Review: LOVED this book! Plot! Characters! Steamy! Worth wasting a day reading it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 14, 2013
Just finished this book- spent most of my day reading this - now I have a ton of laundry to face- but well worth it!!!Yikes, these books are long, but I enjoy almost every single page.Kristen Ashley does an amazing job building a network of characters and subplots/storylines that keep you engaged. I am sure that other authors or readers may feel that much of this book could be cut back, but I am glad that THIS author did not.The main characters, Alec (44 year old cop) and Feb (42 year old owner of bar) are thrown together due to a string of gory murders that are linked directly to her (not as a suspect).  Alec and Feb were the 'it' couple in high school- destined to be together forever. Due to extenuating circumstances (that are not revealed for awhile in the book), Feb breaks off their relationship and spends 22 years roaming the country attempting to find herself, or attempting to lose herself. She finally returns home to help her brother manage the bar (taking over from their parents).  For almost 2 years, Feb ignores Alec (who is now divorced and cutting ties with another woman). The murders throw them together.Kristen does a great job with the twists and mystery surrounding the murders and how they relate to Feb. In conjunction with the great mystery, she patches Alec's and Feb's relationship that makes sense. It's not a quick fix - they slowly come back together, trusting each other, revealing the incident that initially broke them apart. It tears you up inside, but Alec and Feb are very good about trying to focus on building a future instead of having them wail over "Ohhhhh, if we only did blah blah blah"Glad that Kristen didn't rake us over the coals with that.What I loved:- Both characters are great. Feb is not a runner- meaning that every time something goes wrong, the heroine runs away and the hero has to chase her with lots of angst and explaining. Hate that. They handle things pretty maturely (which they should - they are both over 40!!!) with great emotion, but not enough to make you go crazy. Feb is strong, sexy and smart. Alec is HOT HOT HOT, a man's man without being a total Neanderthal, smart, brave and sensitive. And HOT HOT HOT.- leads me into the steamy sex scenes. HOT HOT HOT. HOT.- supporting cast. LOVE everyone. Even the bitchy women. We need them always. Love the supportive friends, the barfly, the cops, the parents, etc. everyone is so well written and you feel true compassion for them.- The plot. Kristen had me at the edge of my seat sometimes trying to find out what was going to happen next - trying to guess who the murderer was. Very exciting.- Ending: YES! LOVE happy endings. LOVE no cliffhangers. Love a neat ending with a big fat bow on top. Thank yoU!- Love that even the murderer was not completely vilified. The murderers back story gives you pause; have a tiny bit of compassion. Which was hard to do considering how evil the person was.- HUMOR! The sandwich scene(s) at the bar and Daryl. I was laughing out loud during MANY parts of this book! Very funny. Witty. Loved it.What I didn't love:- The murdered was almost over the top. But could over look it - had to reel myself in to roll my eyes at how much killing was being done and no one was pointing fingers at Feb.- The language of the book. It was written in a 'country speak' manner. Tripped me up a few times. But I could get past it. But it may be more difficult to palate for others.Would I read this book again?Heck yeahEnjoy!