This was a “you can’t put it down read” filled with action, heartache and romance. Hot alpha and a strong heroine. A full read for people that like yummy soldiers and does he get the girl.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

While the synopsis of this book really intrigued me, the execution didn’t work. First, there was a really strong pro-American slant that I hadn’t come across in other military special ops stories. Then there was the one night stand with no protection used. Paige was the first to suggest no protection which had me shaking my head in disbelief. This decision made me believe Paige to be TSTL. And given Brenden’s high profile family background, I was surprised he wasn’t more careful. While the intimate scenes were explicit, I didn’t find them hot. They seemed rather perfunctory. I tried to stick it out for some action, however it just seemed to be meetings and references to action scenes. No action scenes themselves. This was not for me.

I had a hard time getting into this story. It just didn't capture my interest and I was glad when it was over.

This book was everything I enjoy in my romances—steam, action, suspense, sexy military hero, conflict and character connection.
It was well written. Unfortunately, the story itself fell flat for me personally. I didn't feel any real connection with or between the characters, and thus I had a hard time rooting for them

I haven't read many romance books that are this heavy in awhile. This had a good premise, but seemed a little too dark for me. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Paige and Brenden though!!

I really tried to get into this book but just could not. The characters were not interesting to me and there did not seem to be much to their relationship besides sex. I did not like either MC and the action started to get convoluted. I considered DNFing the book, but tried to stick it out so I compromised by skimming through it. There was not much to this read that pulled in my interest so this is not a book I’d recommend.

Brenden Jasper isn't just special ops -- he's double super secret special ops. His job makes personal relationships forbidden as he never knows when he has to leave on a mission. This guy lives and breathes the military, possibly to his own detriment.

When he meets Dr. Paige Nichols they have a super steamy one night stand, or so they think. She's drawn to him and he feels the same, but feels conflicted about the fact he can't share things with Paige. He's still hung up on the secrecy of his job and its not clear if Paige really understands why.

I love a good action story, and I did enjoy the action in this and wanted more. The romantic elements were super steamy. I'm not sure how much I liked the main characters. There is a lot going on in this story and sometimes it just gets to be too complicated and overwhelming. For these reasons, I'm rating this four stars. I will be looking to read more from this author.

✦Review: WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARS by C. Chilove https://wp.me/p3d0RZ-bMw
Publication Date: April 19, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Military Romance
Reviewed by: Reading in Pajamas/ Donna
Rated: 4 Stars

I enjoyed this romantic suspense and found a new author. Paige was an intelligent and accomplished woman with pain-shadows from her past. That pain rounded out her character nicely and explained her love of art therapy. I liked learning more about that and how the author didn’t inundate us with too much information. My two complaints about Paige are: 1. With her intelligence and detail-oriented background, how could she have forgotten something so important. (I won’t explain as I don’t post spoilers.) 2. With her family’s military background, her anger with his inability to give her work details frustrated me.

Brenden was a smoking hot Black-Ops member. Tough as nails and hard yet showing a tenderness that was appealing. His combat history has left him with PTSD issues in need of resolving. They made a good couple despite the chaos surrounding them. I enjoyed watching their relationship build, and the spicy hot romance. The storyline seemed unnecessarily chaotic at times, too many tropes thrown in that weren’t needed. However, I did like the tension from issues at her job – and of course the dangers from his Black-Ops work. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Chilove.

*Review copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

~*~*~*~

Kindle $3.99 https://amzn.to/3egfyvO

Thank you to @entangled_publishing for a copy of this book. I love the chemistry between Paige & Brenden from their first steamy meeting. This book dealt with a lot of heavy subjects like PTSD, murder and race. At parts, I was frustrated with Paige since she knew what she signed up for yet she kept demanding the same thing from Brenden. This book was very fast paced and overall an enjoyable read.

I dunno what to think about it to be honest. I don't like miscarriages or amnesia in a book. I know tragedy happens but I'm gonna stop here. I can't go further knowing there will be these two stuff ahead. Thank the spoilers.
I dunno why authors don't add the trigger warning in the description. Ughhhhh!!!😠😠😠😠 I don't mind action and unexpected pregnancy.

