Retribution (Deception, #2)

by K.A. Robinson

[Cocktails and Books]

RETRIBUTION was one of the books where I really hoped the heroine turned things around. Claire was a young girl, who naively found herself in way over her head when she started a relationship with Robert Evans. She made choices that had me shaking my head and easily forgave or pushed asides situations that should have had her running out the front door. But the compassionate side of me was always reminding me that Claire, raised in foster care and not often shown love, craved what Robert had promised. Her head may not have fully believed him or was willing to dismiss the things that he had done, but Claire need for love, a sense of home and family often times pushed her good judgement aside.

Claire did a lot of growing up in RETRIBUTION. She found her backbone and decided that she was worth more than the value Robert placed on her. She kept her promise to herself to not be a statistic. And she vowed she would protect those that she loved. We saw sparks of this person before, but it truly took Claire learning to believe in and love herself before she turned that corner.

Claire's relationship with Cooper changed too. Gone was the venom spewed between the two of them. Instead, they embraced the feelings they had and their need to protect the other. What I liked even more about them was the fact that they didn't immediately fall into their attraction to each other. It was slow building and came when both of them understood their feelings for each other were outside all the other crap they were dealing with.

A satisfying ending to the Deception series. Yes, it was hard to read at times and I didn't always like the characters, but in the end KA Robinson did a fantastic job of turning the heroine and her hero into a couple you could get behind and root for until the last page.