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Review

“Guilt and happiness go to war inside of me as I fall. I wonder which one will win.”

4 stars

KA Tucker has once again given us an intricate and intense story that I happily lost myself in. This book loosely follows on from Burying Water. Luke was introduced in the last book as the best friend of Jesse, and his story links into the dark and gritty world that formed a part of Burying Water, although this book delves deeper into the dark and dirty underworld of organised crime, with bad guys, even worse guys, lots of plotting, double crosses and a forbidden romance.

Luke’s beloved Uncle runs a number of businesses, one of which is a stolen car ring. Luke is 24 and is being groomed into the business that up until now he has been largely ignorant of. He enjoys the life that his Uncle’s fortune has afforded him, and he is ambitious to make his own mark.

Clara is an undercover agent playing the part of Rain, a rich socialite who just happens to live in the building next door to Luke. Her job is to get close to Luke and gather information that will allow the FBI to bring the ring, and all the men associated with it, down. It is her goal in life to work for the FBI, and this case is high profile, and just may be her ticket in.

The story is a little slow to get going while all of the set up takes place, but once Clara finally gets Luke to take notice of her, things progress pretty quickly. There is a strong attraction between them, and she is being pushed by her superiors to do “whatever it takes” to get the job done, so she throws herself into her mission. And over shared meals, walks in the park, hot kisses and some not-so-innocent displays in front of their bedroom windows, a relationship starts to develop. But Clara-the-cop soon finds herself in over her head as she starts to real have feelings for her target.

I let myself be consumed by all of him. Until I’m no longer a cop and Luke isn’t who he is. I’m just a twenty-six-year-old girl with feelings and needs who’s attracted to this beautiful man.

And Luke, who is feeling very conflicted about the world his Uncle is trying to drag him into, finds himself interested in a woman for more than sex for the first time I his life.

She’s a breath of fresh air in this world that I’m finding myself in, a world in which, when I’m lying in the quiet dark and taking long than usual to fall asleep, doesn’t feel quite right.

I thought the whole love story was really cleverly done. The story is written in dual POV, which I really appreciated because there is so much going on, having both sides of the story makes it all so much more meaningful. I loved the way that Luke fell for Rain, and I really liked the way we got to see Clara and Rain as individual characters who blur together as she gets deeper and deeper into things with Luke.

“You’re perfect. Almost too perfect … Sometimes I wonder if you’re even real.”
I close my eyes with his words … I am real. At least, parts of who he’s seen are. And this is real, what’s happening between us right now.

More and more, I catch myself trying to imagine a permanent life here. A real life. With Luke. It always ends with the same damning question: how could that ever work, with him being who he is and me being who I am.
It can’t.

The romance is there and is definitely a major element of the story, but the crime part of the story is a huge focus, and the two storylines entwine together, building to the inevitable moment when you know it’s all going to blow up. My heart was pounding as we approached the big moment, and it’s done so well! KA Tucker gets us right into the hearts and minds of her characters so we feel every little feeling right along with them – guilt, betrayal, the longing and the devastation. And OMG, the feels!

I don’t care about any of it. All I want to do is lean forward and kiss him. Steal him away from the bad stuff, convince him to start over because I believe he isn’t beyond saving yet.
I’m so fucked.

It’s one of those stories where you are not sure how it’s all going to end up, but I was really happy with how it all unfolded. The ending is a little abrupt, but we see all we need to see, and it finishes at a good place.

Fans of the first book will be happy to know that Jesse and Alex both make an appearance, and I enjoyed getting to see them happy together, and I loved the moments with Luke and Jesse together – their friendship is really special.

I’m a huge fan of KA Tucker, and this book certainly disappoint. It’s not as romantic as her other books, but I definitely still felt the emotion between Clara and Luke, and the addition of the crime storyline added a nice complexity to the story – leaving me constantly guessing at who was a bad guy, who was a good guy in a bad situation what was actually going on behind the scenes. It’s all put together really well, and I really enjoyed the ride. I’m looking forward to the next instalment – hopefully featuring the fabulous Warner.

I loved it – 4 stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

Burying Water series