HARD EVER AFTER is a novella in the Hard Ink
series (#4.6) by Laura Kaye. This is a quick book, 96
pages, and is a delightful revisiting of the characters of
Hard Ink Tattoo, Nicholas Rixey's tattoo parlor. Nick had
returned from his military life overseas thinking his
ex-commander had betrayed Nick and his fellow soldiers to
death. Into Nick's shop walked the sexy daughter of the
ex-commander, looking for help to rescue her brother, and
Nick and Becca ultimately fell in love. Along the way, the
lovers' investigation also turned into a full-out war with
an organized crime ring and street gang.
Nick and his fellow military teammates are setting up a
new security consulting firm and moving on from the war
with
the organized crime ring. As everyone prepares for Becca
and Nick's nuptials, a danger everyone thinks is gone rears
up to menace them again. There is a great mix of romance,
danger, and erotic interludes nicely spaced throughout the
story. The novella opens strongly, with a smokin' bedroom
scene, and Kaye keeps the flames burning high between our
hero and heroine as they reach for the Happily Ever After
that seems held just outside their reach.
Nick and Becca are the couple from book 1 of the series,
HARD AS IT GETS, and it is lovely to see the focus on them
again, while seeing the other couples from the other books
in action as well. HARD EVER AFTER shows the whole team
together for Nick and Becca's wedding, and includes all the
characters from the previous novels. Kaye does a smooth
job
of injecting small summaries of the backstories for each
person or couple, so that someone new to the series can
pretty easily follow along. This is difficult for many
authors to do, apparently, and I give full points to Kaye
for doing it so seamlessly.
I'm not normally a fan of novellas because I don't like
their short format, but I will always read them when they
progress a story arc in a series I follow. Kaye does
this shorter composition well, and I am not sorry to pick
up
one of her novellas—I find this as well done as her
novels. Thus I can wholeheartedly recommend HARD EVER
AFTER, not
just to fans of Kaye's Hard Ink series, but also to
all
readers who enjoy romantic suspense, bridal days, and
blushingly-hot bedroom scenes.
After a long battle to discover the truth, the men and
women
of Hard Ink have a lot to celebrate, especially the wedding
of two of their own--Nick Rixey and Becca Merritt, whose
hard-fought love deserves a happy ending.
As Nick and the team shift from crisis mode to building
their new security consulting firm, Becca heads back to
work
at the ER. But amid the everyday chaos of demanding jobs
and
their upcoming nuptials, an old menace they thought long
gone reemerges, threatening the peace they've only just
found.
Now, for one last time, Nick and Becca must fight for their
always and forever, because they know that when true love
overcomes all the odds it lasts hard ever after.
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