This book was everything I enjoy in my romances—steam, action, suspense, sexy military hero, conflict and character connection.
It was well written and held my interest. I’m definitely going to read more from this author in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I really love this author, I only wish she wrote more faster ;) I read her book Unlocked a while ago and am looking forward to more from that world but while I’m waiting Brenden and Paige were a great read. Plenty of action, I could have done with a bit more romantic interaction between the two, but overall a good read.

Brenden has a high risk job, therefore, he has a lot of secrets. At times, he has to disappear without notice, join his team on covert missions, and return days, maybe weeks later. Because of his enemies, he's reluctant to get too close to Paige and make her a potential target. Paige, of course, doesn't like the mystery that surrounds Brenden and it causes a lot of strife between them. I could understand the frustration that she felt, but he told her numerous times to basically accept it or move on. Paige would start to grow a backbone, but as soon as she and Brenden were together again, she became weak, and they'd jump into bed together. For being the acclaimed academic that she was, she was also incredibly irresponsible in taking her medicine. The rollercoaster of emotions began to wear on me fairly quick and I was ready for the story to be over at Part 3. Unfortunately, this book was not a bit for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for the opportunity to read and review When the Smoke Clears by C. Chilove.

Thank you so much to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for letting me read an eARC of When the Smoke Clears! Based on the summary of the book, I was really excited to read it, because I was really into special forces romances last year, but this one was not my favorite.

When the Smoke Clears 3/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Lieutenant Colonel Brenden Jasper lives a life of secrets, danger, and clandestine missions. As commander of the most elite Black Ops unit in the world, nothing is more important to him than protecting the country he loves. But there’s a reason only the toughest, battle-tested, alpha men can call themselves members of the Black 2131 brotherhood. None but those in the highest realms of government even know of its existence, and it's Brenden's job to avoid emotional entanglements so he can keep it that way.
Dr. Paige Nichols has spent her life ruled by logic and reason, teaching and analyzing art history, so nothing could have prepared her for the completely overwhelming attraction-at-first-sight when she sets eyes on Brenden. Their chance encounter at a party opens her up to a tantalizing dark side she never knew she had—and leaves her wanting so much more. But a man with a dark side often comes with way too many secrets…ones that could put her life in danger.
Though their chemistry burns hotter than ever, when danger comes knocking on Paige’s door, Brenden will have to walk a fine line between duty, honor, and love

Let’s start with what I liked about this book. I was a big fan of the special forces aspect of things and I really liked that Paige was into art therapy and talked about the importance of that. I also really liked Bellamy, Paige's best friend. Also! This book was so steamy, which I definitely appreciated haha it would have been too steamy if I had been reading it during the day in my living room, but I was reading it at night in my bed, so it was great. Now, let’s talk about the things I didn’t like. I felt as though Brenden and Paige’s relationship was held together just by sex, but they wanted to make it seem as though they had a more solid foundation than that. I also didn’t like how Paige seemed so... wishy washy at times. Like she wanted Brenden to be open with her but then after they had sex and he would have to leave or he would wake up after a nightmare and wouldn’t tell her anything, she still would stay with him because... I don’t know, maybe the sex was just that good? I definitely think the book got way better in the second half, but the first half was almost painful for me. The suspense and the drama were really good though, so if you want to read a really steamy book with great drama and suspense and you're willing to overlook some of the interpersonal annoyances, definitely definitely grab this book!

I really enjoyed the concept of the story. The author, whom I have not read before, combined romance with military action and suspense, along with a lot of problems the characters went through.

What I loved was the start of the book. It captures your attention and the sparks were just flying off these two characters.

Soon we segued into issues and a lot of very deep, dark, and sometimes disturbing content that focused on military maneuvers, PTSD, murder, race issues, manipulation, miscarriage, and a lot more.

I think the author was trying to include a lot of key features into this one story and it involved a lot of issues for the couple. The female character whined a lot, even though she knew what she was getting into, which I didn’t think was cool. Plus, we know who the culprits are by mid to three-quarters through.

