Friday, November 7, 2014

Keep Me Safe by Maya Banks (Review)


Genre:
Adult, Romance, Paranormal
Publication.Date  October 7th, 2014
Pages:256
Published By:  William Morrow Paperbacks
WebsiteMaya Banks

Keep Me Safe on Goodreads
My review copy:Bought

Where to get:



A sizzling story of a woman who risks her life and her heart to find a wealthy man’s missing sister—the first novel in a sexy new romantic suspense series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks

When Caleb Devereaux's younger sister is kidnapped, this scion of a powerful and wealthy family turns to an unlikely source for help: a beautiful and sensitive woman with a gift for finding answers others cannot.

While Ramie can connect to victims and locate them by feeling their pain, her ability comes with a price. Every time she uses it, it costs her a piece of herself. Helping the infuriatingly attractive and impatient Caleb successfully find his sister nearly destroys her. Even though his sexual intensity draws her like a magnet, she needs to get as far away from him as she can.

Deeply remorseful for the pain he’s caused, Caleb is determined to make things right. But just when he thinks Ramie's vanished forever, she reappears. She’s in trouble and she needs his help. Now, Caleb will risk everything to protect her—including his heart. . . .
(Goodreads)

It was the way in which he said protect you that struck a chord inside her. He hadn't said help her. He'd said protect in a possessive tone, one she found comforting. The first time in over a year she'd enjoyed one brief moment of comfort and...peace. The peace she was so desperate to achieve.
He moved from his seat and knelt down in front of her so they were eye level. Then he simply curled his hand around her nape and pulled her toward him, his lips pressing against hers.
"What you don't get is that I want you," Caleb repeated. "What you don't get is that the idea of you in the hands of a monster terrifies me. What you don't get is that you are important to me. And what you don't get is that no matter how much my sister hates you being here, I'm not letting you walk out of my life and that has nothing to do with any debt I or my family owes you. Or any obligation I may have felt a year ago. It has absolutely nothing to do with you saving Tori. I won't let you go because I want you to stay. I realize you've never had anyone fight for you, Ramie. But you do now. You have me."
Caleb slowly got to his feet, mindful of jostling his precious burden. He scooped her into his arms and strode for the stairs, her pale face still buried against his chest. His heart thumped rapidly, fear still a living, breathing entity inside him.

There's something about Maya Banks' books that draws me in every time. I'm guessing it has something to do with the focus on romance, but there are other particular aspects in each of her stories that just get me every time. With Keep Me Safe, I was drawn in by the premise, and the story definitely delivered a satisfying story to meet my expectations.

The main character, Ramie, walked a fine line on my nerves, but at the end of the day, that chick was pretty darn noble. She did spend a good amount of time pitying herself, but I can let that slide considering she went through terrible situations for the sake of helping victims and finding their abusers. She wasn't the strongest heroine I've ever read, but she did always aim to do the right thing--even when that was at her expense. That's something I respect.

Caleb was an interesting character as well. He spent a lot of time conflicted over the situations Ramie got put in, and the part he played in setting her in one of those. Like Ramie, he wanted to do the right thing, but his sense of right was skewed more to the side of his family and people he wanted to protect. Whereas Ramie was all in to help EVERYBODY. Caleb knew this, though, and gave recognition to the fact that he was more focused on his own inner circle. And that, along with his sweet interactions with Ramie plus the kind way he regards his sister, led me to the conclusion that he's a good guy and I like him.

The premise here is interesting. I'm sure it's not something that hasn't been done before, but it IS the first time I'm reading it, and I absolutely loved it. Ramie has a psychic ability in which she can connect with victims and their tormentors and pinpoint their location. Great, right? But there's a catch. (Of course.) With this connection, Ramie experiences everything that victim goes through. EVERYTHING. It's brutal. I was completely taken by this idea, and how that linked to Ramie's particular situation with her stalker. While the entire concept of psychic abilities isn't explained too much in a sense of how and why, it's all fascinating enough to not make that lack of information too bothersome.

Aside from the romance--romance that was fantastic and made my heart about twelve different levels of happy--the biggest point of this book was Ramie's stalker. Hunting him down and stopping him from hurting anyone else. This stalker has a psychic ability like Ramie with which he has a connection with her. This, I have to say, was probably my favorite part of the novel (again, aside from the romance, because we all know how I feel about THAT). It was sort of Freddy Krueger-like, and that was super cool. In a creepy way, of course, but cool nonetheless.

With the premise being fantastic, the characters being likable, and the romance making me happy, I don't have much to complain about with this one. I only have one real gripe, and that's certain parts of the writing. In general, I enjoy Maya Banks' writing style. But in this book, there were times when things were mentioned or explained multiple times when they were easily understood the first time they'd been said. It just felt very repetitive. This didn't happen the entire novel, however. Mostly in the first 30-ish percent. So the rest of the book was swoons, creepy Freddy connections, and other twisty stuff that you'll need to read this book to learn about!

Overall, Keep Me Safe was an incredibly interesting read with a compelling plot, good characters, and fabulous romance. I will without a doubt be picking up the next book in the Slow Burn series when I get my hands on it. I can't wait for Beau's story!




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