Author Archives: Lani Mac

About Lani Mac

I'm a mom of 3 living in NYC who loves to read. When i'm not at work, or shuttling my kids around the city (since i'm sure you can imagine that it's hard to entertain little ones in a small apartment), i'm immersing myself in all things pop-culture, watching movies, or listening to music. One day I hope that i can get inspired enough with an original idea so that i can join the ranks of some of my favorite story tellers to bring to life a great tale - but so far, i'm more than happy to dive head first into a good story or 2.

Review: Blosson in Winter (Blossom in Winter #1) by Melanie Martins

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Title: Blossom in Winter
Author: Melanie Martins
Publisher/Year:  Melanie Martins LLC 10.28.19
Length:  250 pages
Series: Blossom in Winter

Overview

Petra, a seventeen-year-old Dutch-American and the only heir of finance tycoon Roy Van Gatt, has always had her life rigorously planned and supervised by her strict father. From her internship at his hedge fund firm on Wall Street to her degree in economics at Columbia University, Petra is all set for a bright future in finance. 

But everything falls apart when she develops a dangerous relationship with her father’s business partner and utmost confidant, Alexander Van Dieren. A Dutch nobleman, known as an unrepentant heartbreaker, twenty-three years her senior, and who is, above all else, her beloved godfather. 

A twisted obsession for some, unconditional love for others, but one thing is sure: it’s a relationship that might cost them everything…

My Thoughts

This story starts off back in time, when we know that things are tumultuous and when we catch up to present day, we see bits of the fall out in what has become of Petra. We know that her parents weren’t well suited – her mother was a bit of an alcoholic and her father was trying to make something of himself. When they decided to part ways, Petra went with her father to New York and that’s where her life is lived. We are now in her senior year of high school, a time that’s always a big change for anyone, and for Petra specifically, things are going to get even more insane.

Petra’s been living under her father’s thumb, to the extent that she has few friends, she has a reputation for being shy and uptight and she knows that her future is planned out in the sense that she will be following in her father’s footsteps, working in his business and being exactly what he wants her to be. Not only does it give him control over what she’s doing but it ensures that his reputation is upheld which is incredibly important.

In this first book we see Petra dip her toes into some of those more teen expected experiences, going to a party and finding herself in a situation with a crush that wasn’t ideal. While her best friend takes care of it, she’s not entirely sure what that means for her in the future.

Then she finds her godfather is back in town – a man that when she was ten years old, she had an insane crush on, and he disappeared from her life. Now that he’s back, she’s off kilter and that means that she has to figure out how to carry herself since she’s hurt that he left but happy that he’s back. He introduced her to his half brother and that introduces yet another bad decision. One of which Alex saves her from.

Where this leads though is down a path that we all knew was inevitable – the two of them coming together now that she’s just about legal, and the story from here is one of a deep and intense romance, but one that has so many obstacles in the way of happiness.

They want to be together but hte world won’t acept them. Petra’s father doesn’t know about them, but knows what things Alex likes in his personal life which means that there’s a huge issue to cross through. Then there’s the fact that there’s a huge age difference between them that society probably won’t like. And then the last and worst is that we learn towards the end of this first book that Petra’s mother won’t allow them to be together and is willing to ruin everyone’s family in order to keep them apart. She has secrets that she’s held for both her ex-husband Roy as well as Alex and Alex;s family, and if any of that comes to light, there will be total and complete ruin.

The plans that they made have to be broken, but that’s not all that’s broken. When Alex is forced to break up with Petra, she runs away and ends up in a car accident that puts her into a coma. The last pages of this story give us a confused perspective on things, and of course is exactly how a book should end so that we are forced to read the next one. So on that note – ENJOY!

