Over the years, Donovan Kelly has fought relentlessly for justice, women and children always holding a special place in his heart. Working side by side with his brothers, Donovan has witnessed firsthand the toll it’s taken—physically, mentally, and emotionally—on his loved ones, and the innocent lives caught in the crossfire. What he never expects is for his next mission to happen right on his home turf—or for it to take a very personal turn.
Picturesque Kentucky Lake is the perfect place for a soul in search of safe harbor. A beautiful stranger has arrived—desperate, breathless, and on the run from a dark past closing in on her and the younger siblings she has vowed to protect. Donovan must now draw on every resource at his disposal—if he wants to save a woman and the children who may prove to be his destiny.
Donovan Kelly is ready to settle down. He wants what his brothers have which is a good woman to come home to and love. Now they’re all starting to have children as well and frankly he’s a bit jealous. When his sister Rusty comes to him and tells him of a 15 year old boy that she’s hired under the table he’s concerned for her safety. Rusty assures him that Travis won’t hurt her but she’s concerned because she sees herself in Travis. She used to be him before she was adopted by the Kelly family. She asks Donovan for help and he agrees. They follow Travis home and find a dilapidated trailer that holds his 23 year old sister and his very sick 4 year old sister. They are secretive and don’t want to have help – both Rusty and Donovan know that the three are hiding something.
Donovan is blown away by what he feels is an instant connection to Eve, the older sister. He wants nothing more than to get to know her better but he can tell that she’s skittish and is constantly looking over her shoulder to see what’s coming. After a tornado hits town Donovan is scared for the siblings and ends up finding Travis and his little sister, Cammie, in a culvert and Eve under a mattress – they’ve all been hurt. Donovan takes them home, gets them medical care from the KGI doctor, Maren, and then takes care of them like he’s known them for years. This has all taken place in the span of 2 – 2.5 days but already Van knows that he wants the siblings to be his family. He wants Travis and Cammie to be his children and Eve to be with him for the rest of his life as his wife. He dreams of the years they’ll spend together and the children they’ll one day have.
The siblings are running from their controlling, murdering father who is a complete ass and Van wants them away from him forever. KGI makes plans to take the father down but in the meantime Eve overhears what she thinks is a major betrayal by Van and she runs. Shit hits the fan and Van might lose Eve forever.
Alright, let me be honest…this was not a bad book. It wasn’t, really. The story of Travis, Cammie and Eve was a good one and one that I thought had the potential to be great. Unfortunately that was completely ruined by the insta-love of Donovan for Eve. Seriously, throughout the book it didn’t matter what was happening it was all tainted by the fact that this man had known this woman for 2 freakin days and called her his. Then his whole family accepted this as if it was the perfect norm and called her family. What. The. Fuck. I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was a little bit crazy if you ask me. I almost think that saving this woman from her horrible father and THEN falling in love with her would have been better. I know that the Kelly men in the previous books had fallen in love with their women quickly but for those, imho, were written in a way that made it more acceptable. IDK, this just didn’t work for me when it came to the romance.
I think the other thing that bothered me about this one was the amount of inner thought and introspection that occurred by both Van and Eve. I think SOME of that is good in any book but in this book it was the majority of the book. Not something I liked as it slowed the story down even more than it was already.
I felt the rest of the story needed some more of the excitement and suspense when it came to the teams but other than that I thought the story was a good one. I did like when the teams got together to work at the end as it felt more of KGI book in that instance. Anyway, while I liked parts of this one I can’t say that I recommend it.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Tracy, I felt the same way about this book. Not only did he decide immediately that they were his forever, but he told Eve immediately, and she never even said, "Whoa dude. You're effing crazy!"
Also agree that the rest of it was all great.
Lori – I'm so glad I wasn't the only one. I started to think maybe I was missing something and actually went back and re-read parts (before I finished the book) because I couldn't fathom what was happening. Also, and I didn't mention this in the review but…did he possessiveness not trigger any warning bells in her head that said to her, "oh wait, this guys just as controlling as my freakin stepfather!" or was that just me?
Two day? WTF? I'm with Lori – why wouldn't the heroine go 'OMG!' to a declaration like that?
I must confess to not being a fan of insta-love. Couple that with the heroines always sounding like they could be models…IDK…I just can't read m/f any more *shrug*