Where There's Smoke by Elizabeth Lee

There is something to be said for letting go. Ryland Roberts knows that better than anyone. He'd let go of his ambitions, of his family and—most of all—of her. He'd perfected the art of putting his past behind him and accepted the fact that the town he wanted to leave in his rearview was the place where he was going to live out his days. But sometimes the past doesn't just go away. Sometimes it comes back to haunt you.

Piper Jameson convinced herself that she left for all the right reasons. She'd saved people by leaving—made sure that they weren't tainted by her rebellious ways. When her little sister asks her to come home and say goodbye to their ailing mother, she's forced to see that things aren't always as they seem. The people who she'd left behind might not have been saved at all. 

In the amount of time it takes a bullet to travel from point A to point B, Piper and Ryland will have to put their feelings for each other aside and make a choice. Forced on the run with Piper's sister, they begin to understand that the future they thought was gone was never really lost.

Overall Rating:  4 Rockin’ ★★★★

Piper is a bad girl that strikes out at everything around her.  Her mother’s new husband is a controlling, verbally abusive man that expects perfection from those around him.  From the first time she meets Ryland, Piper knows he is the one for her but she is afraid that she will destroy him and his future. 

That was the thing about Ryland-I saw a side of him that no one else saw.  I could probably say the same for him about me.  Until him, I’d never felt like I was going to amount to much, but he believed in me, even when I didn’t-which was most of the time.

The road to true love is sometimes rocky especially when you are setup by your stepfather to fail.  An innocent night turns into a nightmare when a fire starts in a hanger at the airport where we were having our date night.  My stepfather is the law enforcement in the town and he gives me a choice, either leave or be shipped off to juvie.  I had agreed six years ago to leave and attend an alternative high school with the understanding that the night of the fire would go away.  I knew that I was bad for Ryland and he would be able to go off to college and have a good life without me bringing him down.

I knew better than to ruffle any feathers at Steelcreek.  That place was my second chance.  I’d had too many run-ins with the law before the whole airport thing.  I was lucky that Resden hadn’t shipped straight off to juvie.  Which he totally could have done being a police chief and all.

When Piper receives a call from her sister Hadley she knows that she must return home, their mother is dying.  It was time to face the past and help her little sister.  Little did Piper know that Ryland had never left for college but went to jail after he confessed to being responsible for the fire at the airport.  Her stepfather knew he had not started the fire, but had still arrested Ryland.

I’d seen enough in the time I lived under his roof to know that he not only ran a corrupt police department, but did so without blinking twice.  Tampering with evidence.  Bending the rules for anyone he thought may be able to return the favor one day.  Forging reports.  You name it, I’d be money he’d done it.

When Piper returned Ryland could not stop the way he still felt about her and would always feel about her.  It did matter that she had left and never contacted him, he still knew that she was his.

Mine.  I would always be the person that picked her up and put her back together whether I liked it or not. The possessiveness I felt was new to me and judging by the look on her face she hadn’t been expecting it either.  Something about having her so close to me was driving me insane.

Piper has contacted her father and arranged to get Hadley to him after her mother passed away.  The only problem was her stepfather had other plans and they did not include letting her leave with Hadley.    

“You son of bitch,”Piper screamed out.  “If you ever lay another finger on her I swear to God—“ “You’ll do nothing,” he snarled, his hands in front of his body and out of my view.  His right hand twisting something together.  “Now come over here, Hadley,” he waved.  “You know I’m not going to hurt you.  You’re my good little girl, remember?”

I have to save Piper and Hadley from him.  We have no choice but to run and keep running.  Resden was a police officer and there would be repercussions.  There was no way we could go to the Truitville Police Department so many people had heard both of us say how we wish he was dead.    

“Don’t worry.”  Ry walked over and wrapped his arms around me.  “It’s going to be okay.”

Will Ry and Piper clear their names and keep Hadley safe?  Will their love find a future and be able to leave the past behind?

Hero –Ryland Roberts: 4 stars

Heroine –Piper Jameson: 4 stars

Steam: 4 stars 

Plot: 4 stars 

Cliffhanger: No

Would I recommend this book: Yes! Mix a bad girl and a good boy and you get a really hot read about the struggles true love faces to survive and have a future.

Would I read other books by this author: Yes! I cannot wait to read the story about Piper’s little sister.

***Received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review***