BlurbWyatt Conner is a hard man. A sixth generation sheriff in his hometown of Garnet. A former MMA fighter. His life is about following the rules and making sure everyone else in Garnet follows them too.
Before life hurt him, Wyatt was different. Love had once blinded him to his upbringing and made him defiant against anyone who tried to separate him from the girl he loved. He easily broke laws to ensure her safety.
When she left it destroyed him.
Now she's back.
Tabitha knew coming home was a mistake, but family obligation demanded it. She wasn’t expecting to run smack into the love of her life the same day she returned.
Despite the danger, Tabitha is powerless against the wild rush of desire that explodes between them the moment she finds herself in Wyatt’s arms again. She needs a second chance too, but she can't risk Wyatt finally discovering the real reason she left.
Even for another taste of true love.
Tabitha knows her haunted past will destroy both of them if Wyatt finds out. What she suffered through was too terrible and it's the one thing that will have him crossing the line for revenge.
My Review
My first Kele Moon book and I have to say I loved it! I was totally captivated by Wyatt and Tabitha's story. This is the kind of story that makes you believe in heroes and happily ever after. In other words, my favorite kind of story.
Wyatt Conner is a force to be reckon with. He's a sixth generation sheriff in his hometown of Garnet County and he's a former MMA fighter. He's set in his ways and all about following the rules.
But he wasn't always like that. When he was younger, he fell in love and was loved until circumstances beyond his control took it away from him. His one and only love left him a broken and bitter man who lived only for his job and his duty.
It was interesting to read Wyatt's story. Although I've read his story first, I have since then read the other books in the series and it was already hinted in those books about Wyatt's lost love. In Crossing the Line, we finally hear his story...well, not just his but Tabitha's as well.
What I loved about this book is how this one went back to the moment when Wyatt and Tabitha met. We weren't just given snippets or flashbacks of it, we get their whole story. I usually feel ambivalent when authors go back to the past but here, it was needed. Readers needed to see Wyatt before he became bitter and cynical. I needed to see for myself if what he had with Tabitha was real. And it was as real as it can get.
Although, they fell in love at a very young age, you feel their connection and their chemistry was awesome. Tabitha was pretty much vilified in the previous books as being the bitch who left Wyatt. But here, we get to see her shitty childhood and the horrors she went through. But most of all, we get to see her love for Wyatt. She wasn't some flighty, manipulative girl who left Wyatt in the dust. She was someone who really loved him and continues to love him in spite being apart for 13 years. I felt that her reasons for leaving was valid. Of course, I would have rather that she stayed and left but I understood.
She had a victim mentality. Usually, I hate that in my heroines but honestly, after reading her story, I couldn't really blame her. I guess abuse does that to a person and her fear was just palpable, it was heartbreaking. She really thought she was protecting Wyatt by leaving. Their story was very sad.
Like the rest of the series, the secondary characters figured prominently in this book. We get to actually see Wyatt's family; his grandfather and father and how these men actually both loved and lost. I also loved the glimpse into his relationship with his twin Jules. They were hilarious. And of course, we find out about Clay and Wyatt's relationship before they became best of friends. Nova, Tino and Romeo were prominent fixtures too, especially Nova. I got to say, I can't wait for his book. It's going to be interesting.
This book is definitely a winner for me. I loved it. I loved the ending and that epilogue was so worth it. The characters weren't perfect and they've made some questionable choices that had me shaking my head in disbelief but I still ended up rooting for them. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a steamy yet heartfelt read. :)
An ARC was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.
Casting
Wyatt Conner
Tabitha Conner
Author Interview
Hi, Kele! I loved Crossing the Line.
One of the best books I've read this year. Thank you for answering my questions
on such a short notice.
WOW! Thank you!! I can’t think of a
better compliment than that!
>First question is pretty standard. What's
your inspiration behind this series and Crossing the Line in particular?
I think the first vision of the series
started with the idea of a rough and gruff fighter sitting alone on
Thanksgiving when a down on her luck waitress buys him a piece of pie. The
ideas for the other two books quickly bloomed in the first few chapters of
writing Defying the Odds as Jules and Wyatt sort of wrote themselves in as
Clay’s two best friends. They both had such big personalities I knew each of
them needed their own books.
I knew from the get go that Wyatt had a
lost love and I knew the reasons she left. In the first two books, Tabitha is
sort of portrayed in a dark light because no one knew her reasons for leaving,
but I always knew. I knew how deeply she loved him. My vision for Crossing the
Line was always one of true love, undying love, a love that lasted forever and sustained
even the most violent of storms. I’m just so happy, now that it’s written, that
I was actually able to capture the vision with Wyatt and Tabitha’s story. I
really am very proud of it!
>There were a lot of very emotional
and heart-wrenching scenes in the book, which scene was the most difficult to
write emotionally?
For anyone who has read the book It
should be pretty obvious which one was the most difficult, though I won’t give
it away here. I cried so hard and so long writing that scene that my face was
swollen for days after I was done. It wasn’t the only part in the book that
made me cry while I was writing it, but that one was far and away the most heart
wrenching.
>Who's your favorite secondary
character in Crossing the Line?
Nova! I cannot wait to write his book!
>The ideas on heroes and villians
were such strong elements in the book, who's your favorite hero of all time and
why? And who's the one villian that really makes your hackles rise?
Probably Percy Jackson. I love him!
Really, I love all the demigods in the Heroes of Olympus series! It’s almost
hard to choose between them!
Villain, I think it’d be Bellatrix
Lestrange from Harry Potter. Even more so than Voldermort, she scared the heck
out of me. There’s something so terrifying about an evil blind follower!
Thanks, Kele for taking the time out to
answer my questions. Looking forward to read the rest of the series.