Title: Victor
Author:  E. L. Todd
Publisher/Year:  CreateSpace Publishing 4/4/17
Length:  187 Pages
Series:  Ray #5

Overview

Ryker finally told me what happened all those months ago. He explained his distance, his coldness. Now everything makes sense. I’ve been with Zeke for a long time now, and everything is exactly how I want it to be.I adore him.No, I love him. But there’s a warning deep in my gut. Zeke is acting differently, and Ryker isn’t the same either.It’s the calm before the storm.I can feel it.

My Thoughts

This summary actually ties a bit better to what we get in this fifth installment of the series. Everyone seems to be in a better place – we see the couples finding their footing, that is until there are slips and those slips are fairly significant.

I’ll start with Rex and Kayden since they are the easiest. We know that they are finally in a good place with each other and given that they aren’t the main characters of this saga, we can expect that they will continue to have smooth sailing ahead. We see things grown and continue on a good path and what that means is that we get to see Rex as the caring and protective brother rather than the ass who really has no frame of reference to anything outside of himself. He’s now a person and even a person that we like. Kayden continues to be the grounding force here and she’s a powerful and strong woman that’s great for this friendship circle.

Then there’s Jessie – she’s still got her player ways, but she’s now got the conquest of Tobias as an option. He’s into her and she’s into the idea of him so that means that we don’t have to worry about her being the third or fifth wheel anymore.

Now onto Rae – and Zeke – and Ryker. This is a love triangle that’s a mess. Just when we think that things are going well, the floor falls out beneath them. Rae wants to maintain her loving relationship with Zeke and has no reason to worry about what she does, until Zeke gets out of his mind jealous and that turns ugly. All Rae wants to do is be the best friend, girlfriend etc. for everyone and that in her head isn’t doing something wrong. When Ryker needs to talk to her, to let her in a bit and share why he was the way he was, that’s the breakthrough that she’s been looking for the entire time that she’s known him, but she even tells him that it’s too late. The issue here though is that Zeke sees the conversation but doesn’t hear it and thinks the worst and as a result, he throws away the best thing that happened to him – pushing Rae so far away that the idea of reconciliation is impossible.

The bulk of this story is watching Rae figure out what she can live with since she can’t live with what Zeke did. We see her fall apart and we see Zeke hit rock bottom. We see Ryker there to pick up the pieces in a way that Rae needs – proving to us that he’s really a good guy even when we only want to think the worst of him from previous installments. We know his intentions aren’t pure but he’s what Rae needs and that’s honorable.

Just when we think they are all at their lowest lows, we see a ray of light shine down in the form of forgiveness and then it all crashes and burns again.

This is probably the most extreme roller coaster yet for this group of friends, and i don’t know if they will ever be the same for it. Friends are forced to choose sides, trust is broken, games are played and those never net out well for anyone. You definitely need to read on to find out what happens and what may come next. Enjoy!