"Parting is such sweet sorrow - Juliet from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
THAT is the phrase that came to mind as I read the very last page in the very last installment of the 'Burg Series. Oh my goodness. I will say, that no matter how I felt about the individual stories in this series, the way it wraps up in this book made me love them all.
I read the other books before I started blogging so this is the only one I have a review for. But I would recommend that you read all of the stories and that you read them in order. And if you start a book and are not feeling one of the characters or one of the story lines, trust me, STICK WITH IT!! You will not be sorry because the couple in each story has a compelling and heartwarming story that you will enjoy reading.
I was surprised when I saw that Cher (AKA Cheryl) was the main female character in this book. She was a significant character in book one- For You and a minor one in the other books (she worked at J&Js), but somehow it never occurred to me that she might have an interesting story waiting to be told. Merry is also in the other stories. He is Mike Haine's partner ( Games of the Heart) and Rocky Lane's brother ( Golden Trail). Whatever I thought of the pairing, I am so glad that their story got told. It was beautiful.
Merry is on the rebound from a five year back and forth with his ex-wife and Cher is on a permanent rebound from the crap life has dealt her --her son Ethan being the exception to that - and they are good friends.
What starts a fling ends up being the start of something profound for both of them.
Of course, this wouldn't be the 'Burg without murder, mayhem, kidnapping, crazy jealous exes and great kids thrown in for good measure.
This book has all of that and then some because it as the most EPIC epilogue that gives you everything you could need to know about the how life has played out for the 5 couples we met in this series. It's awesome and I am SO sad there is no more.
Cher and Merry have issues. Cher gave me moments where I was literally yelling at her. Merry- not so much- but he had a whole other book and his sister's experience to help him work out his issues.
Also, in Golden Trail we were introduced to Ryker who , even though he didn't have his own book, is a huge part of the 'Burg storylines and who is one of my favorite KA characters. And that is saying a lot because I tend to love her characters.
You'll read some negative reviews that talk about the way KA's dialogue is written and her use of the same phrases, etc...but hey, it's not for everyone. And I happen to LOVE it and so do a lot of other people. If you can't get the rhythm of the speech in the books, I would recommend listening to the audio versions. The narrators do a GREAT job. The first book I read of hers was Knight and I was struggling with the dialogue so I bought the audio and I totally got how they sounded and it it totally made sense and brought the characters to life. I love the descriptive narratives and I love the multiple points of view that often exist in her novels.
So, yes, parting is such sweet sorrow. But what a way to end on a high!
