Review: Exceeded my expectations
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 1, 2013
An assassin, a murder, voodoo, a cowgirl and a Cajun is what RETRIBUTION is all about.Five months have passed since the Rodeo Sweethearts Killer incident, and Cody Lewis is having a hard time coping with what happened. She is suffering from PTSD but she won't ask for help, believes that she can do it on her own. *Silly girl* Little by little, the liquor is calling her name and it is becoming harder and harder not to numb her feelings at the bottom of the bottle.She loves Remy but it seems lately she's running from him. Soon she will have to face him because his life is about to unravel and the people he has been hiding from have found him. Even though he will try to push her away, he will need her in the end.Remy LeBeau is investigating a murder and there is something about it that reminds him of another murder back in New Orleans. The case was never solved but they at least knew that the person that murdered the victim was an assassin. After reviewing the case from New Orleans, he knew that they were similar and that this could mean he had been found. Soon he receives a package, and when he opened it, he saw of his murdered wife. That was the evidence he needed to know that his old partner, Jared Savard, had found him and now he knew that he needed to keep Cody safe again. If she died, he would not survive this one. Now he needs to find out how or if his father-in-law is somehow involved with what has happened.The assassin has been given a job and the job was completed, only there was one last request, to stay until the body is found. When the police show up, the assassin is surprised to see Remy, as he should have died during Hurricane Katrina. Now a new job has been given, to make Remy suffer and kill him. The assassin knows that if the job is not done soon, the other murders he'd done will come out and just maybe the identity of the assassin will come to light. But there's another problem--Remy's partner.Heath Anderson (Remy's partner) and Remy butted heads and they are both hiding secrets from each other and this is going to tear them apart. Heath wants for Remy to trust him, but Remy had already trusted his previous partner and that person tried to kill him. But that investigation is getting complicated. I loved Heath in this story, and he's a great help to Cody.I had the privilege to review the first book, Relentless, before it was available and I fell in love with Remy and Cody, and now that I have read RETRIBUTION, I'm speechless. I'm shocked at the twists and turns and events that happened throughout this beautifully written story. I was enthralled from page one 'til the every end. This is one book that will leave you wanting more. I can't wait to see what is next for Remy and Cody, but now I'm invested in two more characters--Heath and Kim. I want to know more about Kim and her ties with New Orleans and the villains Jared and Alphonse.The second installment in the Degrees of Darkness series exceeded my expectations; it made the wait worthwhile and I can't wait 'til the third book, Revenge, comes out. RETRIBUTION keeps a rapid pace with turn of events that kept me at the edge of my seat. It was a wild journey with unexpected events and new characters that will make the upcoming books even more intense.Remy and Cody are still going strong, yet they are stubborn and denying themselves the love that they have for each other. They are both strong and independent, capable of taking care of themselves but their weakness is the love that they have for each other. I was jumping up and down when finally Remy and Cody were intimate but was saddened on how it ended.The part that spooked me was the small scene of the voodoo that was done on Remy, and the thought of an unexpected feeling of being strangled did it for me, the sensation of a cold drift, an unexplained thud. That was a little creepy. I love that I was able to learn a little bit more about Remy and what happened in New Orleans.Thank you, Ms. Austin, for your powerful writing style that has made me one of your biggest fans. Your vivid writing style has captivated my heart. I was so into the story that when the end came, I was crushed but I know that the one that's following will be even better.I highly recommend RETRIBUTION but if you haven't yet read Relentless, please pick that one up before this one. RETRIBUTION is full of suspense and the events that took place took me off guard.Reviewed by CozyReaderfor TheRomanceReviews.com