AFTER THE STORM - Maya Banks
A KGI Novel , Book 8
Berkley
ISBN: 978-0-425-26377-8
January 2014
Romantic Suspense

Tennessee - Present Day

Donovan Kelly is well known within his family for his soft spot for women and children in trouble.  So when his sister Rusty tells him about the teenager she's hired to work in their dad's hardware store and that she thinks he's in trouble, Donovan is more than willing to lend a hand.  When Donovan and Rusty follow Travis home, Donovan is shocked by the boy's living conditions, and when he meets Travis's sisters, Eve and Cammie, he knows he'll do whatever it takes to keep them safe. He's never turned away from a woman or child in need, but Donovan knows that Eve is special…and will mean more to him than a mission.

Eve is running, not just for her life, but for those of her half siblings as well.  Knowing the abuse fifteen year old Travis and four year old Cammie lived with, Eve did what she had to, basically kidnapping them.  When Donovan and Rusty arrive at the run-down trailer they are living in, Eve's instinct is to run again. She trusts no one, and the fewer people aware of her little family, the better.  During his second visit, Donovan makes it clear that he'll be returning, and Eve knows it's time to move on.  Fortunately, Mother Nature has other ideas.

Eve and her siblings left behind a horrifying situation and are pretty much at the end of their rope, but in AFTER THE STORM, they will finally get the help they need.  The Kelly Group International, or KGI, is the business that Donovan's family runs, specializing in hostage recovery, as well as missions that the government can't be involved in.  All of the other Kelly men, as well as their two team leaders, fell in love while on a mission, so it isn't a surprise to Donovan when the same happens with him.  Never before has he felt so personally connected to someone he's helping, and his attraction to Eve fills him with a sense of completion.  He's just as taken with Travis and Cammie, and it isn't long before he can't imagine his life without them in it.  Getting Eve to trust him will be a challenge though. Eve has never had the family stability that Donovan takes for granted, and after her mother remarried, things got worse.  Not only is it almost impossible to trust, she's also to the point where she's pretty much given up hope that things will get better.  She wants so much for her brother and sister to have a normal life, but until she can figure out how to take down her step-father, she and her siblings won't know anything close to normal.

Though part of the KGI series, AFTER THE STORM stands pretty well on its own, while giving readers a chance to see what's going on with the Kelly family, and hints of what might be coming next.  For compelling characters and a touching romance, you won't want to miss AFTER THE STORM.

Jennifer Bishop