In Which I Read the New Maya Banks Book. Last Night.

So after the DNF disaster I sat down to read the Maya Banks book that Amazon miraculously delivered to my door on its release date. Say what you will about Amazon, they know how to keep their rabid constituents happy.

Having been hotly anticipating The Darkest Hour since I saw an ad here and read an excerpt here last week, it really look no convincing to drop everything and read this book.

Full disclosure: I do love me some tortured heroes. You probably already knew that if you've read the Top Heros post, or know anything about my favorite books. Very few scenarios get me more excited than a tortured, lovesick male character. Thusly, Ethan Kelly of The Darkest Hour was someone I couldn't wait to lay eyes on: one year after the death of his wife, Rachel, the very-much-still-grieving Ethan gets proof that she's alive. And not just proof, but a freaking road map to where she is being held in the South American jungle.

Enter... The introduction of a new series! Ethan is one of six Kelly brothers, all of whom were in the military in some capacity, and most of whom run Kelly Group International, a Blackwater-like privately-owned security contracting firm. Thank GOD this poor girl married in to such a family, otherwise she would have been stuck in this drug cartel camp forever.

The boys get her out (with the help of their very own army) and Ethan sets about bringing his wife home and putting his life back together.

There is a lot, A LOT that is not really OK with the plot of this book. A lot. But it's also very terribly easy to ignore it all, because it's such a crackalicious read.

I've read a couple of Maya Banks books. Some of the dirtier ones (sister got it on with how many dudes? at the same time? and they were brothers?) and a few of the cleaner ones, all of which move a little quickly, but are ultimately nice romances to read.

Ethan (and indeed, all of the Kelly brothers) is a typical Banks hero in that he is 1000% testosterone and can't go more than five minutes at a time without pounding his chest and threatening to kill someone. These men worship their women, and when I say "worship their women," I mean they tie them to the freaking pedestal so they don't accidentally fall off and hurt themselves. And also because being tied up is kinky.

As a result of all of this burgeoning alpha-maleness, Banks heroines tend to be a little mushy. But then, who wouldn't be, with all of that muscle closing in on all sides? Rachel actually holds up pretty well, being neither overly weepy nor too quick to recover from her ordeal.

The relationship between Ethan and Rachel is a complicated one, and it's revealed after she's rescued that Ethan had asked Rachel for a divorce right before her "death." Due to the copious amounts of drugs she had been injected with during her incarceration, Rachel is left with little memory (for once, a plausible amnesia device) and Ethan lives in dread for most of the book that she will remember the extent to which their marriage had deteriorated.

The very glaring problem I am ignoring studiously is the speed and ease with which everything in the story is resolved. Considering that throughout the book the Kelly family seems to be taking Rachel's "death"/abduction as a personal and purposeful assault on the Kelly family itself, the end result that what happened to her has nothing to do with anything feels like a tremendous letdown. This is the beginning of a series! With sexy alpha heros! Surely there could have been an actual threat to the family that would have taken a book or six to resolve. Also, the lack of "person whose ass we can kick" over the incident(s) made all of those overly muscled men seem... moot.

Ultimately, this is beside the point. The KGI series is currently filling the "hot and dangerous brothers" quota I've been missing for quite some time now. I liked Ethan and Rachel, and am pretty excited for Sam's book (December) and Garrett's book (next year) and... on and on and on.

Well done, Ms. Banks. Thanks for giving me a reason to stay up until 1:00 am.