No Smoke Without a Fire

Beth is a forty year-old divorced mother of two teenage boys, working as an Emergency Room nurse.  One evening an unconscious firefighter is brought in after saving a little girl from what could have been a deadly fire.  He's not out for long, and as soon as he wakes up, Jackson turns on the charm and eventually woos Beth into accepting a date...despite the fact that he is only twenty-seven.  As the two seem to hit it off, Beth must deal with their age differences and Jackson must stop a deadly arsonist.

Beth and Jackson have no lack of chemistry, but their love comes around very quickly.  Within just a couple of weeks, despite all of the obstacles that should have given them pause, their relationship is full throttle.  Beth seems to forget that she has kids at home, and there are numerous conveniently placed babysitters for her boys in the form of sleepovers.  The age difference only poses a problem for a moment, as Beth's posse of buddies simultaneously begin hooking up with Jackson's younger friends.  These encounters are all behind the scenes, and somehow also all by chance. The arsonist is a fairly obvious villain, and the suspense element detracted from the focus of the story, which was our cougar lady and her new man. This could have been more enjoyable had there been more attention paid to the unconventional relationship between Jackson and Beth and how they work out the myriad issues that arise with all new relationships, not to mention one rife with ready-made problems.

Nicole Duke