Passion's Bold Fire

I have a lot of feelings about this but I think 3 stars is the right place for it.

This wasn't bad. It was written in 1993 with a ridiculous cover and it's almost 500 pages. I got this in a mystery box from eBay of a mix of romance novels.

This was romantic suspense. Overall, the romance was trash and I guessed the murderer STRAIGHT but I liked the journey at points. I liked the beginning of the romance–they had a fake engagement to protect her from advances. But the romance was left behind for the growth of the mystery plot and then suddenly we are supposed to be believe the hero loved the heroine with very little actual romantic development.

While I guessed who the murderer was, I still really like Karissa and respected her leaving her very plush life behind to go to a town and become a bar maid essentially. I'm a sucker for the “woman starting over” in a small town trope.

Some cringeworthy scenes but overall I liked her taking control of the situation and moving forward. once she DID find out who the villain was though there was very little emotional response on her end and I was expecting a much larger one?? But okay. At least she saved herself and the hero didn't swoop in to save her. Definite points for that.

Overall, this was a ride but I'm not mad I read it and I'll be keeping this one on my shelves.