Writer Nell Black’s freelance job translating for an arson suspect from ex-Soviet Republic Zavrekestan, who is arrested by the Edinburgh police, throws her quiet life into a tailspin. Rodion Kosar is a notorious thief who gets inside anywhere past locks and alarms and back out with valuable items without detection when it should be impossible. Nell and Rodion encounter each other after the interrogation and have coffee together. When someone tries to kill them, Rodion keeps them alive and kidnaps Nell, taking her on the run with him from Russian gangsters, drug dealers, and British Intelligence. But who will keep Nell safe from Rodion, a dangerous criminal she should loathe, but to whom she inexplicably, desperately aches to give herself instead?

A consummate liar, Rodion is intense, driven, mysterious, sexy, highly intelligent, and dangerous. And he always has a plan. He is focused on one thing—finding and reacquiring his treasure—and he’ll do whatever it takes to make this happen, including using the one woman who captivates him and touches his soul like no other. Levelheaded, skeptical, and reserved, Nell is a guarded person who does not open up to others easily, if at all. She has never experienced the pleasure of genuine connection, passion, and desire with any man, and she is fine with that until she meets Rodion. Just being near him excites and fulfills her in ways she can neither understand nor express.

Treanor’s characters are wonderfully developed and fleshed out with many layers, deftly explored and revealed throughout the novel. Rodion and Nell are deeply drawn to each other not only because of a powerful and fiery sexual attraction but also their shared Zavrekestan heritage and paranormal abilities that defy rational explanation. While Rodion freely uses his, Nell has been in denial of her psychic gifts for most of her life. Her time spent with Rodion and his family forces Nell to reevaluate her deeply held beliefs about life— particularly good and evil, magic, the paranormal, and who she is and what she yearns for in her life.

Although the pacing is a bit slow at times with complex prose and story development, Smoke and Mirrors is a suspenseful, intensely emotional, and very sexy paranormal romance with well-written action scenes. It is an awesome start to Treanor’s Gifted paranormal/romantic suspense series, and I cannot wait to see where she takes it.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• November 4, 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: B00A2AOAOK

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Books in The Gifted series:
Smoke and Mirrors