Not sure if I can do justice to Maya Banks and her books through mere words. Her KGI series is one of my all time favorites, rated super high per my standards, and I re-read them a million times!!!! The unconditional love among the Kelly brothers, the unwavering support for each other and for each member of their team members, the chemistry between the teammates and the undying trust they have in each other was out of the charts for me. Every line, every book and every character was living and breathing their role and Banks did a stupendous job weaving these characters and their women who matched every step into their hearts.
My favorites of this continuing series are “Whispers In The Dark” and “Echoes At Dawn”. These are stories of two gifted sisters Shea and Grace, and their survival from the evil that wants to harness their gift and the protection and help that comes in the form of Nathan Kelly and Rio. I cried reading their stories for what the sisters had to go through and the sheer determination to survive and sacrifices made for the sake of loved ones. Being gifted is not always a blessing! What a series and what gem of characters!!
Now everyone has a bad day. Her latest release “After The Storm” received lot of flak for the storyline and her readers were very disappointed. Personally I liked the storyline, but the execution lacked a punch. Knowing Donovan, I was not expecting any major action packed pages. He is the behind-the-scenes kind of a guy and likes being on the home front. He is the go to guy for solutions and I expected him to go a little crazy and lose that cloak of control when the time comes and I guess that may have not sat well with some readers.
Eve is a young and scared woman trying to protect her siblings. She is immature, insecure and totally lacks trust of anyone. Like the other KG women, she really does not have an identity before she came into Van’s life, so comparison is not even an option. As a stand alone, “After The Storm” was a decent read. If reading the book as part of the series, then definitely I can see how the readers were disappointed especially since they were expecting for action packed, hot romance, cliffhanging story.
I have read her other books, trilogies, stand alone books and heading the top of that list are “Tempted”, “Enticed”, “Wanted” and waiting for the fourth book (Cam’s HEA). “Long Road Home” and “Be With Me” are books that took me by surprise for their wonderful stories, and great penning of emotions, a genre that I may have not read if not for the excellent way Maya Banks had narrated the story in “Be With Me”.
Well, Maya Banks sure spoiled her readers setting a high standard for herself and for us and am not surprised that when a book of hers does not work out, she really gets to hear about it. And she still takes a place in my heart as one of my top favorites and will always be with me 🙂
Romancing Life 