Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Book Review: Ashes Ashes by Julie Coulter Bellon


Ashes Ashes by Julie Coulter Bellon, 2013, 219p
Content=Clean, My Rating=5 stars
Source: Provided a copy by the author for an honest review

Are you ever really innocent until proven guilty?

Sophia Naziri is wanted for questioning in the murder of a U.S. senator. She’s worried the police will show up on her doorstep any moment, but when Detective Colby Black appears, it’s to help her put out a kitchen fire, not take her in. Yet. His easy smile and persistence in getting to know her pushes all her troubles to the back of her mind, until a hit man tracks her down. Getting arrested becomes the least of her worries and the handsome detective could be her only way out---if she tells him the truth.

Colby Black’s sniper skills have been a blessing and a curse to him. As a member of a Hostage Negotiation Team, he can use them to save people, but sometimes he can’t protect the innocent despite his best efforts. When a hostage situation goes bad, he tries to put it behind him by helping out his mysterious next-door neighbor, Sophia Naziri. But she pulls Colby into a web of lies and conspiracy that will force him to use every skill he has in order to survive. Faced with the moment of truth, can he trust anyone around him---including the woman at the center of it all?
(Goodreads) 


This is the second book in Bellon's Hostage Negotiation Team series. I haven't read the first one yet, All Fall Down, but I definitely want to now! What I like is that I didn't feel lost since I haven't yet read book one but I've met the characters now and want to read their story so I can get to know them better. 

Colby Black has had a rough day at work. The hostage situation that he was involved in didn't end well and he arrives home to the smell of smoke coming out of his neighbor's house. It's a renter he hasn't met yet so he runs over and helps stop the kitchen fire. He then meets his beautiful neighbor Sophia, who is grateful for his help but doesn't want anything to do with him when she finds out he's a detective. Colby isn't going to be deterred and brings her back some takeout food since her dinner was burned and offers to come back the next day to help her clean up. 

We learn more about Sophia's background and what she's running from which is serious and dangerous and also explains why she doesn't want to become too cozy with Colby. Colby does get pulled into her situation and has to decide if he believes her or if she's playing him. And then he needs to figure out what he's going to do about it.

There isn't anything I didn't like about this book and this is my favorite type of book to read. It moves at a fast pace which makes it difficult to put down, the dialogue is well written with no swearing--a major plus, and there are characters I love and ones I hate (and some I wasn't sure about until the very end). There's also the romance: I knew they cared about each other and they let their feelings be known and the romance was just the right amount to me. If you enjoy a fast-paced, clean, romantic suspense novel, you must read this book!! I'm looking forward to reading book 1 and hope there are several more books to come in this series!

You can enter to win a copy of this book on Goodreads through June 18, 2013 by clicking HERE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julie Coulter Bellon loves to write international romantic suspense novels because she gets to travel to distant lands to research and add an authentic feel to all of her books. Her favorite cities so far are Athens, Paris, Ottawa, and London. She taught journalism at BYU for fourteen years and that kept her on the cutting edge of current events and world news---which is where she gets her story ideas.
Julie offers writing and publishing tips, as well as her take on life on her blog http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com You can also find out about all her upcoming projects at her website www.juliebellon.com or you can follow her on Twitter @juliebellon 

 

2 comments:

Julie Coulter Bellon said...

Thank you so much for the review! I'm glad you liked it. :)

Sanz said...

Sounds good. Gotta love clean books!! I'm impressed with how many reviews you are able to do...you bookworm you!

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