Review: Too Far (Blacklist #2) by Sylvia Day

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Title: Too Far
Author: Sylvia Day
Publisher/Year:  Sylvia Day 10.24.23
Length:  294 pages
Series: Blacklist #2

Overview

You can’t believe all of them, but can you trust any of them? Lily Black was presumed dead for years. Now, she’s back in the unquestioning arms of her loving husband, Kane. Where she’s been remains a mystery, but her past sins haunt her and bring deadly danger into the lives of the family. Meanwhile Aliyah, Kane’s mother, has worked hard for her position of power. She has never believed Lily is who she says she is, and will stop at nothing to expose her. Amy, Kane’s sister-in-law, has always been a pawn in the dangerous games this family plays. But she knows she deserves more, and will do anything to claim the biggest prize. Three women fight to outrun their pasts. But could they have more in common than they think? With the trademark emotional intensity and scorching sensuality of multimillion bestseller Sylvia Day, the dangerous and sultry Blacklist duology comes to its riveting conclusion.

My Thoughts

We started down this insane roller coaster in the first installment, not exacty sure what to make of the story, the characters and the dynamic. We know that there is a lot of history between the couples, the families and the businesses, and we’re not sure who’s really on what side.

We met Kane, the leading man of sorts – the one that built his business to survive, built his relationship for love and had it all shattered when his wife disappeared and was presumed dead. When she reappeared in the first book of this duet, we didn’t know what to make of it. Was it really her, why did she leave and what can’t she remember. What unfolded throughout that installment was a maze of questions – she either didn’t have answers for them or she didn’t want to answer them and that made us unsure if she was trustworthy. Kane believed her to the best of what we knew, but even he had to be smarter than it all.

Add to that – there was the interesting dynamic of his family – they are all imperfect in their own way and definitely unsure of who to trust – to each other and amongst each other.

One was painted as an alcoholic – but we learn that there’s much more to the story

One was paineted as a cheater and again, complex narrative

One was painted as the brother / son who was aloof

and one was painted as the controlling mother

What we learn throughout this second installment is that what we read and see is not at all the case and what we find out to be true really blows our mind. There are breakdowns, lies, and alliances that we never predicted and it sums up things exactly as this story was owed.

There’s also another story line to this book if that wasn’t all enough. We never knew the real story of Lily’s life and we get that in glimpses throughout this book. We see how she was raised, the woman that her mother was and as a result the woman that she was raised to be. We wonder where her mother is as we know that she can’t possibly be dead, and we find out in a round about and quite unexpected way where she is and how closely intertwined into things she is. There was a worry at one point that Lily was really her mother brought back, but then we find out that it’s so much messier and more twisted.

So, if you want a book that will keep you reading and on the edge of your seat, thrown around a bit and unsure what you’re going to learn next, this one is for you. IT’s a shame that so much was resolved, but wonderful that we got to see how it all played out. Enjoy!

Review: Trust in Me (Dark Nights #1) by Skye Warren

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Title: Trust in Me
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Skye Warren 9/15/12
Length:  180 pages
Series: Dark Nights #1

Overview

Mia longs for the daily torture to end, but one last task keeps her holding on.

In a betrayal of the crime lord who pulled her from the gutter, she’ll free the shipment of human cargo, and if she’s lucky, die in the process. The alternative is unfathomable, even to a woman well-versed in erotic torture.

Then she meets the security expert in charge of the shipment–and finds herself face to face with her childhood crush.

The man she once begged for help.

The man who failed her.

Tyler Martinez is an undercover FBI agent with one chance to right the wrongs of his past. Thrust deep into the seedy world of human trafficking, he must put aside his guilt over abandoning Mia all those years ago in order to save her now.

My Thoughts

This is a twisted story where we don’t know the background and the truth behind the characters but we slowly see all that unfold. Like the summary says, Mia is in a situation that’s not ideal – there’s the powerful mafia like man who pulled her out of the gutter, saved her from a life that was on the streets but instead has made her his pet, his slave, tortured her, but also some how gave her the life that she needed. He does care for her in some weird way but that’s not the way that she was destined to live. Her father didn’t treat her as she should and didn’t give her the safety and security that she needed and that’s what led her to this life.

Tyler is a man from her past – a boy that was from the same neighborhood and someone that she potentially had a crush on. Someone that she wanted to save her from the life that her father was living but he wasn’t strong enough then to do anything about it. We don’t know what brought him to the house that she’s living in now, and we don’t know who he’s working for but we do know that he has the ability to change the future. if the game is played correctly.

