FIRE AND ASH by Anne Patrick

It's always nice when you can really connect with the characters that you are reading so much so that you almost feel emotionally invested. Especially to the outcome of their relationship, even if only for a quick minute.

That is what happened to me when reading Anne Patrick's FIRE AND ASH. Sadie is full of wit and humor, not the funny, ha ha type of humor but she holds a wonderful sense of humor and always seems to know what to say, even those comments that are meant to be just for her, said under her breath.

I felt an immediate bond and spark between her and Sheriff Quinn for the second they met, which I find is hard to capture sometimes in reading so many romance novels.

Sadie seems to have lost her faith, mostly from guilt and grief but when she gets to know Quinn, his undying faith and strength even with the loss of his wife she begins to re-think things and wonders that all this time she thought she has some sense of control over her life, perhaps it is time to give the faith she once carried so close to her heart a second try.

With that and trying to find a killer and arsonist, not to mention getting to know Quinn, Sadie's hands are full. What I think I found most endearing about Sadie was her tenacity and her inner strength, she was a fighter and no matter what obstacles she wasn't going to get pushed around or pushed aside. She was damn good at her job and she was just an all around good person with a good heart, even though she seemed so wounded by her past that she couldn't quite let go of.

Fire Investigator Sadie McGregor has been called to her hometown of Emerald Point, Missouri to investigate a suspicious fire which claimed the life of a local college student. By appearance the fire looks like the girl was just careless. What Sadie and Sheriff Quinn Harrington discover will not only affect those close to them, but will rock the entire community of Emerald Point and put Sadie’s life on the line.

Sadie’s life isn’t the only thing at stake. Struggling with the guilt of having been responsible for the fire that killed her family, when she was only seven, Sadie doesn’t feel she’s worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. Will Quinn be able to prove otherwise before it’s too late?