Sara's Review: The Darkest Hour (KGI #1) by Maya Banks
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PUBLISHER: Recorded Books
NARRATOR: Harry Berkeley
RELEASED: October 24, 2012
GENRE: CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE, SUSPENSE
LENGTH: 10 hours and 46 minutes
FORMAT: EBOOK, PAPERBACK, AUDIBLE
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It’s been one year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly last saw his wife Rachel alive. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his failures as a husband, Ethan shuts himself off from everything and everyone. His brothers have tried to bring Ethan into the KGI fold, tried to break through the barriers he’s built around himself, but Ethan refuses to respond… until he receives anonymous information claiming Rachel is alive. To save her, Ethan will have to dodge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise. And even if he succeeds, he’ll have to force Rachel to recover memories she can’t and doesn’t want to relive—the minute by minute terror of her darkest hour—for their love, and their lives, may depend on it.
THREE BOUNDLESS STARS
This has been on my TBR forever! And I do mean forever! I have read one other series my Banks, and it was a while ago and very different from this one. But I went in not knowing what to expect. But I did have some issues.
First, this is a massive series, so far 12 books. I am not sure what Banks planned when she started KGI, but it is evident from the number of characters she introduced, that this was going to be a large series. Here is where listening vs. reading can be an issue, at least for me. When I am reading a book, it is more immersive and takes 100% of my focus. Whereas when I am listening to audiobooks, I am usually doing other things, like driving, getting ready for work, cooking, etc. So when I feel like I need to remember a lot of info, like names and basic bio info of 10+ characters, it gets overwhelming in audiobook format, and I just can’t do it. And that was was one of the main issues I had with this story. It's not that I didn’t like it, It was just audiobook was the wrong format for me.
The other issue I had was with Rachel, she comes back broken which I get, but her behavior is all over the place. And her relationship with Garrett was weird; I understand why Ethan got jealous. There isn’t a man alive that wouldn’t. At least not a macho Alpha Navy Seal. I also, really don’t care for damsels in distress much. I will take a kick-ass chick any day.
I am not giving up on this series because the next story is about Sam, and hopefully won't have so many other characters, or at least I will have a better understanding of them. But overall the story was fast-paced, loaded with action, a loving family and loads of hunky men that I can’t wait to read more about. I am rating The Darkest Hour: Kelly Group International, Book 1 Three Boundless Stars, it was good.