Throughout this story we see the dynamics between everyone change. We watch how Mia finds herself passed from person to person again, and has to. act better than she’s ever acted before in the hopes of freeing herself and freeing girls that she’s learned are being trafficked by the organization.

What we learn throughout this story is that people we feared were potentially not the bad guys and the ones that we hoped were good perhaps were not. There is confusion on what side people are on when it comes to the FBI, to being aligned to doing the right thing and we have to have hope that it all plays out the right way. So….read this one ,watch how it turns out and then on to the next! Happy new year everyone and enjoy!

Review: Deep (Chicago Underground #8) by Skye Warren

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Title: Deep
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 6/28/16
Length:  349 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #8

Overview

Dark. Powerful. Dangerous.

Philip Murphy has all of Chicago under his thumb. Except me.

We met in a perfect storm of violence and lust. He saved me and then disappeared from my life. Now I pretend I never knew that kind of darkness. I focus on midterms and campus parties, as if they can wipe the slate clean.

Then he turns up outside my dorm room–wounded and barely conscious. He’s the head of a criminal empire, a powerful man, but he needs me now. There are traitors in his midst.

I can help him, but I can’t fall for him.

Not again.

My Thoughts

It’s nice to get Philips story since we met him through Collin, through Shelly and Rose. We know that the’s the protector of the family and that there’s so much more to his story than we really heard so far, so it’s great to see how this plays out.

If you remember, is ‘relationship’ with Shelly was one that worked for both of them. He needed an outlet to his desires and Shelly was able to be that outlet, to benefit from the type of things that he was into and to get his protection when she needed it most. You’ll remember from the initial series that she sold him out to the detectives but that alll seems to have been forgotten.

The dynamic that we pick up into for this story is that of Ella and Phillip. You’ll remember from the first time that we got to know more about Shelly that Ella was a bit of a tortured young soul. We learned at the end of Shelly’s story who her real parents were and that’s what brought her into the world that she’s in now, however we also saw the effect that she had on the people around her in both a desire to protect her innocence and yet to see her suffer because she’s stubborn.

Phillip’s first reaction was to take care of her because he desired her – but he knew that she was too young then. As a result, he watched her from afar over the years, not stalking but obsessed in a way – keeping tabs on every move that she made and everything that she did because in his mind, she should be his.

After Ella got back to her old life when things settled down, she went to college – she went back to what she was destined to do and while she was trying to make something of herself, she found that she was missing something. She even tried to let those feelings go and be something that wasn’t true to herself, but of course – there was a hole.

Until one night when a surprise guest finds himself at her door – injured, with probably so much more to the story than we will ever know.

Fast forward to Phillip pretending to take her hostage to protect her from even more unknowns only to find that they would have found their way to each other some how.

Ella learns that she’s being hunted because of her connection to Phillip even though they hadn’t been in direct contact for years. The question that we are searching for throughout though is who sold them out and why. and what does that mean for them.

We have a roller coaster of emotions in this 8th and potentially last installment. We have no more. characters to waffle over and we know that we want Ella and Phillip to have their happy endings – either with each other or without. there’s a question as to weather they will both be alive at the end of this story – in or out of jail – pursuing whatever it is that they wanted to at the onset. and that’s what makes for a great story. innocence lost and hope either granted or dashed. Enjoy!

Review: Sweet (Chicago Underground #7) by Skye Warren

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Title: Sweet
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 4/30/15
Length:  147 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #7

Overview

My brother is both powerful and cruel, which means I have a lot of enemies I’ve never met. He swears he’ll keep me safe, but what I want most is to break free. I especially want to break free with Drew, my brother’s lawyer.

I’ve spent my life under glass.

We shouldn’t be together, but everything about him draws me. His intensity, his kindness.

And the way he looks in those custom tailored suits.

One night when he’s outside my bedroom, I give him a sexy show. And in doing so, unlock pandora’s box. Drew shows me everything I’ve been missing. He touches my body and my heart, but when the truth comes to light, we’re both in danger.

The cost of my freedom may be the man I’ve come to love.

