Ash’s review of No Place to Run (KGI Series, Book 2) by Maya Banks
Romantic Suspense published by Berkley 07 Dec 10

I have been waiting for this book since I read the last page of The Darkest Hour. My expectations were pretty high and while I enjoyed it very much, it wasn’t as great as the first.

I started reading saying I would read a little before bed, and I ended up reading straight through to the end. Maya Banks knows how to draw you in, and in No Place to Run we start with Sam and Sophie together, before he leaves to finish his mission. Right away the chemistry between them is strong and I was excited to see what would happen. I won’t say it’s downhill from there, but it’s a choppy ride.It’s as if everything that happens is because it’s supposed to happen in that order. For example, when Sam and Sophie finally come together after she comes back into his life, it didn’t feel like the right time, but that it’s expected. Things are going good and then there has to be conflict, so one of them does something to cause drama. It just didn’t flow.

By the end, I really didn’t like Sam much.  I do have to say, however, that even though it felt formulaic, Maya Banks gets the emotions dead on.  When Sam and Sophie have moments together to talk or comfort each other, I’m in it with them. My heart hurt for Sophie, especially when she is surrounded by his family. I felt her pain, and all Sam seems to do is add to it.

I loved this family in The Darkest Hour. I loved reading about their relationships, seeing how close they are and how they pull together to help each other. In No Place to Run, I just want to smack them. I understand that they are suspicious of Sophie, and it makes sense for them to be, but the up and down gets old fast. One chapter they like her and she is family,  next they are suspicious and don’t trust her. Sam especially gets on my nerves. He doesn’t trust her, but he can’t keep his hands off her. I feel it’s unfair to Sophie, and I want her to get mad at him. She would see him and forget that he’s being a jerk. The worst is at the end, minutes after he admits to himself that he loves her, he turns and believes that she has betrayed them in the worst way. He never had faith in her, and if I was her I would have made him work hard to get me back.

So, I guess this doesn’t really seem like a B review, but Maya Banks knows how to write. I think the problem is I’m too connected to Sophie. I get mad for her. But I just could not put this book down and I want to read a book for every brother and KGI team member there is. It’s not often my emotions get so wrapped up in a book, but I feel what these characters feel; not just Sophie and Sam but also the other characters. Even Rusty, the teen Sam’s parents have taken in. She isn’t in the book much, but when she is, she is just as strong as anyone else.  I really like how Maya Banks is able to have the right amount of emotional and action.

I can’t think of another romantic suspense series that has given me exactly what I want out of it. For those reasons alone, this series is a must read for me.

Grade: B-

Summary:

Sam Kelly was her first love.

The last person Sam Kelly expected to pull wounded from the lake was Sophie Lundgren. Once they shared a brief, intense affair while Sam was undercover and then she vanished. She’s spent the last months on the run, knowing that any mistake would cost her life and that of her unborn child—Sam’s child. Now she’s resurfaced with a warning for Sam: this time, he’s the one in danger.

Now he’s her last chance.

Sam has too many questions to let her slip away again—like why she disappeared in the first place. This time he vows not to be seduced. But one look in her eyes, and the passion burns again, and Sam knows he’ll do anything to keep her and his child safe. However, Sophie’s dark past is more dangerous than he imagines, and the only way for either to survive it is to outrun it.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series: