Review: Dust and Shadow by Lindsey Pogue

I love a good post apocalypse drama, even better when there are romantic elements and intrigue, and Dust and Shadow delivers on all fronts. Set in the dystopian presentish (!), the advent of the Industrial Revolution  brought about climate storms called the Shift. As a result, the small desert town that Jo lives in has depended on her family's farm to survive for generations. The Marshal, the leader of the town, and his cronies keep law and order in the town, but Jo is certain that the evil Marshal killer her mother 11 years ago, and she wants revenge.

There are so many secrets and lies and twists and turns, this was a delight to read.  Sometimes things aren't as they seem, and sometimes they are, and figuring out which is which was so much fun. Jo defied convention as a woman still living in Victorianesque times. She wore pants and tinkered with machines and had tons of ideas about everything - and wasn't shy about sharing them.  Coming from a family of healers on her mother's side, she was also a huge reader and healer herself. Jo's life was turned upside down when she discovers a huge secret and when the Marshal decided that she should marry his son, Clayton, then things were never the same again.

Despite his lineage, Jo is drawn to Clayton but she won't allow herself to act on her feelings to anyone in that heinous family, which means Clayton has lots of work to do, and as he moves from a free-wheeling playboy to a young man with a Marshal title to inherit from his father, he discovers that the town he knew is full of many secrets.

The chemistry between Jo and Clayton is a yearning thing; you root for Clayton and Jo and want them to give in to each other despite the distance, the secrets, and the lies that push them apart. Lindsey Pogue does an amazing job of weaving fantastic storytelling full of twists and turns and romance in a post-apocalyptic landscape. I can't wait for the next installment!