This is so much more than "just" a love story.

I come into series out of order now & then. I read A Day Makes before I read this one, and really, Mine should have been first since the ADM follows it in time. But regardless, I've gained a whole level of understanding Darius's actions in ADM now that I've finished Mine, so I guess I didn't miss anything. That's to the author's credit.

I've read some good codependent love stories, but this one? This is amazing. It celebrates not just love, but unconditional love, contrasted with conditional love, and the bizarre love from a gun-for-hire who stars in A Day Makes. There is loyalty, honesty, the damage lies can cause, and beautiful strength in surprising places. As I said in the review of A Day Makes; some day I'll re-read the four Marshals novels, the Vault novels of which this one is a prequel, and the A Matter of Time series, which I have just started (5 books, that I know of). I don't re-read many books anymore, but these are going to be well worth revisiting.

Mine is stunningly good. Yes, read it. ( )

Well 4 stars for the cray cray ride i had while reading this.

"Our relationship was a twisted, codependent mess, but it worked for us, and within the snarl that it was, we functioned pretty well." ( )

This is not an easy book to review. It's left me with somewhat mixed feelings. Not that I didn't enjoy it, because I actually really did. I think it's more to do with the fact that it didn't completely grab me like some other books do.

Yet the characters were perfect in their imperfection. They were both damaged in some ways, yet fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces. This wasn't a story about finding that perfect love, although we were shown how they met through flashbacks. This story was more about living through some difficult times in their lives and growing in the process.

It wasn't a story filled with angst. And while I'm sure not everyone would agree with me, things were not swept under the carpet or dismissed. Maybe problems were handled very differently than we are used to, but that's what makes life (and books) interesting. It's also not a sweetness and lightness story. It's set in a side of life that very few of us ever see, although we all know it exists, without any justification or apologies offered. It just is.

So while the story might not have managed to fully engage me continuously throughout the whole book, I still did really enjoy it. ( )

Just finished this one and I'm pondering if I should give it 3 stars or 4 stars.
Up until 72% of the book, this was 5 stars for me. I did not see it as a love story between two crazy characters, but as a story of mental illness and finding a way to cope with it and try to live a normal life". Landry was the perfect example of bi-polar disease and Trevan was the perfect example of a Capricorn *wink wink*.
I liked the development of their relationship, the side characters and call me crazy but I enjoyed the hell out of the nutjob scenes.

So, why am I hesitating between 3 and 4?


1. The interesting bits like the whole gambling house undertaking drama, Landry's kidnapping and then his release were all told via dialogue by different characters. I got pages and pages of Landry's tantrums but I got dialogue explaining his kidnapping end to end. It was just like bad sex.
2. No plot - this was a book about nothing - but I'm highly impressed a book about nothing managed to keep me, a person with a short attention span, interested to read it until the end



3. Trevan was too perfect at times, always ready to save the day with a word, an embrace or a nicely timed fist ..... but he WAS a Capricorn, so I shouldn't complain much about that

4. The motif why Landry was kidnapped Oh come on, that's when I started to be pissed. That's just lazy. We have a story where the mob is involved, a story about settling scores for territory and we went with that?

So all in all I think I'm around 3.5 rounding up to 4. Since I've finished it I recommend you read it. It's fun and pulls you in really quick. ( )

This book is a great mix between psychological insight, criminal elements made to look almost nice, and tension via some family mystery and drama. The main characters are constantly attacked from various sources, and it certainly kept me on my toes!

Landry is a somewhat mysterious man. We find out more as the story develops, and the picture isn’t pretty. Talk about family issues! It is a miracle that Landry is as sane as he is, even though he has to fight for that normality every single day. What he needs seems simple, but Trevan was the first guy to recognize what it was. Discovering and understanding what this really means was a huge part of my fascination with this story.

I admire Trevan for what he does for Landry, and how fiercely he loves him. He is one of those guys who will stand by their man no matter what, and his determination is sorely tested in this book. Interestingly, Trevan is not exactly a law-abiding citizen; even though he does come down just this side of the law so far, he is involved with some very dark elements and I constantly felt like he was going to slip. Great way to keep the tension up!

If you like tough men that are almost-but-not-quite criminals, secondary characters that are far more dangerous than anything normally encountered by most of us (thank God!), and if you’re looking for a great love story, this is your book. I loved it from beginning to end, especially since it kept me guessing!




NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )