Night Fires

by Justine Dare

A shady loner and a courageous woman find passion in their growing relationship when she decides to reach out to him, in a haunting love story set against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest. Original.

Genres: Romance, Romantic Suspense

96 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

AKA Justine Davis Aka Janice Davis Soth

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable romantic suspense.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Pacific Northwest town Jodi Campion defends a reclusive newcomer when a few townspeople suspect he is responsible for the disappearance of a young boy.

[Robyn Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kindle

[Veronie Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a change from my regular style of crime, but I enjoyed it, even the romance part.

["E" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back of the Book Description: "A small town in the Pacific Northwest, Keating's Port is the only home Jodi Campion has ever known, the only place where she has ever felt safe. But it is also a place haunted by tragedy - where she will be forced to question what she has always known to be true..."

This is one of those books that's interesting while reading it, but as soon as you're finished it just feels kind of meh. There was a decent romance, the mysteries involved fairly believable and likeable main characters. Unfortunately, it just wasn't particularly memorable.

JT's past was truly sad and while his actions demonstrated his feelings of loss, I never really felt his pain. Jodi was sort of the same regarding the death of her father. Apparently, she missed him a lot, but I never really connected with her loss. Their romance was okay and developed over a decent period of time. Thankfully, theirs was not a case of insta-lust, so at least their love felt more like it was based on the emotional and not the physical.

The various mysteries built into the story were rather hit and miss for me. In the beginning, I felt like it was pretty clear who might be responsible for who was causing Jodi's problems. Then we drifted into some other potential suspects, but not to the point of getting pages from their point of view. At one point someone is caught doing something and the reveal was supposed to be a great surprise to the characters. My reaction was more along the lines of Who? What? Huh?

Overall, the book was competently written, but ultimately forgettable. I'd give it 3 stars as it was a pretty average book.

[Linda C · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a young boy goes missing, suspicion's fall on a reclusive newcomer to Keating's Port, WA, J. T. Trager. Jodi Campion, wild animal rehabilitator, defends him and reaches out to him to become involved in the community. J.T. lost his wife and son in a fire and feels particularly guilty because he was a fire fighter and could not save them. He just wants to be left alone. Jodi recently lost her father and is similarly grieving and can sympathize. The Mayor, Reed Keating, a widower and father of the missing boy is also pursuing Jodi romantically. The Keating family dynamics, another missing woman and the relationship between Jodi and J. T. are the substance of the story. Jodi's attacked and her office burglarized. Several people are possible suspects. For me this story had too many coincidences and vague reasoning for making all these events occur in the same period of time.