My Thoughts

We met our leading characters throughout the first several books in this ‘series, so it’s nice to see how things play out. Rose is a character that we got to know when we saw relationships grow between Allie and Colin and then again when Shelly was spending time with Phillip. We know she’s a talented dancer and we know that she’s been fairly sheltered much of her life, but now it’s her time to get a story.

We met Drew books as well, watching the world that he did with the brothers to keep them out of trouble. We learn that his past is a bit more ambitious than we know, and that his loyalty continues to advance him professionally and personally.

At the point in time that we are with this story, we’re watching how Rose is finally coming into her own. She knows that she can’t dance forever and has been planning for when that time comes. She’s planning to open her own dance studio and it seems to be getting more and more real. She finds a location that’s ideal, and what makes it even better is that there’s an apartment above that she can make into her own with some love and renovations and that means that she can begin to live her own life out from under the super watchful eye of her brother.

While she’s coming to terms with being independent, she chooses to take another risk – that of putting her feelings out there with Drew, and seeing where that goes. They’ve been dancing around each other for years, knowing that Phillip won’t like the idea of them together and knowing that it could impact everything. They still can’t stay away from each other, even when they know that there’s danger coming from many places.

There are lies and secrets. Happiness and loss. attempts at killing people and a fear of what the future holds. We know that the life that Phillip leads isn’t one that’s super legal, but we also know that more often than not, Drew and Phillip try to do the most righteous things they can with what they’re working with and they pay the price. everyone does.

As always in these books,, we want to hope for the happy ending and I suppose that’s what we’ll do here. Romance and patience always win out – right? Enjoy!

Review: Secret (Chicago Underground #6) by Skye Warren

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Title: Secret
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 4/30/15
Length:  150 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #6

Overview

I’m the one with the dark past, the scarlet letter, the soul so black there’s no hope of redemption. At least, that’s what I always believed… Luke has secrets of his own, and the more I search, the more I’m afraid of what I’ll find. But I have to know. My survival depends on it.

My Thoughts

This is the finale that we’ve all been waiting for – to see how the story end up for Shelly after all that she’s gone thorugh in the last 2 books of her story and even in the pages of Allie’s story. We know that she’s trying to get Henri, figure out how to take him down and clear her name, make Claire safe and figure out all the mysteries surrounding her, luke, her father. There are just too many unknowns to name.

In this third installment, we see what happens when Shelly thinks that she’s invincible. She puts her faith in Luke and finds that while he’s trustworthy – he’s not above the means of people who are up to no good. Throughout this story too we see another side of him – we learn what brought him to where he is today – the life that he grew up in and why he’s so comfortable in Shelly’s world. It’s a bit of a surprise on one hand but not at all shocking on another.

Shelly tries to help the ‘good guys’ take Henri down and instead finds herself back in his grasp. she’s been taken back him and forced into the world that she wanted to get away from, even though we know that she can’t escape it. She’s doing all this as I mentioned to clear Claire’s name as well as her own, and to allow Claire the chance to have a normal life – since she’s so young.

There are strings being pulled behind the scenes which we don’t know and that’s a lot of the motivation in this story. We don’t know why Shelly was brought into the life that she’s in, yet we know that her father is connected some how. We know that Claire was taken for a reason, and yet we don’t know what that is until the end.

We watch kidnappings happen, shootouts, escapes, torture, fear, love – all the things happen. it’s a roller coaster of emotions but where we do net out is an ending that’s worth the story. Secrets are revealed and i’m shockingly not surprised at any of them. Frankly I should have figured out a few of them on my own. Anyway – I think there’s an adjacent series that i’m off to find – so enjoy!!

Review: Dirty (Chicago Underground #5) by Skye Warren

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Title: Dirty
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 4/30/15
Length:  150 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #5

Overview

There’s no escape for me. I’m tied to some of the scariest men in Chicago. Bound so tight I’ll never get free.

I’ll do anything to survive, except bring Luke down with me. I won’t taint him. I won’t ruin the one good man I’ve ever met. I won’t turn him into a dirty cop. Except he refuses to let me go.

