Absolution [Paperback]

Wow, this book was fantastic!

This amazing instalment in Kaylea Cross' romantic/military suspense series is unique in many ways. The main couple are older than you would expect to find in romantic suspense, and at the beginning of the story both characters have very realistic reasons to believe they only have a short time left to live.

Luke walked away from Emily many years ago when he found himself in a situation where she was nearly very badly hurt because of him. He was a Navy SEAL and went on to work for the CIA, making plenty of enemies along the way. Over the course of the series, a terrorist connected to Luke's past has been tracking down the women associated with him, and now it looks like Emily could be in danger. Luke is prepared to give up his life in order to finally take this man down, but when he turns up on Emily's doorstep to discover her dying of cancer, he realises they've wasted half a lifetime they could have been together. It looks like neither of them may have much time left.

Absolution takes us from the United States back to Beirut and the sparse expanses of the Middle East. The story is exceptionally well-researched. Everything from the military aspects to the details of Emily's illness to the feel of the different locations is far more detailed and intricate than you'll find in other books in this genre.

One of the best aspects of Absolution was the way the whole team - all the heroes and heroines of past books - pulled together in this one. Everyone got their moment to do their thing, and every single one of these characters is so distinct from the others. My favourites, Ben and Samarra (from No Turning Back), were great, with Ben in particular managing to put a smile on my face more than once in the middle of all the drama and pain.

As for Luke and Emily? You'll never find another couple like this. The reunited lovers theme is one of my absolute favourites, and this one packs extra punch with the very real threat things aren't going to work out for these two in the end. Cross definitely doesn't give us a sugar-coated wrap up to her series, and there are no easy answers for either of them when we reach the last page.

Read this series in order. Sure, you'll be able to catch up reading this one on its own, but the story of Absolution has been building up over the entire series, and there's no way you'll get anywhere near as much out of it starting here (plus, the entire series is definitely worth the effort!).

It was extremely depressing reaching the end of this book, because I don't know how I'm going to get by without another instalment to the series! Absolution was above and beyond what you could ever hope for from a military suspense novel, and I hope plenty of people go out there and see why I can't stop raving about this series.

Series order:
Out Of Her League
Cover of Darkness
No Turning Back
Relentless
Absolution

Now this was a very unusual book!

This is the last installment of the series and couldn't really be better.

I enjoyed very much that all the main characters of the previous books appeared once again, however, the absolute highlights of the book were the two main characters. Firstly, I liked the fact, that Luke and Emily are a bit older than the usual heroes and heroines of military romance. Although Luke was described in previous books as the absolute alpha male, the author managed very successfully to appear him in a different light in this book. His feelings for Emily were so deep and true that I was more than once deeply moved.

Emily was great. The way she tries to cope with her disease, the ups and downs, the way she feels that she might be running out of time, allows the reader to identify herself with the heroine, especially because her medical condition is somehow always present in any female brain.

Absolutely adorable was the fact how Luke helped her to overcome her shyness and tried to make her feel at ease with herself (sizzling sex scenes incl.). If this isn't true love I wonder what is!

These parts of the book were so "rich" that I would have preferred if the military part would have been reduced to as less as possible. Luke presented himself with such depth that I thought anything that has to do with his alpha male image destroyed this absolutely wonderful image. What a man!

Absolutely recommendable!

This book breaks so many romance contrivances I can't begin to count.

The couple is older (like over 50).
They've been apart but never stopped loving one another.
The heroine a physical trainwreck due to illness, surgery and treatments.
She is kind...a loving mother, a nurturer to friends and family, keeper of hearth, home and garden.
The hero is so filled with angst and so driven you don't see how they could ever get together.
Ever...everevereverever.

You start out in the first chapter or so of the book being told there probably won't be an HEA.

Well dang!

Which means you read it in one long sitting, fighing back tears (and I want to make it clear that I rarely RARELY cry with books because it makes me really cranky!) It means you go to work the next day and tell your friends you just read the must unconventional, wonderful romance. It means you post to your friends and readers group that they have to read this book (OK, ALL 5 books because Luke and Emily's story starts in the first one). Heck, you even Facebook about it.

The setting is back in Beirut and again, Cross has done her research, though in this case, it could be she simply has lived and loved someone with cancer. Again, Cross pulls no punches. This isn't "Love Story" where the heroine just gets more beautiful as she gets sicker. This is, however, how love can see beyond the physical imperfections to the soul that lies beneath.

Luke's making Emily feel beautiful again is one of the most moving scenes I've ever read. And Emily isn't flawless, she has committed her own sins against Luke that must come to light. Their path back to one another isn't easy, and the ending allows the reader (such as teary eyed me) to write their own HEA.

You also get to see everyone from the first 4 books again for a catch up and their own contributions. As contrived as this may seem at first, it's a beautiful way to wrap up a series and tie it with a bow. It was nice and yes, it did work and make sense.

I wish there was a 6th star I could add for "Rare Book That Made Me Cry"....so I'm adding it now. It's rare you read a book where you hate saying goodbye at the end. This is such a book.