Overall, the story is well written and it flows great. I love the connection between the two characters and Chilove hits the steam factor connection just right. I just wish the author hadn’t tried to dump so many issues into one story. I wanted to see more of the happy times and not quite so many issues to overcome.

But the great news is we get a happily ever after and that always makes a lot of things right.

This is the first book I have read by this author. And while it wasn't horrible, there were a lot of things that I just didn't like. I was really hopeful just by reading the blurb, because the blurb made it sound excellent! But it just...wasn't. There really wasn't a lot of action. It seemed to skip over what he actually did with his team, and it also didn't really go into a lot of his relationship with his team. I didn't really get how they could be brothers, when they didn't really act like it. Brenden's relationship with Paige just seemed to be built on sex. Right from the start. And don't get me wrong, I love a great sex scene just like anyone else who loves romance books, however these scenes weren't even that great. There was a lot of "sexy" talk between them that just wasn't that sexy to me. It actually made me want to skip over it, which is strange for me. I didn't really like Paige and just couldn't connect with her. I liked her best friend more than her. This story has a lot of potential, it just didn't get there in my opinion. Honestly, this felt like a run through with a first book that hadn't been edited or had anyone ask for there to be more. I doubt I would read anymore by this author, which is sad because I am always looking for new author's to read.

While I don’t usually read military romantic suspense, I was intrigued enough by the blurb to pick this up. And while this didn’t work out well for me, it may read better for some more frequent readers of that genre.

Brenden’s special ops team is reaching the culmination of their mission to identify the source of weapons shipments to terrorists in the Middle East, and he doesn’t have time for any distractions. He’s well aware exactly how deadly they can be. So no matter how scorching his night with the beautiful woman in the green dress is, it’s for the best that he doesn’t know anything about her – that is, until he walks into a meeting with his niece’s college and sees her again. But can any relationship survive him being unwilling to give her the bare details about his work?

“Nichols, when the bombs drop I’ll still be here, baby. The smoke will clear and you’ll be in my arms because we stand on the front lines together.”


I liked Paige a lot, and I especially liked all the bits about art therapy. I sympathized a lot with her frustrations with Brenden’s obsession with secrecy, but I liked how the relationship built up. I certainly didn’t doubt that they had a lot of chemistry! I had a lot harder time with Brenden. The nature of his job means he could be called away at any moment, and he feels like he can’t tell Paige anything about what he does, not how long he expects he’ll be gone or how he got the various scars all over his body. While Paige is familiar with the military need for secrecy – much of her family is also military – she feels like he’s keeping this huge part of himself walled off from her to protect her from his darkness. He’s afraid that she’ll walk away if she finds out exactly what he does for a living. He tries to make it up with presents (he comes from money of course), but even those struck me as annoying. He buys her a puppy without even asking, for goodness’ sake.

“She wasn’t asking for mission details. Hell, she knew there were things he couldn’t tell her, but he had somehow lumped everything relating to his duty into a pile that was off-limits. So why was she so willing to bare her soul to a man who had all these damn secrets featuring the alternate life he lived?”


I’d hesitate to call this romantic suspense. While there are some military elements to it, besides a few key scenes, most of the military portions happen either in conference rooms before the missions or on transportation back from them. Most of it revolves around Brenden’s PTSD and how his secrecy affects his relationship with Paige. That’s not to say that it’s all on Brenden. Paige is Black, and her family (that is to say, her father and brothers) gave her two rules: don’t date anyone in the military, and date within her own race. There’s reasons for both of them. Her father and brothers are all in the military and have seen how it can wreck relationships, and they’re trying to keep her from making the same mistakes. In terms of race, they know the cultural differences can be too much. While the first worry is certainly true (even if still ridiculously patronizing), the second felt a bit like it was hand-waved. There’s some bits about Brenden being a clueless white guy (not understanding why she gets mad when he gets her hair wet) but that’s about it. (Please note that I am coming at this from the perspective of a white woman, so take it all with a grain of salt.)

