⭐⭐⭐☆★
Maya, a cop with the Seattle PD, returns
home from a three month long undercover operation and finds that she is
homeless thanks to having trusted and depended on her careless father. Emotionally
raw from the operation, Maya is at her lowest, skulking in an alley as she
tries to grapple with the splinters of her life when she sees Vivian. They
exchange a few words and turns out that Vivian teaches dance in the studio
behind which Maya has taken refuge. After Vivian returns inside, Maya lays down
right there and ends up napping. She’s woken by Vivian who offers her food,
shelter and a phone, which Maya uses to call her cousin, Nora.
When Maya regains her life a couple of days
later, she visits the lovely lady and a closeness develops between them.
However, Maya is besieged by nightmares of her time undercover and cannot share
her secrets with Vivian, though they are getting more and more into each other.
Ellendale writes these amazing women who
are loving, caring, nurturing, mature, knock-out beautiful and burning hot.
Vivian is that in this book and it is impossible to not fall into her. This
character is typically offset by a troubled, rather broken counterpart. The
troubled character can be an uncertain factor. We’ve loved some of them and
hated others with a passion. In this, obviously, Maya is the troubled soul.
However, she is not dislikeable (thank god) – with the single exception for her
secret keeping from Vivian. Also, Maya doesn’t seem very strong. Given her
childhood and her recent undercover experience, this can be justified but it
felt like others were constantly fighting her battles for her and basically
wrapping her in cotton wool. Clearly, we loved Vivian and don’t think Maya
measures up…but okay. There are plenty sweet moments and loving words to
warm our romantic hearts and make us okay with this couple.
The third constant in Ellendale’s books is
a very strong, very loving support system (usually peopled with crossover
characters from her other works). That, in fact, is one of the loveliest
fictional worlds she writes – that whole big (and constantly growing) family of
choice.
And this above all – the sex. Hot. Lots.
Awesome.
Though an average book by the yardstick
established by this author, Ellendale is inarguably an excellent author, which
makes this one very readable.
