When Nick O'Flaherty arrives at the scene of a double homicide to find he has a witness to the crime, he thinks it’s his lucky day. But when he realizes his witness is suffering from amnesia and can’t even remember his own name, Nick wishes he’d gone with his gut and put in for vacation time.
Then Nick’s boyfriend and former Recon teammate, Kelly Abbott, joins him in Boston, and Nick finds his hands a little too full as the case and his personal life collide. The witness he’s dubbed “JD” is being tailed by Julian Cross, a retired CIA hitman. To complicate matters further, JD forms an attachment to Nick that Nick struggles not to respond to as they search for the key to JD’s identity.
Trying to determine whether JD is friend or foe as they investigate the crime puts them on the trail of a much older mystery. When multiple attempts are made on their lives, Nick is forced to turn to old enemies and new allies to solve a centuries-old crime before he and Kelly get added to the history books.
Very disappointed 😕
I don’t think I have ever rated an Abigail Roux book below 3 stars-not even Ball & Chain which is my least favorite of the C&R series-so you can imagine my dislike for this book. And after Shock & Awe, which I absolutely adore? Ts ts how could you do this to me Mrs. Roux??
I
feel like every beautiful and loving aspect of Nick and Kelly’s
relationship built in just 125 pages in Sock & Awe, was torn apart
in the 225 pages of Cross and Crown, and quite easily actually. I have
to admit, I am not a Julian fan. I don’t know what it is. Maybe because I
don’t get his relationship with Cameron (like at all), or maybe because
he just blends together with all the other alpha, macho males in every
Abigail Roux book. He is not something that I have not seen before,
therefore he is boring to me.
That being said, Julian is the least of this book’s problems, he didn’t even register.
My issue is: what happened to Nick and Kelly’s chemistry???
And I am not even talking about the sizzling hot connection they shared
in S&A. I am talking about their genuine close friendship and
comradery. Their scenes felt real forced, and it felt like reading about
two strangers. They lost that familiarity and ease they had in S&A
and all the previous C&R books, and I never really got why. Granted,
they were still trying to figure out their relationship, but they
seemed to had it all figured out at the start, but now all of a sudden
not so much. There was always something not quite right between them and
their scenes were even awkward sometimes.
Yes, and the sex
ones. 😟 Not much joy there, as I personally thought their sex scenes
were cringey, and they made things even worse.
Kelly seemed to
suddenly be on the fence about his relationship with Nick, even though
he kept insisting he was in love with him. There always seemed to be
doubt in his mind and he, more than Nick, would find a million excuses,
like Nick’s work (super unfair to Nick) him living far away, to name a
few, to try and justify his uncertainty. He never stopped to think that
the only problem was that he was scared shitless to commit to Nick! I
would much rather he admitted it, than being a whingey sook for the
whole book. Again – this is not the Kelly I knew! I don’t know what came
over him in Cross & Crown. Personally, I believe Roux created too
much drama over absolutely nothing (or at least issues that could very
easily been discussed and resolved) thus weakening the characters, and
losing focus of what really mattered.
Nick was pretty much the
same, but he too lost his strong and confident personality. He allowed
himself to be led by Kelly’s whims, no matter how irrational. I
completely disagree with other readers claiming that Nick is turning
into Superman like Ty, not at all. I think the opposite, if anything. It
gave me the impression that Nick was way more in love and committed to
Kelly than Kelly, and that was so not the case in Shock and Awe.
Sigh.
The
story was not notable, in my opinion. There was nothing engaging or
interesting about the mystery and that made me not really care about any
of the secondary characters who were just decorative.
I adore Nick. I loved him since the beginning – getting flashbacks from Divide & Conquer now ❤️ Where is THAT Nick? Bring him back! Or at least naturally change him for the better.
I am warning you know 👉
If you ruin Nick for me on what looks like the last book in the series, I will never forgive you 😭
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