Where There's Smoke

by Kiki Swinson

In her nationally-bestselling novels, Kiki Swinson ignites an unforgettable portrait of Dirty South scheming, greed, desire--and brutal dead ends. Now the stakes have never been more lethal as a compromised female firefighter starts burning down her all-too-corrupt past . . .

Kill your secrets . . .
Volunteer Virginia Beach firefighter Alayna Curry used to pride herself on saving lives. But now, determined to conceal her part in an arson-for-insurance scam gone bad, she's using her skills to have the scheme's leader, Tim—her ex-lover—shot dead, claiming it was a robbery. She's carefully set him up to be the ultimate fall guy. And she's ruthlessly aiming to silence more witnesses—which will also get her beloved brother Alonzo out of prison . . .

Conceal your lies . . .
. . . Until Alayna has to desperately defend herself against Tim's vengeful wife and his other grieving side piece's very public accusations, all while fighting to stay steps ahead of the fellow firefighters she betrayed—and the husband she's long past fallen out of love with . . .

Watch your back . . .
With a determined FBI agent and the police pulling apart her story—and her lies—bit by bit, Alayna recklessly plays her most dangerous trump card to free Alonzo and clear her name for good. But will one body too many be the catalyst that finally blows her chances of escape, and survival, to pieces?

208 pages, Paperback

Published March 25, 2025

About the author

Kiki Swinson was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia. She discovered her flair for writing after completing her first novel, Mad Shambles, while serving a five-year sentence at a federal prison.
After being released in December 1996, Kiki later went on to self-publish Mad Shambles. Her passion for writing didn't stop there. Writing feverishly into the wee hours of the night, she completed her second novel, Wifey, which was published by Melodrama Publishing. After the success of Wifey, Kiki penned the sequels I'm Still Wifey and Life After Wifey, as well as The Candy Shop and A Sticky Situation.

Reviews

[Readaholic Jenn]

I wasn't crazy about the characters.

[Crystal (Melanatedreader) Forte']

This book was definitely full of drama… I just had a few questions like where in the world did the sign language come in 😩😩😩

[Drenna Gurl]

This is book 2 to Burning Season. It has been a while since I read that one but the characters quickly became familiar. The book was just ok. There are still so many unanswered questions and the book just ended on such a strong cliffhanger that I know there will be a third book. At this point I'm completely invested in the shenanigans and goings on of these characters.

Alayna wasn't my favorite character but she wasn't a horrible leading character either. She is sneaky and calculating. I kinda wanna see her downfall. Priscilla is completely oblivious. Jesse promises to br problematic. And Alonzo is just cocky. I am all in. Can't wait for the next book. The sneak peek to Amber Alert was pretty intriguing at the end of the book.

[Terri Anderson]

Boring!!! The entire book deals with an attempt to free a guilty guy from jail…by killing the witnesses. But other than the charges you have no clue how, why, when he supposedly killed people. Huge portion of the book is characters repeating conversations they had with others. Boring! No descriptions of surroundings, characters, weather…anything. Not sure how this book even got published!

[Shay]

I didn’t enjoy this book. There were a few characters, but the storyline just didn’t mesh well. I didn’t care for the main character, Alayna nor her brother Alonzo. Half of the book went nowhere, just discussing the suspected Involvement with Alayna.
The ending was very rushed and I figured out it was coming before I even read it.

Overall, it wasn’t my type of book. Some may enjoy it but I prefer a more tighter, stronger story line with better character development.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Michael]

Alayna Curry is facing some epic challenges: her brother and favorite person on the planet is in jail awaiting trial for three murders connected to an insurance scam she was part of, her lover is married, bisexual, and recently murdered in front of her eyes, and to put the cherry on the sundae, both the police and FBI think Alayna was responsible. Lots of "Dirty South scheming", naps, and a fair amount of murder.

[Debbie Divins]

Don’t waste your time.

