Vines
by Brynne Asher
In the Virginia countryside outside of Washington, DC, Addy Wentworth was on a mission to make a new life for herself. When the opportunity arose, she settled in horse and wine country. Experiencing more than her fair share of tragedy and loss, she had plans for her future, one where failure wasn’t an option. And not just because people and cows were counting on her. She’d poured everything she had into her struggling vineyard, because once she’s in, she’s all in.
After giving himself wholly to the job for ten years, Crew Vega was done. He’d fulfilled his commitment, done his duty, gone above and beyond to settle the score. And the score was high. All he had to do was train his replacements and he’d be out for good.
He had a plan, one that didn’t include getting involved with his new neighbor, a woman who not only kept cows for pets, but treasured her employees as family, and understood him better than anyone ever had before. But when he learned a high level CIA target being investigated for treason was keeping tabs on her?
No, he never planned on that.
And like everything Crew Vega did in life, when he goes in, he’s all in.
Spice Level: 4.5/6 | Story Score: 8.75/10 | Rating: 5/5 |
I’ve read the 4th book in this series; I loved it. Then when I got an Audible membership, this one was free to listen to. I vaguely remembered Crew from the 4th book but I wanted more of that world anyway.
Crew has just “retired” from mercenary work, lol, and joined with his former handler to try to create a camp for training new mercenaries. Within days (day?) of being on his new land, working to fix it up, he meets his new neighbor while she’s out walking and talking with her cows, one of which breaks her fence. Yup. She just bought the winery. Shortly after, a “target” is caught coming to the winery and Crew goes to check it out and realizes how protective he is of Addy already. Then he figures out that she hiding her past, a past in which involves her cop-father being murdered in front of her which turns into a tale of political intrigue. She tries to stay away from him, he tries to get closer to her…in the end, he wins.
The story was good. I didn’t like it as much as I liked the 4th one, but this one had to set up an entire world and I couldn’t complain about it. It was super exciting to see Jarvis when he first arrived at the camp. I liked Addy. Crew was…I liked Crew as a person, but I thought he was too pushy and sometimes inconsiderate of Addy. He wanted to snap his fingers and have her follow his every command and trust him blindly when she’d spent her whole life having to trust no one to stay safe.
The smut was low which is always a bummer, but I’ll continue this series for sure.
Uh, I AM A SUCKER FOR COW HUMOR! Not something I particularly thought I’d say about myself, but being from Missouri, I can’t say it surprises me. Lol. If you have cow humor books, I need them.
-SPOILERS-
Maybe I’m just going through a feminist phase, lol. I don’t know. The amount of times that Crew asked Addy to trust him frustrated me. He was constantly asking her to come 99% of the way while he barely moved. He wanted her secrets. He wanted her trust. He wanted her submission. He wanted, he wanted, he wanted. I understand what he was trying to do for her. I do. I understand that by getting her to let go of so much, he could give her so much more. But I didn’t appreciate the way it felt in the story. A friend of mine didn’t think it was nearly as pushy as I did.
Addy was 5 when she was out with her father, running errands. He was shot on the street and she remembered every detail. She remembered the people freaking out and running. She remembered the blood blooming from the wound. And she was raised by a mother who ran when the media and CIA started hounding her about her husband’s involvement in treason - that she never believed he committed. She remembered her mom keeping her safe and later telling her what they said had happened and what she didn’t believe he did.
When this guy shows up and keeps inserting himself into her life and overstepping boundaries, WHY WOULD SHE TRUST HIM?? Eventually she does start trusting him with her present. He immediately starts pushing her to trust him with her past and her body. To not ask questions when he gives a command, about his past, or when he gives her an order sexually. I understand that she needed a push because trust wasn’t something she would’ve ever given on her own, but he just shoved right through. I can’t help it. I liked Addy a lot. I appreciated his goal and I LOVED his protectiveness, but I would’ve appreciated some more understanding.
So the CIA guy (O’Rourke) and his partner (Whittaker) are the focused-on bad guys in this story. But they work for the Russians? I was left a bit unsatisfied by the story ending with just their deaths. I assume the unknown entity will play more roles in future books, and I’ll read on to see. I also appreciated that while they hinted that O’Rourke had a thing for Addy’s mom, that he didn’t actually. Honestly, he was confusing.
Book #1 in A Killers series | 354 Pages | Trope Challenge: Alpha Hero |
Leaning my head back on his shoulder, I whisper, “I can’t move.”
His lips meet the area below my ear, his whiskers scratching my sensitive skin. I feel his tongue dart out tasting me, sending tingles down my spine. I thought those tingles were intense until his lips come to my ear where his next two words reduce me to mush. “I know.”
Oh. Well, then. Shit.
“Grab hold of me.”
- Vines by Brynne Asher
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