Ami's Hoard

I read book #2 A Hunted Man early last year and I didn't enjoy it; thus I postponed reading this as long as I could. I guess the length of this one (117.3k!) was one of the main reasons. When it comes to romance, I am always afraid lengthier book will bore the hell out of me. However, I've been in not-so-good reading streak, and somehow I kept looking at this thinking that everyone I know who dislike book #2 ended up loving this. So I thought that I should give it a try.

Well, hell, I LOVED this. Yes, I did. Cole was like a sunshine on my cloudy day. Cole was a scene-stealer in the previous book, but in his own book, well, he owned EVERY thing! I loved everything about this young man. From his motormouth, to his passions towards cars, to his loyalty to his crew, to his caring of his family, and of course, to his protective streak and fierce loving towards Ty, that he single-handedly restore the other man from that dark hole Ty was in. Cole was everything this book about -- a big responsibility for him, huh, but he took that challenge and won the gold medal for me.

Ty was okay, I guess ... sure I felt sympathetic of his ordeals, but again, without Cole, Ty would be just another 'damaged' soul whose guilt dragged him into a shell. Cole brought the best in Ty and Ty was able to make Cole a little grounded by giving Cole purpose. I guess you could say that I loved Ty because of Cole.

I still thought that the book was a little bit long, though. I believe it could use a little more trimming. Some scenes could be deleted and it would not make a dent on the story-line -- for example the second dinner with Carmen and Gus; I didn't see any point in that. The first regroup with Renzo family was powerful, I shed tears. But the one with Carmen and Gus didn't really bring anything into this story. Also the last dinner with Aidan and Jessie. I thought the whole planning could be summarized and it would still work. We could keep Aidan and Jessie on their own book, rather than having the 'seeds' planted here.

I also thought the part with Robert to be rather ridiculous. However, I also thought that the part was able to inject some actions into the book, especially on the last part, so I couldn't really complain about it. No matter how ridiculous it was.

Bottom line, yep this was good :). Thanks for giving me a better reading experience compared to my last few ones, book.