Ames‘ review of The Darkest Hour (KGI series, Book 1) by Maya Banks.
It’s been a year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly saw his wife Rachel alive. Now he’s received an anonymous phone call claiming Rachel is alive. To find her, Ethan will have to doge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise.
On the one year anniversary of his wife Rachel’s death, Ethan receives a mysterious package in the mail claiming that she is alive. After existing like a zombie for the past year, Ethan is suddenly hopeful and full of life. He goes to his brothers who run the KGI Group to ask for help bringing Rachel home. This is good news for Ethan’s brothers. Sam and Garrett have wanted Ethan to join their elite group of warriors for a while now and there’s no time like the present. And they also have missed Rachel and will do anything to bring her home.When Rachel is found though, news is not good. She’s been held captive through drugging – looks like heroine and cocaine. The effects of the stress of her being held prisoner and the drugs have resulted in Rachel having memory loss. (*note* I hate amnesia stories too, but Maya-love overthrows all!) While in captivity, Rachel held onto two thoughts in her mind – that her name was Rachel and the face of a man – her “angel.” Imagine Rachel’s shock when she’s rescued by the man she always feared was just a dream.
The Darkest Hour is the story of Ethan and Rachel reconnecting after a year apart and Rachel’s memory loss. Also there’s the fact that before Rachel died, Ethan did something that he really regrets and even though he knows he should tell her, he can’t bring himself to do it. He’s afraid that it’ll destroy Rachel and he doesn’t want to ruin his second chance with her. Rachel fears that she is going crazy and the slow return of her memories is another stressor to her recovery.
I really enjoyed The Darkest Hour. The memory loss aspect to this story did not get on my nerves at all. Ethan and Rachel’s emotions seemed realistic (to me anyway, never having been held captive and drugged for a year) and Rachel didn’t annoy me with her angst over her situation. She can’t recall her life before her captivity and finds everything a bit overwhelming.The relationship between the brothers was good, too. There’s Ethan, Sam, Garrett, Joe and Nathan. Also in the Kelly family are their parents and a rescued runaway, Rusty. I liked how this family related to each other.
One thing that struck me reading this book was the similarity to the Nauti series by Lora Leigh. But this series I can tell is going to be infinitely better. The men are alpha but the women are not weak. Yay. The Darkest Hour gets a 4.25 out of 5 from me. Book 2 in the KGI series, No Place to Run, comes out December 7. It features Ethan’s brother Sam.This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
The series:
I really want to read this one!
I loved this book. I thought she did a great job. And while I, too, hate amnesia stories, there was at least a plausible explanation, and Rachel remembered things right from the beginning, so I was able to accept it as a major part of the storyline. Loved this book; she hot all my favorite buttons.
I enjoyed your review Ames. This is one of my fave books of 2010.
I just loved the characters, emotion, & suspense. It was a perfect balance for me.
LOVED this story!!!!
Lori-That’s why I didn’t mind the amnesia either – it made sense.
Cheryl-Once you do, you’ll enjoy it!
Mary G-I’m glad you liked it too. 😛
Kris-That’s good. So I guess it’s safe to say you’re going to read Sam’s book? LOL
I wanted to love this book but it ended up being only a little better than okay for me. I read a review on AAR recently that resonated – it suggested the book tried to do too much for too many and as such there wasn’t enough of the romance between the h/h. I agree. I could have lived without Rusty and all the extraneous characters. I ended up being disappointed because I wanted it to be so much more – my favourite type of storyline is the hero rescuing the herione and helping her regain herself – those parts were the best of the book but I wanted more. I didn’t really understand why it was such a big deal not to tell Rachel that they’d had trouble before (and it was his fault!!) and Ethan was so glad she was back because he had a second chance – that would have made more sense to me.
Still, I do enjoy Maya Banks’ books and I’m looking forward to the next book. Maybe now we’ve had the set up of the characters the main h/h can have more room.
Hi Kaetrin
I see what you mean about too many characters. I think this happens with a lot of “first of a series” books where they have to introduce everyone. In this case I thought the brothers were sexy & they had a funny rapport so it didn’t take away from the good stuff for me.
Kaetrin-I agree with Mary G – she’s setting up a new series so there’s a bit much going on. But I didn’t mind it. Makes me interested in the other characters. 😛 But I can see where Rusty would be a problem for some.
Mary G-I agree with you, especially about the brothers!
I liked this book but how is it similar to the incestuous porn show that is the Nauti series? This is romantic suspense. The Nauti series is sex toy and sharing erotica. That’s not a good way to advertise the book!
What I didn’t like about the book is how everyone CARES so much. There are four thousand characters and they all love Rachel SO MUCH. It was like the Brady Bunch.
I have ordered the next two though. I got the impression the author’s in love with Garrett, so no doubt his book is the one to look out for.
Anon-The similarity for me was the fact that it was a bunch of brothers, ex-military, playing their war games in the middle of nowhere. These guys are in Tennessee? And in the Nauti series it was Kentucky.
In no way was I referring to the crazy sex shenanigans that goes in that series. Just the set up was somewhat similar.
And that just goes to show, Maya does it so much better.