Thursday, July 17, 2014

Book Review: When Day Breaks by Maya Banks

When Day Breaks (KGI #9)
By Maya Banks
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Source: Publisher
Summary: The Kelly Group International (KGI): A super-elite, top secret, family-run business.
Qualifications: High intelligence, rock-hard body, military background.
Mission: Hostage/kidnap victim recovery. Intelligence gathering. Handling jobs the U.S. government can’t…

Eden is said to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Her face has graced countless magazines and her body has sold millions of dollars of clothing. But her fame and beauty has earned her more than she ever imagined. Evil is stalking her, determined to extinguish the ethereal beauty forever.

Swanson or “Swanny” as his teammates call him is always up for the next mission. He came back from Afghanistan wounded and scarred. Hardly the kind of man who even belongs in the same room with Eden. And yet there’s something about the quiet beauty that stirs his blood and makes him dream of the impossible. Because Beauty loving the beast only happens in fairy tales and KGI doesn’t deal in fairy tales. Ever.


Review: I love Maya Banks. Seriously, any genre she writes in, I have to read it because I always almost always end up loving it. I hadn't read one of her romantic suspense novels in the KGI series yet, so I couldn't wait to experience that genre from her!

Eden is used to being in the spotlight. Deemed the most beautiful woman in the world, she has worked herself as much as possible while she's still in high demand in the modeling world. But when someone tries to kill Eden in a shooting, her father and brothers want her as protected as possible. The only problem is that Eden has the biggest job of her life coming up in Paris and refuses to cancel the shoot. Her family hires KGI to protect her, which includes Swanny, a scarred man with a scarred past. As soon as Eden meets Swanny, though, she's instantly captivated by the reserved man. Swanny can't even begin to imagine why a girl like Eden would fall for a guy like him, but he knows he feels the same way too. Can Swanny protect this woman who's beautiful inside and out or will she be taken from him just when he finally found love?

The premise of this book sounded so good. I love Beauty and the Beast type stories and Swanny sounded like such a great man (aside from his name. I still thought it was weird when Eden called him Swanny. I wish she had called him by his first name instead of his military nickname like everyone else). As a romantic suspense, though, I expected much, much more suspense from the story. I felt like there was a lot of waiting around and guarding Eden at the hotel and her photo shoots. I wish there was more heart pumping moments where Swanny really got involved in some action that wasn't over within a couple of paragraphs. 

As far as the romance, I liked it enough. Eden was such a sweet girl and I loved how she would seem so sure of herself, but also still have her own insecurities. Eden and Swanny just wanted to be real with each other, so I enjoyed their honesty and how they shared what they were really feeling and thinking. When things heated up, their blunt conversations made it less awkward and much more realistic. I wasn't that big of a fan of how fast Eden fell for Swanny (literally the moment she saw him) and I wish they had spent some time together before Eden decided that Swanny was the one for her. I really liked Swanny and how sweet and caring he was, but I think Eden needed more time to actually see that in him. 

While I really loved the characters and how they developed, I thought the romance happened too fast and the story was lacking the suspense I was waiting for. I've heard that the rest of the KGI series is fantastic, so I'm definitely going to check those out. As my first romantic suspense from Maya Banks, though, I was left wanting more.


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