Review: 4 1/2 dreamy stars - two HEA - yeah!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2013
So this is the third Burg series of Kristen Ahley's that I've read.This book can be read as a stand alone - BUT I would recommend reading the series from the beginning.This book is about Mike and Dusty. Mike is the cop who fell in love with Vi (the heroine in At Peace). Mike is another alpha male - but much less Neanderthal-like than Vi's husband, Cal/Joe.Dusty is the little sister of Mike's old high school girl friend, Debbie.Dusty had left the town many years old - to return for a funeral. Mike and Dusty end up crossing paths again and major sparks fly.Since Mike has been burned by his ex-wife, and a love lost in Vi, he is very gun shy about Dusty. But their relationship kicks in pretty quickly. The focus is more about working around the kids, merging two lives and fighting various villains.The story is different than the first two. There was one main evil villain. In this story, there are several. Not as evil as in the other books, but antagonists none the less.I really liked this book because Dusty didn't really have major baggage. She wasn't 'broken' and didn't need to wade through a pile of bad history, etc. She is a vivacious, honest, caring, artistic, talented, perceptive woman. She is almost saint-like, and even has the nickname, "angel" by Mike.Yes, Dusty is a little over the top. She is near perfect. Can even bake an amazing cake.These books are long. I usually can finish a book in a night - but these take 2 days for me. But I would rather have too much information, details and story lines, than less. So I can deal.What I loved about this book:- Dusty. She is a bit too perfect, but I love that about her. She is fiesty, so caring, and honest. No major drama with her. She is a straight shooter. Love that.- Mike. Love him too. Gorgeous alpha male that can blab about his feelings and ADORES his kids. Totally a lady killer. yeah, He does something a bit shi**y in the beginning, but he doesn't stew over it. Fixes his mistake and moves on.- Multiple 'villains'. I like that there were several different issues going on. Not one main bad guy that was doing a lot of bad things. But several bad people doing things. Spreading the pain and suffering to multiple people eases the angst a bit- The kids. Mike's kids. Dusty's nephews. LOVE LOVE LOVE how they are kids -but are mini-adults. Am around kids a ton and don't know a single kid that is like Fin. A gorgeous young man that acts like he's a mature, responsible, in-touch with his feelings, perceptive 35 year old? Nope. not a one. But it's still fun to imagine that a kid could possibly be like that.- A second love story/interest that is beautifully written. Young love is so innocent.- Steamy sex scenes. Love them. Well written. steam. May have been a few too many (eek - did I say that?) But it's a long book - so many many sex scenes.- Past characters. LOVE reading about Vi/cal and Colt/Feb. So great to catch up on previous characters and see how their relationships/families grew.- Epilogue. Dang. Ms. Ashley's epilogues are LONG. So the book leaves you feeling satiated.- To reiterate above- we are left with closure and happiness. NO friggin cliff hangers!What I didn't like:- The 'wrap up' to the major villain in this book was resolved a bit too easily. Hey, I can do X for cake. And bam! It's done. A little to quickly/easily resolved. Guess the book was too long to expand on this part of the plot.- The kids. Although as much as I LOVED the kids and wanted to adopt all of them. This was really unrealistic. Kids are not like this. A teenage girl is WAY more hormonal and irrational. Boys are WAY more sex-driven and irrational. These kids were more responsible and well behaved than most adults I know. But it still ways more on the positive scale than negative.Raced home to finish this book. Didn't care how late- needed to read everyone's HEA and it was SOOOOO worth it!Thank you Kristen Ashley for these books!