Review: One of my favorite KA books EVER
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 13, 2014
When I was in college, I dated this guy who was . . . He really wanted to be a hardcore, badass kind of guy, but mostly he was just an ass.He was my first serious boyfriend, and over the course of our relationship he got three tattoos. The first one was of the Chinese characters for . . . wait for it . . . "iron man." And trust me guys, he was a big dude (6'4'', I think), but "iron man" he was NOT. The second one was of a phoenix. In FLAMES. It was on the top of his arm with a rune that the guy at the tattoo place swore meant "unquenchable fire," but I'd never heard of that rune before or since, so I'm still skeptical, and then . . . the last one he got was of more Chinese characters . . . and this one (allegedly) meant . . . "unquestionable authority."Like I said . . . ASS.And as hilarious as it is that there does indeed exist a man in this world with ALL THREE of those tattoos at the same time, that's not why I'm telling you all this. NOPE, I'm telling you all this b/c I'm pretty sure ASS wanted to be Joe Callahan.And maybe if he was, it would have worked out.Scratch that, if he was Joe Callahan it would have definitely worked out."Who is Joe Callahan?" you ask, and I'll tell you--Joe Callahan is the only KA Alpha who (IMO) can give Luke Stark a run for his money (and not just b/c he doesn't have that godawful Luke-stache).At Peace is a VERY different kind of story than the first book in The 'Burg series, For You. It's still romantic suspense, and it's still dark and gritty, but this one not only has two precious teenage girls (who, depending on which one you get, call their mother either "Momalicious" or "Mawdy") to help lighten the overall mood, the dark and gritty is tragic and personal rather than the relatively impersonal picking-off of February's ex boyfriends.Admittedly, it probably felt personal to Feb, but to us? Not really. We didn't know any of those guys.But Violet . . . we know Violet. And we know Kate and Keira, her girls, so even if we don't know Tim (Violet's husband, and father of Kate and Keira), the fact that he was a cop who was killed by a mobster in Chicago . . . it feels more personal.ESPECIALLY when the mobster who had Violet's husband killed has taken a shine to her (which is why she moved to the 'burg in the first place--to get her girls away from the creepy, stalker mob boss).Guess how well that worked?I'll give you a hint . . . not very. 'Cause this is KA y'all, and what kind of story would it be if moving away solved all of Vi's problems? Here's another hint--not much of one.And who does Violet happen to move next door to in the the 'burg? Hmm??Joe Callahan, that's who.And after they meet it's all hearts and flowers, right?Yeah, no.But it gets there . . . eventually . . .This is one of my all-time favorite KA books, and that's really saying something b/c KA<-----I love her. Something about the combination of Violet and her girls and Joe . . . it's just . . . warm fuzzies, head to toe. Joe's this big, gruff guy who has NOT had an easy life, and it's made him hard. But these girls . . . turn him to GOO. And BONUS--no stupid tattoos. This really is a fantastic story, and about as likely to happen as any KA book (which is to say unlikely), but it is the kind of modern day fairy tale that KA is so well-loved for. And guys, this entire series is still on sale for $0.99 each on Amazon, so get these suckers. If you already have them, get them for your sister (I did), or your best friend--It's what needs to happen.