FIREWORKS (True North #6) by Sarina Bowen-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK : Release Date November 13, 2018

Skye Copeland is on paid leave from her broadcasting job after accidentally drawing a pecker on the traffic map.

Let that sink in. Like it’s her fault the traffic pattern created a perfect schlong?

Skye isn’t laughing. She needs this job. And that’s the only reason she’s willing to chase down a story in her least favorite place—that hell on earth known as Vermont.

A quick trip. In and out. Much like – never mind. She can sneak into the town that once tried to break her, get the story and slide back into the good graces of her producer. Easy peasy.

But things go sideways the moment she steps over the county line. Her stepsister is running from a violent drug dealer. And the cop on the case is none other than Benito Rossi, the man who broke Skye’s teenage heart.

His dark brown eyes still tear her apart. And even as she steels herself to finally tell him off after twelve years, the old fireworks are still there.

Things are about to go boom.

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REVIEW: FIREWORKS is the sixth instalment in Sarina Bowen’s contemporary, adult TRUE NORTH romance series focusing on a tight knit group of family and friends in Colebury, Vermont. This is twenty-eight year old, broadcast journalist Skye Copeland, and thirty-year old, detective Benito Rossi’s story line. FIREWORKS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Benito and Skye), as well as third person memories from the past, FIREWORKS follows the rekindling relationship between former high school friends- twenty-eight year old, broadcast journalist Skye Copeland, and thirty-year old, detective Benito Rossi. Twelve years earlier Skye Copeland’s life had spiralled out of control when her mother moved our heroine back to Colebury, Vermont, and into a trailer park where her life was a menagerie of unwanted sexual threats. Meeting her neighbour Benito Rossi allowed Skye the protection she needed from her mother’s abusive ex (Jimmy Gage), a man determined to destroy what wasn’t his to touch. Fast forward to present day wherein Skye has been forced into a leave of absence from her New York broadcasting job, a leave precipitated by the drawing of a p*nis on the local traffic map; and the emergency call from her step-sister Rayanne stating there was something important she needed to tell. Enter Benito Rossi, the young man who destroyed our heroine’s heart, and one of the reason’s Skye has never returned to Colebury, Vermont. What ensues is the rekindling romance and relationship between Skye and Benito, and the potential fall-out as Skye’s return to Colebury coincides with a police investigation into a local drug dealer whose customers are dropping like dying flies.

Benito Rossi destroyed Skye’s heart the day he didn’t show up for prom. Humiliated beyond words, our heroine packed up and headed to Aunt Jenny’s in an effort to forget about the boy she once loved. Twelve years would pass before Skye returned to the town that devastated her life, a town where her past is about to come full circle. Benito Rossi never stopped loving the girl that got away. With no explanation or forwarding address Skye disappeared from Benito’s life, a disappearance Benito would mourn until Skye’s return.

The relationship between Benito and Skye is one of second chances; a rekindling romance between two people who fell in love but never acted upon their attraction or want. Benito refused to take advantage of the pain and humiliation of a sixteen year old girl, while Skye secretly hoped that her feelings were not a one-sided affair. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters, a source of some of the past events that are slowly revealed. We are reintroduced to Griffin and Audrey (Bittersweet #1), Zara and her daughter Nicole (Bountiful #4), May and Alec (Speakeasy #5); high school mean girl Jill Sullivan; Jimmy Gage, and his daughter Rayanne, as well as a number of journalists with whom Skylar connects when her boss demands a return to work, and the local police department as they struggle to contain the growing drug epidemic.

The world building followed several paths including a focus upon some of the backstory, and the dangerous situation into which Skye had been placed; the history between Skye and a number of the secondary characters; the sexual predilections of her mother’s ex; the search and take down of the local drug supplier; Rayanne’s part in bringing Skye to Colebury, as well as the rekindling romance between Benito and Skye.

FIREWORKS is a story of family and friendship; betrayal and heart break; secrets and lies. The premise is interesting; the romance is passionate; the characters are energetic. I had a couple of issues including why Benito never searched for the woman with whom he fell in love, and his ability to defend and deflect his last relationship; and Skye’s naivete as it pertained to Rayanne’s lies.