Shades of Gray -- Maya Banks
Book 6 of KGI series
Aside from being exciting, enjoyable, intense, and all sorts of easy to get hooked onto, there’s really very little else I can think of to say about Shades of Gray. P.J. was pretty kickass, the romance was a rather sweet and fluffy one, Cole is the perfect boyfriend and lover, and I honestly didn’t have much to complain about.
The Story in Brief:
A KGI mission goes terribly wrong not long after P.J. and Cole give into their smoldering, lustful attraction for each other. P.J. is hellbent on vengeance against the men who victimized her and so she walks away from her team and the entire KGI organization, knowing that she plans to cross dark and murky lines that could ruin the rest of her teammates if they get dragged into her vendetta.
Meanwhile, Cole is determined to track her down and help her, as well as to show her that her KGI team members have her back no matter what happens; and also, to show her that their one night of passion meant more to him than she would believe.
My Thoughts:
Shades of Gray had a fairly good balance of romance on top of the suspense; however, a good portion of it played out like a Contemporary. Not that I’m really complaining (it was a nice and sweet, thoughtful side-tracked tangent), but there was a very distinct dissection between the love story and the military/crime thriller.
Nonetheless, I was hooked to this book because, as has been the case for the rest of the Maya Banks’ KGI installments, there is a fairly straight-forward plot, a known direction for the story progression, and likable characters that make it hard not to like the book. Despite the need for suspension of disbelief concerning P.J.’s one woman Superwoman spree, things turned out just fine.
My only quibble, of course, is the fact that, once again, you don’t get to see much of the Kelly family outside of them participating in the sidelines of this mission. This book is all about P.J., sort of about Cole, and certainly threw in a dash of their team and team leader, Steele.
I’m not even sure I really remember what the criminal aspect of the story was about outside of P.J.’s personal vendetta against the Big Baddie for what he and his men did to her. I remember it touched upon human trafficking a little bit and maybe something to do with drugs and murder?
The ending got a little crazy for a while and it was actually a little hard to accept the way in which the Big Baddie got his comeuppance... but did I really care? Not really.
Nonetheless, Shades of Gray was enjoyable and kept me hooked. And as much as I’m not a fan of contemporary romances, the more contemporary side of the story in Shades of Gray focusing on P.J.’s healing process with Cole and the rest of the KGI team and family was quite heartfelt and really gave the book a lot of heart-warming moments of insight and lovely times.
Tacky dialogues and monologues aside, I don’t deny that I enjoy these KGI books and the characters and their stories simply just because I can.
4
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