My main problem with the book is that there is just too much going on. Almost the whole first half of the book feels like a setup for the latter half, when the pacing picks up and things start happening quickly. At points it felt like the characters were too busy reacting to everything around them to actually concentrate on their relationship – and that’s not even counting the curve ball thrown at them in the latter half of the book. I felt like I had whiplash from all the drama the characters had to go through. I also found the “super special black ops!!” team thing a bit overdone, but military romances are not usually my thing. I mean, I suppose I did find it pretty funny that at least one member of a supposedly highly classified super soldier team has a large recognizable tattoo.

Overall, while this book didn’t quite work for me, I liked the author’s writing and will probably check out her next book.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

2.5 rounded up

When The Smoke Clears is a like if military romantic suspense and a telenovela had a baby. There were some things I liked but more that I didn’t so it ended up at a solid 2.5 for me.

Lieutenant Colonel Brenden Jasper works for a super top secret black ops team, Black 2131, trying to stop arms deals that could kill millions- no pressure. Dr. Paige Nichols is an artist, teacher, therapist who has two romantic rules, don’t date a military men or a white man. Unfortunately, Brendan is both. After a super steamy one night stand on New Years Eve they meet again months later when Paige recommends Brendan’s niece is dismissed from college. As their relationship deepens, Brendan fears for Paige’s safety being in his inner circle, Paige wants him to open up and some seriously bad guys try to kill them.

So what I liked.
The love between Brendan and Paige. I really enjoyed how he was smitten with her and how their romance developed in the first part of the book. The chemistry between Brendan and Paige is smoking hot, sexy AF and burned up my kindle for sure!!

What I wasn’t into.
There were so many plots going on. The military, the arms deal, the unexpected pregnancy, miscarriage, amnesia. The book is broken into parts and I felt like part three was really just so much. I would have liked to have a few of the plots been edited out. A trope could have been saved for another book. I appreciated the content warning of miscarriage and the author did handle that well. I didn’t enjoy how the miscarriage came about - I don’t want to put a spoiler.
There was a lot of military jargon- what’s a Q8? I fell like it was researched but the plot with the arms deal was confusing.

I was given an E-ARC from Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

When the Smoke Clears is the first book I’ve ever read by this author. I’m a romantic suspense junkie that’s always on the hunt for my next favorite author, so with a great cover and an intriguing blurb, I decided to dive headfirst into this book.

This story is truly a rollercoaster ride of emotions. At times, the constant up and down of the relationship between Paige and Brenden was almost exhausting. But in the end, it was a beautiful love story between two extremely different people from more similar backgrounds than they realized in the beginning. It’s a book about how wonderful love can develop between two people of different races when attraction, chemistry, and love are all they can see. And the suspense kept me turning the pages and staying up way too late because I just couldn’t stop reading!

All in all, I really enjoyed my time spent in this story. There were some parts I was able to skim over, but for the most part, it was unputdownable. The mystery pulled me in from the get-go. And I loved Brenden and Paige’s chemistry. Sometimes I felt like he was a supreme jerk, but at the same time, I could understand where he was coming from. I loved that Paige was intelligent, beautiful, and loyal. The twist wasn’t entirely out of left field, though. However, some of the connections were, so that made up for almost figuring out who and why before the reveal at the end of the book. Some really steamy scenes might turn off some readers, but I promise the rest of the book makes it all worth it. Needless to say, I’m most certainly looking forward to more from this author!

NICUnurse’s Rating: I give When the Smoke Clears by C. Chilove 4 out of 5 stars!

First I want to thank the author for the trigger warning to readers and the way she handled the process during the story. It only added to what was an awesome story about the fight for love of each other and country. Brenden was duty bound to serve his country. Love was not something he felt he deserved. Paige wanted to be loved for who she was, but Brenden broke all the rules she had set. The story is dramatic, action packed, and steamy. The characters are wonderfully developed as whole persons as they figure who they are and where they fit into each other’s lives. I am hoping that the rest of the series will be just as page turning and can’t wait to see the results.