Lost (Powertools: The Shields #2)
by Jayne Rylon
Blurb:
As a medic for a
team of do-gooder assassins, Kennedy usually patches up her partners after
they’ve taken out some of humanity’s trash.
This assignment
is totally different. She’s required to risk both body and soul to seduce her
ex, Knox, and convince him to double-cross the cartel he’s worked for since he
left her without a backward glance.
Marcus has been
addicted to Kennedy since they became partners at Shields. He can’t turn away,
even if it means watching her over their comms with the jerk who broke her
heart and made her swear off relationships, including one with him.
When Marcus and
Knox form an unlikely alliance, to keep a new superdrug from ruining more
lives—like they destroyed Knox’s—Kennedy is forced to make a decision: continue
to resist the potent chemistry they have together to protect herself or be
brave enough to make up for the time all three of them have lost.
Themes: Erotica, Polyamory
Rating: 4.75 stars
Heat Rating: 
Review:
Never let it be said that a an erotic story
that involves three people is simply porn,
because as usual Jayne Rylon proves that the emotional trauma and pain she can
inflict while bringing these triads to their perfect happy ending can tear your
heart out. Fans of this long running “super-series” have been looking forward
to this story for a little while now, since we first experienced the sexual
tension between Kennedy and Marcus, but I personally never imagined just how
deep their story would get. While it can never be said that I enjoy seeing characters
get torn up and forced to deal with pain, it certainly gives them a deeper appreciation
for their happiness earned in the end, and allows the reader to understand
their need for redemption and the actions they take fully. I enjoyed very much seeing Kennedy find her
way back into Knox’s arms and heart and helping him see the way out of the
darkness he has been mired in, offering him a different path and a way to live
in the light with both her and Marcus.
The obvious way that the three of them connected made the problems they
had, and truly will have to continue to, work through made them more human and
connectable for readers. I am dying to
read the next story and see if there is a way for Rylon to bring happiness
again to two such different people, ones that we can obviously see want one
another, but that both continue to live in denial. Rylon certainly proves once again that she is
a master of eroticism and a queen of romance.
Kennedy
has been hiding from her past for more than a decade, leaving her also running from
a future, the love and connection she fears she could have with Marcus, even
though she knows he is a good man. When their new mission forces her past right
into her present, Kennedy has to find a way to accept the trauma in order to
succeed and keep her Team members safe.
Knox knows that his days are numbered after turning on his cartel, but
having Kennedy back in his life, not to mention the new temptation of Marcus leaves
him floundering and doubting his own instincts.
Marcus has wanted Kennedy from the very beginning and never realized
just how deep her pain went and that he never really had a chance to attain her
heart as she’d given it away long ago and never gotten it back. When the three of them connect on a level
they never imagined, it becomes clear that they might have a chance to be
together as a triad, but outside forces continue to put obstacles in their
path. Can their newly found love stand
the test of time or will they crumble under the immense pressures and be
forced apart forever because of suspicion and fears?
I
loved finally getting the full picture of Kennedy’s past that kept her from
embracing Marcus, because really in previous stories we just wanted to scream
at her to jump him already. She portrays
herself as such a strong and confident woman, but honestly she has never gotten
over the suffering of losing the love of her life. Finally getting the chance to confront him,
she never imagined how much it would change her life, but being able to hear his side of the story and see the pain it caused him losing her too changed her
views of the past decade of her life. Embracing
that forgiveness and faith in her lover and in the love that the three of them
were building was difficult for her, but she was finally able to understand
that their time together in the past wasn’t ever going to be right, because
they needed their rock. Enter Marcus,
the rock that both Knox and Kennedy needed to lean on in their own ways. He is passionate, alpha, sweet and caring,
but he has his own issues and needs. His
outward strength hides the need for love and caring that Knox and Kennedy are easily
able to see and are more than willing to offer him. Being strong for them in the face of danger
and trouble is easy when he knows that in their private times they are there to
meet his every need and give him what he wants more than anything.
Knox is broken in a lot of ways, though he hides it behind a sarcastic
and caustic personality, but when he is offered the first chance to come out of
the darkness and reach for something good in life, he knows he has to take the
hand up. Having Kennedy back in his life
–and certainly back in his bed—is more than he ever imagined he would have, but
the bonus of having a second partner like Marcus as well sends him to
heaven. If only he has the confidence
that he can stay in the light and not drag his new lovers into the dark with
him, but he has a lot to work through and only by understanding his own inner strength
will he be able to find that confidence. Together they are the perfect combination
needed to support one another through the troubles coming and to allow them to
have a future together.
This
story was one that hit on a lot of painful issues that many authors might shy
away from, including drug addiction, inadequate law enforcement, and dangerous
drug distribution groups, but Jayne has never been one to shy from any topic.
Kennedy finally found her way through the issues that kept her from being able
to embrace a future with the men that had always held her heart. Marcus discovered that not only did he need
Kennedy to complete him, but the snarky and sexy Knox was missing from his life
as well. And the almost-too-far-gone
Knox found a way back to the side of good, continuing to fight for his future,
in the arms of two people he will always be able to count on and offered them
his heart and soul in exchange for their loving support. Together the three of
them made this story worth every second of pain and sorrow to read and I loved
getting to experience the changes they went through right along with them. The passion was needless to say a big part of
this story, between Kennedy and Marcus, Kennedy and Knox, Knox and Marcus, and
of course between all three of them, but the love that bloomed between them was
just as essential to read and enjoy. I
cannot wait for Sola and Aarav’s story and to find out whom their third turns
out to be of course, in the next story Brazen. Rylon strikes again with a blistering
story of three people fighting to have a future together no matter what
obstacle is thrown in their path.
*eARC provided by the author for the
purpose of an honest and unbiased review.
No compensation was provided.
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