[reading escapist]

I would like to thank NetGalley for the advanced readers' copy of this book. This is the second book in a series. I haven't read the first book, so I did read it as a stand a lone. It is mainly about Alayna and Alonzo, who are siblings. Alonzo is a firefighter who is awaiting trial for insurance fraud and murder. Alayna is also a firefighter at the same station with her brother and is willing to do anything to clear her brother's name so that he will be released from jail. I will start by saying that I did like the ending, although it was rushed. It could have been much better. However, I didn't care for Alayna's character. She made rash decisions without thinking things through. I would have liked to see more character development throughout the book with at least a few of the characters. The points of view from the different characters did move the book towards the end, but there wasn't any depth. A lot of storylines were started and then never really revisited. Alonzo's motives and the type of fraud are never discussed. I may have enjoyed it more if I'd read the first book in the series.

[Fatima]

Where There's Smoke picked up where the previous book left off. Alayna is attempting to deflect attention from herself while doing everything in her power to demonstrate her brother's innocence. In order to prevent her spouse and the investigators from scrutinizing her account, Alayna has to make sure she hides her footprints. The second book wasn't as intriguing to me as the first one. Alayna didn't present a strong case for herself and was generally annoying. The plot was fairly predictable, and the story took a while to get going. What I had anticipated ultimately came to pass. Based on how this series ended, I'm assuming there will be a part three. The second part of this series didn't live up to my expectations, which were high.

[ThePurpleElephant]

Damn Zo, how you wait til the very end to let your mouth write a check your a$$ couldn’t cash.

I really wanted Kiersten to find out the truth about Jesse and Tim

I also wanted Alayna to knock him off his high horse. Walking around strutting like a peacock like you wasn’t just a piece side a$$ too.

Pricilla was annoying but, she did ride for Zo

I kinda felt bad for Levi this time around. Alayna talked all this Sh*% about loyalty but, betrayed her husband for a down low man with a wife and some d*c% on the side.
He really didn’t deserve that

Wasn’t better than the first book and she actually could’ve wrapped this up the first time around

[Melissa]

I probably should have read the first one.
This is a slight departure from Kiki Swinsons usual.
It was just going around in circles about Alonzo, Alayna and what really happened to Tim.
The highlight was the guy in prison with Alonzo. It was the only real suspenseful part.
I'll read the first one to see if it's any better.

[Jasmine Andras]

OMGGG THE ENDINGGG :((( I FEEL SO BAD FOR ALAYNA!! ALL THAT TO WIN A COURT CASE!! I feel its not realistic, I doubt he wouldve went to his cell to “play chess” w/ a inmate who clearly felt spite towards him?? In my opinion Alonzo never died cause Kiki just rushed the ending fr. So reallly he did escape jail and went home but Kiki just rushed the ending. Loved the prologue for Amber Alert

[S]

I am not a DNF book person but this book was honestly pretty boring. I was looking forward to reading something by a new author I hadn’t read before and I was very disappointed in this book unfortunately. I wouldn’t read another one of her books as a result of this one.

[Tiffany]

it was good

The ending surprised but I knew karma would come I hope everyone is prepared to be on the edge of your seats

[Alexander Molnar]

Didnt like the cursing and other language.... not my type of book

[Erica]

Wow. This was absolutely terrible. What a waste of time.

[Teshea]

There should be a sequel to this.

[Linda Strickland]

Loved the drama !!

[Debi]

Short read, it was ok. Not my favorite.

[LL]

Silly, naive, pointless.... Never again...

[✴ Cindy ✴]

The writing isn't even worthy of fanfiction.

[Tai]

I hated everything about this book👎🏽

[Eriel Lawson (YT: ErielBrea)]

We got a lot of the information in the beginning and then it just really never unfolded or reached a peak. Waiting until 99% for something drastic to happen is kind of wild!!

[Ranie]

Wow, intriguingly twisted and surprisingly suspenful with horrifying deadly behaviors that are utterly insane, cruel, and vile.

The writing techniques and concepts were purely phemonal with numerous aspects of blackmailing and unpredictable discovery into the history of each character story. Each person perspectives were uniquely influenced and shaped by their emotional and physical behaviors to desperately save themselves. Which further created complexity in the shocking ending of this quite impressive, terrifying, and realistically creative story....😑 😳 😐

Highly recommended

[Sherri B]

Just messy! But in the end the people got what they deserved! Another good one from Kiki