a bit more believably. By the time we had gotten to Angus and Willow's confession it felt like it was just trying to wrap things up -it didn't felt 100% authentic to the story.

In the end, Smoke had me thinking but not so much about the plot, more about how I wish I'd enjoyed the book more.

That's not to say this isn't worth reading,I just didn't sit up all night reading it in one go like I did "Arranged", " Spin", and "Forgotten" - all of which were super entertaining, "chick-lit" reads that I eagerly recommended to friends as soon as I finished reading them.

This is really likely more of a 3.5 read - once the story starts moving in the right direction I enjoyed it. A good ending that ties things together without everything being too perfect. I still look forward to reading whatever Catherine publishes in the future.

This is the first time I've ever received an advanced reader's copy and I am officially spoiled rotten. I could not put this book down. I am a big fan of Catherine McKenzie's work, but this is definitely my favorite so far. I was on the edge of my seat as I turned each page, and loved getting to know the characters and see how things worked out for each of them.

I have started telling everyone I know that they have to put this at the top of their "to read" list in October.

I read this initially in June 2015, and reread it in March 2016 for my book club. I don't reread a lot of books but this one was well worth it!

Her whole life was about fire, forest fires- detecting them, fighting them, investigating them. At least it had been before she had given it up to fight for something else. Elizabeth is the main character in Catherine McKenzie's Smoke and things have not been going as planned in her life. Unfortunately, it seems as if Elizabeth's work has come to her this time. The small, picturesque town in which Elizabeth lives with her husband, the town where he grew up, is on the edge of a huge fire that may or may not be controllable. We also meet Mindy, Elizabeth's former friend, who is feeling unsure and perhaps a bit useless in her life as a stay-at-home mom to a distant teenaged son and a young daughter whose early-in-life health troubles still keep Mindy up at night. She yearns for purpose and hopes that helping a local man will provide that.

While I would categorize this as "Chick Lit", something I don't always like, it was a very enjoyable read. I was anxious to learn what would happen to each of the characters. It also had a slight mystery tone to it as the reader waited to learn who was really responsible for the fire that just might destroy the whole town. I particularly enjoyed the theme of a woman searching for her purpose. Elizabeth loves her work, but chooses marriage and family. Mindy loves her family, but still wishes for fulfilling work outside of the home. Neither is right or wrong. Each woman must decide what is best for herself at the time. And what is right for now may change in the future.

This book would make for a wonderful vacation read and it was perfect for my last book of 2016. Please let me know if you enjoy it, too.