Review | SAFE AT LAST by Maya Banks

Safe At Last by Maya Banks
Adult Romance published June 23, 2015
William Morrow Paperbacks
Author's website  |  Goodreads  |  Buy the Book on Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The third book in the beloved #1 bestselling author’s sexy, romantic suspense Slow Burn series…

They say young love doesn’t last, but a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with unique abilities and the hometown golden boy were determined to defy the odds. For Zack Covington, Anna-Grace—his “Gracie”—was the one. Until one night forever alters the course of their future, when a devastated Gracie disappears without a trace, leaving Zack to agonize over what happened to the girl he loved. As the years pass, his desperate efforts to find her uncovered nothing.

Now working for Devereaux Security, he stumbles across a painting featuring a special place only he and Gracie would know. The image is too perfectly rendered for it to be coincidence. His Gracie must be alive. When he finally tracks her down, he is shocked—and heart-broken—to discover the wounded shell of the girl he once knew and still loves. Her psychic gifts are gone, and worse, she believes he betrayed her all those years ago.

Zack has enemies, and once his weakness is discovered, Gracie becomes a target for revenge. He’ll have to save her before he can earn her trust and her love. And he vows they’ll never be torn apart again.

My Thoughts...

This is the 3rd installment in the Slow Burn series.  I am not sure how many books there will be, but I could see how there could possibly be 3 more based on minor characters that she's introduced so far.  I have reviewed each of the books and so far none of them are living up to the first one.  As I said before these are great quick reads, I can read through one in a couple hours.  If you are looking for something to take on vacation to read on the beach this would be a good choice.

This book starts out with Zack, one of the Deveraux Security employees.  Zack is a great character, he's strong, loving and clearly devoted.  He is a former pro-athlete who gave up football after in injury.  He has not been the same since the love of his life, Anna Grace, disappeared when he was away at college.  He has spent the last 12 years looking for her and could not be more surprised when he stumbles upon her while on a job.  I wasn't overly awed by Gracie's character.  I felt like she maybe wasn't fully developed or something.  I am not sure what it was.  She went through something very traumatic when she was only 16, and her psychic "gift" led her to jump to the wrong conclusions.  Because of this she's been, in effect, in hiding for the last 12 years.  She's found someone that she trusts in Wade, but she's shocked and terrified when she sees Zack again.  

I felt like this story line really had more potential.  It's a re-connection between 2 people who really love each other, but were forced apart by the actions of others.  The problem was that it was crystal clear, to me, from the very beginning who was behind it all.  As a reader it was hard for me to buy that neither one of them knew who it was when it's made pretty clear from the start.  It would have been a more suspenseful read if maybe we hadn't been give so much information in the beginning set up of the book.  Let's be real, Zack works for one of the premiere security agencies in the US, but he is clueless about what happened?  AND he looks for her for 12 years, and she just happens to live in the same town he's ended up in?  I'm not buying that for a second!  

Overall, I do like the series, but I will admit that the last bit of the book was a little out there even for this series.  I liked that some of the characters from the other 2 books show up to help out.  I think that the dynamic between Wade and Eliza was fantastic and I would LOVE to read a book with them as the central characters.  I would even go so far as to say that the connection between them felt more real than the one between Gracie and Zack.  I will continue on with this series because I feel invested in it now after 3 books.

The steamy romance and love scenes that we have come to expect from Maya Banks are somewhat absent from this book, but considering the story line it's to be expected. 

XOXO, Shelly

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*