My Thoughts

The summary of these installments doesn’t do anything to give you a real sense of what the story is about – but….at least you know that you’re going to continue on the exciting journey that Shelly is going on to figure out what her future holds and what drove her into the life that she’s in now, and how she can get out.

We were last with her in the previous installment, watching as she ran to Philip for protection with Ella in the hopes of figuring out who’s behind setting them up and how to get free from Henri. What we have in this second book is the complexities that come with our detective friend Luke and how he and Shelly can never be too far from each other. She uses him to find information, he uses her for his own personal reasons. They both think that they aren’t worthy of one another, but as a result of that fear, we get to see how they open up and learn more about what brought them to the point they are in life.

Earlier, Shelly learned from Jade that Luke was looking for another girl – and that put her on edge. Made her think that any connection and feelings that she felt coming from him weren’t genuine, and that she was a substitute. What we learn in this story is that the other girl is in fact his sister – and shew as taken into the life by Henri and he fears she’s dead since it’s been so many years. He sees things in Shelly that he wants to protect, but what he feels is a strong attraction that he knows will break both of them. He wants to get Shelly out of the lifestyle, but at the same time, he has this vendetta that he needs to fulfill before anything can happen.

We find ourselves in a scenario where they go undercover to learn more information and risk their safety. Then they go to a safehouse that Luke has in the hopes of planning their next moves. There’s so much uncertainty about what will come next and we’re left at the point of the story where information that Shelly had that she held back may come to break up their dynamic. So on that note, off we go to the final installment of the trilogy and I can’t wait to see if they track down Henri, figure out where Daisy is, get Ella back to the life she should have had and figure out themselves. Enjoy!

Review: Wild (Chicago Underground #4) by Skye Warren

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Title: Wild
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 4/30/15
Length:  150 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #4

Overview

Once upon a time I was the girl who had everything, the clothes, the car. The rich dad who spoiled me. But the truth was, the only thing I had was my body. I used it to buy my way out. I took a bite of the apple knowing full well what would happen.

That’s how I became a call girl. That’s the story of how I ended up in hell.

My Thoughts

We had met Shelly in the first trilogy within the series and we got a sense for the kind of friend she was – the lengths that she was willing to go in order to provide stability for her best friend Allie as well as for herself. She had lost the sense of attachment to herself a long time ago – she knew that there was a need sometimes to disconnect because she knew the effect that she had on men and used that to her own ability.

We pick up the story after the shooting from the first few books – so we know what got her to the point that she’s at. Maybe not the history in it’s entirety but we started to understand some of the dynamics that she had in her life with the men she surrounded herself with. There was Luke, the cop that she was providing information to, and he was protecting her, building some type of bond, but what we learned is that the bond that she thought they had was potentially founded on his need to search for and save someone else. there was a pattern and a history that he didn’t quite share and when she learned some of the information, it made him both more of a challenge and yet someone that she grew even more emotions for.

On the other side of things, we start to see her dynamic with Phillip – Colin’s brother and we see what brought them together and what kept them together, but we watch how fragile things have become to see what they are now. It’s sad to watch the way that things were and what they have become now, but I have faith that we will see something resolve in a way that’s deserving of them.

Then there’s Henri – a man that has a lot of power in the city – especially over women of a certain profession and the dark underbelly of Chicago. We see how he some how tracks Shelly down, lures her in with the promise of a job to keep her safe (sort of) and the way that turns out is what takes us on the crazy and wild ride of this first installment of her trilogy.

There’s a private party and a girl that needs saving because she’s far too innocent for the life that she’s found herself in. We see that Shelly wants to save those that could still use something better in their lives probably because she wasn’t able to have someone do that for her.

What happens though at this party is debauchery, pain, and inevitably, a few murders. Shelly and the girl she was trying to save are now the ones that are being hunted as the murders and we watch Shelly try to sort out what the connection is with the girl – Ella and how she can help clear both their names and give them their lives back.

We watch how Luke wants to help her but keeps her at arms length.

We watch how Phillip protects her but wants her to make a trade that she’s not willing to make

and we wonder when Henri is going to strike and what the price will be.

