Skin Deep by Kimberly Kincaid: A Book Review

Where there’s smoke…

For firefighter Kellan Walker, checking his emotions at the door doesn’t just keep him on the level. It keeps him alive. A gut-wrenching find at the scene of a blaze threatens to blow his ironclad composure, but when the detective assigned to the case is the same woman who put his sister’s life at risk three months ago, all bets for Kellan being calm, cool, or collected are definitely off.

There’s bound to be fire…

Keeping people safe is Isabella Moreno’s number one priority, no matter how tough the case. Working without solid leads and with the gorgeous, broody firefighter who believes she’s responsible for endangering his sister on a previous case isn’t ideal. But someone is hurting women in the here and now. Isabella will do whatever it takes to find justice.

As Kellan and Isabella reluctantly team up to catch a criminal, they realize they have more in common than they’d ever imagined. With every move, the stakes grow higher and the passion sizzles hotter, but can they race against the clock and the odds to catch a killer? Or will they lose their hearts—and their lives?

A P O L L Y C O N  2018 was so much fun this past weekend. While there I met so many awesome authors and found some great new reads! (Stay tuned for a recap post!). One of these reads was Skin Deep the first in Kimberly Kincaid’s Station Seventeen series. See below for all my thoughts!

Ownership: Own 
Genre: Romantic Suspense   
Publisher: Burning Up the Sheets, LLC
Published: 2016
Pages: 328
Price: $14.99 (paperback)
Place: Amazon,  B & N, Book Depository, GoodReads, IndieBound

Synopsis from GoodReads:

Where there’s smoke…

For firefighter Kellan Walker, checking his emotions at the door doesn’t just keep him on the level. It keeps him alive. A gut-wrenching find at the scene of a blaze threatens to blow his ironclad composure, but when the detective assigned to the case is the same woman who put his sister’s life at risk three months ago, all bets for Kellan being calm, cool, or collected are definitely off.

There’s bound to be fire…

Keeping people safe is Isabella Moreno’s number one priority, no matter how tough the case. Working without solid leads and with the gorgeous, broody firefighter who believes she’s responsible for endangering his sister on a previous case isn’t ideal. But someone is hurting women in the here-and-now. Isabella will do whatever it takes to find justice.

As Kellan and Isabella reluctantly team up to catch a criminal, they realize they have more in common than they’d ever imagined. With every move, the stakes grow higher and the passion sizzles hotter, but can they race against the clock and the odds to catch a killer? Or will they lose their hearts—and their lives?

~

Skin Deep by Kimberly Kincaid was such a fun & entertaining read!

Kellan was definitely swoon worth and I loved getting to know him as a character! He was smart, loyal and a great guy underneath all his walls. I loved his work ethic and loyalty not only to his sister, but his station members. His station seventeen squad (and Isabella’s 33rd team) were such fun and I hope we’ll get to see more of them in the future books of the series.

Kellan was good for Isabella and vice versa. I love when the two main characters end up not only helping each other heal, but also grow into their better selves. Both of these characters gave and took from each other in a healthy way that really allowed their relationship to blossom.

Isabella was feisty character. She held nothing back and she was a hard worker, determined, brace & definitely a badass. But I also loved how Kincaid wasn’t afraid to show Isabella having a vulnerable side and allowing her to make that vulnerability make her stronger as the novel came to an end.

Also Isabella and Kincaid together definitely steamed up the pages! Their sexual tension jumped clearly off the pages & their time together was both hot & heavy, but also sweet & swoon worthy 😉 The romance side of this book was excellent!

Two secondary characters I really enjoyed were Kellan’s sister and Isabella’s Captain. Kellan’s sister was such a hoot and I loved how she worried & took care of her brother in her own way without overreaching except when pushing him a little out of his comfort zone. I also enjoyed how Kincaid wrote Isabella’s Captain. He was firm, but also supportive towards Isabella and the case she was pursuing.

Lastly, I’ve been drawn to romantic suspense because it bridges my love of romances with my love of mysteries. Kincaid definitely didn’t disappoint with this storyline. The bad guy definitely was a total creep and Kincaid kept me on edge trying to figure out how Isabella & Kellan were going to serve justice on him. I was glad that things didn’t fall into place too easily for this type of storyline. I also felt like 33rd Investigative Unit that Isabella was a part of rang true throughout the novel. Also, that ending scene (even though I sort of saw it coming, but not until right before it happened) was really great to see/read. I liked how Kincaid decided to play that out.

Overall, this book was such a quick read for me. I was drawn into the characters pretty fast and the suspense storyline around them just cinched it for me–I was hooked! I read it basically within a day & definitely ended up loving it! If you like romantic suspense, I’d definitely recommend this one!

Have you read Skin Deep? Do you see that ending coming? Did you love Isabella & Kellan? Whose book do you want to see next in the series? Let me know your thoughts below in the comments! I’d love to hear from you! 

Happy Reading!

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