After The Storm (KGI, #8)

by Maya Banks

[EBookObsessed]

Before Rusty Kelly was adopted by the Kelly family, she was a kid alone on the streets. She would do anything to avoid being sent back to her drunk father. When 15-year-old Travis Breckenridge walked into the family’s Hardware Store looking for work, it only took a minute for her to recognize herself in this teen. He was nervous and hungry and after he mentioned his sisters, Rusty knew she had to do something. But she knew from experience that a kid on the street is not going to trust an offer of help. She knew if she probed too deep, he would run for it and he needed the little money she could give him.

Rusty enlists the help her big brother, Van. Donovan Kelly is known for his soft spot for abused women and children, especially children. She knew he would figure out of way to help this family.

Rusty and Donovan follow Travis home to a broken down, uninhabitable trailer. From the moment Donovan meets Eve, Travis and little Cammie, he knows that they are meant to be his family. But years of working with victims at KGI has taught him to recognize the terror in this family. They are running scared from someone and he will do anything to keep them safe but first he needs to earn their trust.

When a freak tornado destroys their trailer and leaves Eve and Travis injured, Donovan has run out of patience. He will do what he does best at KGI, he takes over the situation and can only pray he hasn’t destroyed any hope for earning Eve’s trust. He brings them all to his house on the Kelly compound. He is not sure if they will feel safer or imprisoned but he can no longer sit back and wait while they suffer.

Growing up in a family as strong as the Kelly family, Donovan has no real knowledge of the fear that rides Eve. Donovan’s brothers would stand by him and die to save him. Eve is running from her family. She has taken Travis and Cammie away from their abusive Dad and is willing to risk prison or worse to keep them from falling into his hands. Eve would love to believe that Donovan will keep them safe, but the price for trusting the wrong person would be paid by Travis and Cammie.

If their father ever found them again, he would make them pay for defying him.

THOUGHTS:
I really enjoy the KGI series, and although I flew through the story, I did feel a little rushed through it. Donovan’s immediate bond with this family is wonderful, and with that strong family bond that he has with his own family, you can understand his thinking in the story.

To a degree, I was left feeling that Eve was rushed into the situation. They have been on the run and hiding from Eve’s stepfather/Cammie and Travis’s father. After moving them into his house, Donovan lays out his cards and tells her of his feelings that they should be a family and even after Eve and Donovan have their own kids, that he feels Cammie and Travis would be their first children. Here is someone who is full of fear and a man you just met is declaring that he will take care of you and your siblings and you’ll live happily ever after playing house together and popping out more kids for him.

We know that the Kelly family is not a cult, but this situation could easily have been a storyline for a kidnapping/hostage situation or forced sexual slavery. Eve is only in her early 20′s (Donovan is in his late 30s) and she has been under the control of the manipulative stepfather for years. She walks into this situation a virgin and is not forced to but convinced into the role of lover to Donovan. He tells her he wants her in his bed and as his wife, but he only met her about two days ago. She goes to bed with him not 100 percent sure what her feelings are for Donovan outside of gratitude that he would take them all in and protect them.

And it does not take much to destroy her already shaky trust and believe she has been manipulated by Donovan so he can have the children.

All in all, the rushed feeling of the romance part of the story leaves Donovan looking like a controlling bully, and although there is no question of his intense feelings for this family, their backstory called for a slower romancing of Eve. He should have cemented her trust, taken care of the problem and then taken her to bed. In this case, I would have waited for the sex after Eve had developed strong feelings for Donovan. Rushing it was awkward and just this side of questionable.

This will not be on the list of my more favorite stories of this series.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion.

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