So, all in all a roller coaster of sorts and I can’t wait to jump into the 2nd book now to see what’s going to happen next. Enjoy!

Review: Fierce (Chicago Underground #3) by Skye Warren

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Title: Fierce
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 4/16/22
Length:  155 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #3

Overview

I’m torn between what I want and what I need. Between the men in my past and the man by my side. Colin has tried to control me, to use me. He also guards me so fiercely my heart aches. But there’s no protection left for me. This is my battle, and I’ve already lost.

My Thoughts

We were left at a point in time where Allie had to choose the man she saw a future with or her own family and safety. It’s a tough position to be in, at her age (we forget that she’s still a teenager) and the fact that she’s got a child, that she’s got to make choices that aren’t the smartest and definitely not the most informed. She’s at Phillip’s house – Colin’s brother – looking for information to get a cop to leave her alone.

What happens next is a story that’s a bit of a roller coaster. We watch how Allie gives misinformation in the hopes that it’ll protect her and Colin. We watch how that backfires as he discovers her secrets, and we also see how Shelly gets them all into even more trouble. While it’s not Allie that puts the detectives and cops on the ‘right’ trail, it’s Allie who’s the one blamed for it and has to suffer the consequences.

There’s a trap laid, we watch the warehouse set on fire with people trapped inside and we watch a shootout happen when people don’t trust what side is what. Someone is left on the brink of death and relationships are torn apart.

What’s interesting here is that we see the dynamics shift quite a bit between characters and relationships that we didn’t know existed become something great, bonds that we thought were strong are broken and pasts become a bit of wisdom and window to the future. Add to that, there’s pain and torment since no one gets the ending that they were hoping for.

There’s romance for sure in this story, but it’s more about secrets and emotion – no one trusts one another and that means that we’re going to get a lot of angst. Which i suppose is appropriate given that Shelly and Allie really are like 18-19 years old and haven’t made the most sound choices in life. Not sure what the point of this story is, and I don’t mean that in a bad way necessarily – there doesn’t always have to be a deeper meaning for things, but this one is a bit all over the place in discovering what the narrative is, what the motivation is and what the future outcome should be. So, enough deep and philosophical from me for now – I’m off to find something else to read. Enjoy!

Review: Hard (Chicago Underground #2) by Skye Warren

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Title: Hard
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 4/16/22
Length:  150 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #2

Overview

What Colin doesn’t know can’t hurt him. At least that’s what I tell myself about the secrets I keep. I don’t have a choice, not if I want to keep my daughter safe. There are enemies in the shadows waiting to strike from all sides. I’m holding them out with my bare hands, but it’s hard not to get crushed in the process.

My Thoughts

We’re back with Allie and Colin an we watch how their relationship grows from what was meant initially as a one night stand to something. more real. Andrew, the father of Allie’s daughter is back and that’s not a good thing for anyone – we don’t know his motivation, but we know that Colin is incredibly protective of her, and that’s not going to bode well. What we see happen is his alpha side come out and he offers to help, and does. Challenge of course is that Allie’s been taking care of herself for such a long time, that she’s not willing to just sit back, and she meets with Andrew as well. We all know that’s going to bite her but we’ll see how that happens.

Add to that, Allie is now living with Colin, their lives are intertwined, and she’s learning more about what his life entails. While he has the cafe, there’s other work that he doesn’t for his brother that’s less than savory and one day that crosses into her world. The police come looking for her when they know that Colin is out, scare her and try to get information that they likely shouldn’t have and will get her in further trouble if she discovers it.

While this is going on, we learn that Shelly is with Colin’s brother – so the families are intertwined. We don’t know what everyone does, what the motivations and implications are, but what we do know is that there’s no lack of excitement and energy.

We’re left off on a cliff – knowing that there are investigations into people’s past and connections between people that shouldn’t make sense. We don’t know what meetings were organic and what was a set up, and we don’t know what that means for the future. Who’s on what side, who’s going to lose trust and love and who’s going to end up with what they should rightly have. So, onto the third and final installment of this series (I think) to see what happens next. Enjoy!