Review: Loved this series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 1, 2014
This final book in the Chronicles of Katrina was so worth the wait!Ah, Simon...what can I say about this man? He is every woman's wet dream. We meet him in The Dare as one hot, bigger than life, alpha cop shrouded in mystery. As the story continues through Double Dare and The Truth, the mystery around Simon dissipates as he shows us he is really just a man trying to deal with unfamiliar emotions, misplaced guilt and self-imposed responsibilities. In The Consequence, with help from the woman he loves, Simon finally comes to terms with the man he is and the desire to be better.And Kat. The sweet, nave, inhibited genius, exploited and humiliated by her boyfriend, Evan in The Dare. But with Simon's patience and guidance, she blooms into a strong, confident, sexy woman willing and able to stand up for herself and her man.They are not without obstacles in their way every time they turn around. There is Amanda, Simon's widowed sister-in-law who thinks of Simon as her husband's replacement. She does her best to get Kat out of the way and uses her young daughter in the process. Then there is Evan, Kat's ex-boyfriend and co-worker, who feels intellectually inferior to her, files charges of sexual harassment and corporate espionage against her that ultimately get her arrested and fired from her job. He sold her research for his own financial gain and tries to sell a deadly bacterium that could have a global impact.The Consequence takes us through the events of the investigation and the sting that puts Kat in harm's way. It takes us through Simon and Kat's deep and passionate love affair, overcoming so many obstacles and a declaration of their love for each other like no other.I'm giving this book five stars because I love this story so much, but in reality, I would knock it back to maybe 4.5 stars because of two things: First, there are so many loose ends that are not tied up leaving many unanswered questions and second, it has numerous grammatical errors and several continuity issues. Normally, those things really bother me, but I can overlook them because of my love for Simon and Kat. I've read other print books by Ms. Tabke and didn't notice errors like the ones in this e-Book. I'm not sure where the problem lies, but I'm guessing self-published editors are not as picky as publishing house editors.A couple continuity examples:In The Dare, when Simon gets the "Mandy" phone call in his hotel room, "Katrina gathered her soiled clothes to go." And when he leaves to meet with Amanda in the restaurant, Kat looks at his laptop and sees a picture of them with a little girl. "She slammed the lid shut, grabbed her pukey clothes, shoes and purse and ran from his room to the safety of hers." After she gets home and finally unpacks her suitcase a day later, one of her Louboutins is missing. "Had she left one behind? No, she distinctly remembered wrapping them up in her damp clothes..." Then in Double Dare, Simon shows up at her place with the shoe. How did he get it if she packed it up after he left the room?Also, in The Dare, after Evan admitted he was married and when Kat thought about their relationship, "They only met on weekdays, he always had to be somewhere on the weekend. He never spent the night at her place and they never went to his place." And in Double Dare, "Movies had been the only thing she and Evan did outside of sex in her apartment." In one book, he never spent the night at Kat's place and was never there on weekends. But in the Consequence, "Ugh, he still had the key to the downstairs door." Why would he have a key and how did Rosie and Elliot know who he was when they saw him leaving a restaurant with his wife and when he tried to break in to Kat's apartment if he was never there?In The Consequence, when Kat runs home (again) after Simon took too long coming back from his mother's house, she showers and "threw on a pair of yoga pants and a tee shirt" and goes over to Rosie and Elliot's place. When she gets back and Simon shows up, he pulls her onto his lap and "His hand slid down her waist to her hips then beneath the little cammie top she was wearing." When did she change her clothes?Things that left me hanging:The lunch date with Simon, Kat and Livy. Suddenly, that scenario was pulled from the reader by a quick note from Simon to Kat that Livy was sick and lunch was off as if the author changed her mind about going with that idea. I was hoping to meet Livy and Simon's mother at some point, as well.Simon took care of the situation with Amanda. How? What happened? There was no further information other than Simon's threat that his friends were more powerful than hers. Someone as caustic as Amanda wouldn't just nicely go away especially when there will always be interaction between Simon and Livy. If I was Kat, I'd want details!Mark was causing problems for their mother. What kind of problems? What did he do? No further details there, either.What happened with Veronica and Mat? We never heard from Veronica again. Even when Kat went back to her office, she had "an emergency" and was out.How did Evan find out he was being investigated? The explanation was "a little birdie told me". That detail was glossed over with no further explanation. Since the task force had been investigating Evan for two years and that was the basis for the whole story, I would think that would be an important piece of information.I'm sure these points are not important to most readers and I agree that the love story is the main focus. But I like to see these all the little details resolved or explained so I don't have to wonder what happened and be left with that incomplete feeling. I know there were some issues that delayed the original release date of The Consequence. I'm not sure if that's the reason, but, as much as I loved this book, I felt as if this final part was somewhat rushed and could have used a little more tightening to tie it all up.Having said that, I am really having a hard time letting go of Simon and Kat. I've read the entire series several times and I'm looking forward to another glimpse of their life together in the upcoming Bad Boys of the Bay series. I totally adored Rosie and Elliot and hope to see them in the future as well.I wholeheartedly recommend this book as well as the entire Chronicles of Katrina series. The books are cliffhangers so they definitely need to be read in order. This will always be a re-read for me.