Storm Season by Elle Keaton

Storm Season by Elle Keaton

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Blurb

They say you can’t go home again. Adam Klay doesn’t intend to until the death of his father forces his return to Skagit, Washington. Cleaning up his father’s chaotic life was never on Adam’s bucket list. Worse, Adam finds himself inexplicably drawn to the elusive, terminally-clumsy, gorgeous, Micah Ryan. No way is he getting involved with someone from his hometown, he’s always insisted the best view of Skagit was in his rearview mirror.

Micah Ryan has been coasting on auto-pilot since his family was killed in a car accident a decade earlier. He runs a web business and has an irritable cat. He hardly leaves his house, unless it is for his afternoon espresso. His world tips upside down when Adam Klay rolls into town. For the first time in years, he feels alive. Unfortunately, Micah’s return to the living has been noticed and is not appreciated.

*This re-edited version of Storm Season does not differ significantly from the original except for better grammar.

Review

Because I am an absolute genius, I picked up the seventh book in this series before I bought, or knew about, the first. And I’m glad I did because His Best Man was one of the sweetest, most warm-your-soul books I’ve ever read. Go buy it, right now, and come back to this one.

Or, you know, read them in order. Like a logical boring person. Or a sensible one. Whichever.

Anyway, while Micah getting his happily ever after is absolutely sweet, and there is an aura of sweetness to the side characters, there is nothing sweet about Storm Season and I loved every minute of it. Storm Season is about an FBI agent whose meat and potatoes is murder, and grisly murder at that.

Okay, so you knew I was going to love it as soon as you knew who Adam Klay was.

He’s called away from an exceptionally nasty murder (seriously, just look away from that one) to go back to his hometown of Skagit, Washington when his estranged father dies. He’s supposed to be taking all of his unused vacation time, but he doesn’t because he suspects a murder, and then he finds a murder, and the case blossoms from there.

BUT there’s also Micah. Micah is connected to the missing person, and he’s also handsome, and he’s clumsy and socially anxious. (I am also clumsy and socially anxious, so I related to him pretty easily.)  Both of them left Skagit. Both of them came back without necessarily wanting to. There is intense Family Drama™ with both of them, which I won’t unveil because of spoilers.

The amazing thing about the books I’ve read by Elle Keaton is that she creates these characters who are just amazing for each other. Adam is intense, driven, and kind of fixated on murder. He’s also a kind of broken guy in a lot of ways. Micah is warm and nurturing, but he doesn’t have any outlets for his need to take care of someone until Adam comes into his life. They make each other better, and heal each other’s wounds, simply by existing and it’s beautiful.

The murders, human trafficking, old family secrets, and mayhem are icing on the cake here. It’s good icing, don’t get me wrong. The romance truly shines through here. It’s the perfect example of romantic suspense – neither aspect of the story would exist without the other, and it’s amazing. I’m envious of how well she pulled it off and I might just go cry in a corner or something.

(Not really, I’m going to read the next one. But the urge is there.)

The side characters are fantastic too, from Joey the nurse to the weird old men that used to be friends of Adam’s father. There wasn’t anyone I wanted to see off the page.

So why only four stars? 

Honestly, Micah’s social anxiety seems to fade away when it’s not convenient or funny. So does his clumsiness. The guy who showed up in the first part of the book could never have pulled off what Micah does in the latter half of the book if he were as clumsy as first half Micah.

Nit-picky?  Sure. But as someone who’s gotten up in front of a crowd and literally forgotten my native language, I found it difficult to work past it. Not so difficult that ruined the book, but more like sand in your swimsuit after a beautiful day at the beach.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this series and I hope you do too.