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Review

6 MASSIVE STARS

I went into this one a little unsure. Although I am obsessed with all things KA, I wasn’t a huge fan of Knight, and had seen mixed reviews about Creed, but OMG, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! Standby for major gushing…

Creed and Sylvie grew up together in awful circumstances. They were each other’s solace, the one thing in each other’s worlds that they could depend upon. They fall in love but are then torn apart in horrific circumstances. 16 years later and Sylvie is a total badass working for Knight Sebring 🙂 When Creed unexpectedly crashes back into her life she is not happy, thinking that he abandoned her all those years ago. Forced to work together, they discover that the chemistry is sizzling, and the love between them is still very much there, and very slowly, the story of what happened to them is revealed.

First off, I just need to say that I love Sylvie! Yeah, she’s not exactly feminine, but why does she have to be? She’s got a bad past, and what she has been through was absolutely horrific. In order to deal with that she’s become a badass, and she’s just like one of the guys – she smokes, drinks, sleeps around and says ‘fuck’ a lot – she even talks like one of KA’s alphas, but it suits her. And even though she’s completely closed off about her past, she’s honest and straight up, there’s no game playing with her. She throws some serious attitude at Creed when he comes back into her life, but I love that she didn’t fight her feelings for too long. Despite all that she had been through, when he opened up to her, she trusted him and opened up right back.

Tucker Creed *sigh*. Oh my Lord, I love this man! He comes back into Sylvie’s life by chance, but he seizes it and is determined to make her his again, and I love the way he goes about it. He’s an absolute badass, but he is so incredibly devoted to her, and doesn’t shy away from telling her how he feels early on.

“Born to love you, baby,” he repeated. “Die lovin’ you, my Sylvie.”

*sob* That whole scene made me cry, and that’s just the start of romantic Creed. OMG, this man can bring the swoon! He has an awful past as well, but he willingly takes on Sylvie’s demons to help her through.

“Then and now, beautiful, I’ll take you any way you come to me … Any way. I love this Sylvie, I loved that Sylvie. I just love you, baby.”

Absolutely incredible!

The flashbacks to young Creed and Sylvie were absolutely beautiful. Their backstory is unfolded slowly and interwoven with present day. And with every glimpse back into their childhood, you understand more of the incredible bond that they shared.

Set up for the below – Creed is 17, Sylvie is 11. She already loves him, and has just seen him out with a girl. Seeing that she is upset by seeing him with somebody else, he pulls her aside…

“Hey” he said softly again and, slowly, my eyes lifted to him. When my eyes met his beautiful blue ones, he whispered. “You’ll always be my girl.”
…
“It’s always you and me.”
I nodded again and felt my lips quivering.
He kept whispering, “Always me and my Sylvie, yeah?”
“Yeah.” I whispered back.

Swoony, even back then! Their relationship is gorgeous to read, and I love how it developed slowly over 12 years as they were there for each other and grew to love each other deeply.

The story of their past and the mystery that drove them apart is revealed throughout the book. Creed and Sylvie share what they’ve been through with each other, but the reader is only given a small part of that through their conversations, through Sylvie’s nightmares, and through the flashbacks. And just when you think you’ve figured out what happened, you get smacked down with the brutal reality, and it is heartbreakingly tragic. I was in tears while reading, and it makes their reunion so much sweeter when you see what they have had to endure.

“Some people get to live life. Some people survive it. We’re survivors. We can carve out our pieces of happy, and, I swear to God, baby, right now, you got my vow, for you and for me, the rest of our lives, I’ll bust my ass to carve our piece of happy.”

*sniff sniff*

A word about the sex – there is a lot of it, and most of it is very graphic (there’s even a warning about it at the beginning of the book), but it’s actually an important part of the story. The way that they behave while in bed is very reflective of what’s happening in their relationship and while it’s definitely intense, it’s really beautifully written.

There’s not a huge cast of characters but Knight makes a number of, very welcome, appearances, as does Anya, and some of the other characters from the first book. Knight’s relationship with Sylvie was amazing, and I loved seeing what the two of them shared. We also get to meet Creed’s family, and as always KA writes them well, and weaves them into the story brilliantly.

With most of the story being focussed around Creed and Sylvie finding their way back to each other and then getting their HEA, there’s not a lot of action, but there is a kickass ending featuring the gorgeous Hawk Delgado, and some truly brilliant fight scenes – I was laughing out loud, only to be screaming FUUUUUUCK 5 minutes later, and then be back in tears of laughter another 5 minutes after that. KA rocks the emotional rollercoaster! She also completely rocks the Epilogue, which is absolutely phenomenal. Everything you could possibly want to finish of Creed and Sylvie’s story, and more.

Love, love, love. Another winner for me from the genius that is Ms Ashley!

6 massive stars!

 

The Unfinished Hero Series

 

For more KA awesomeness, check out our Kristen Ashley Author Spotlight