Review of "Be With Me" and "Coulters’ Woman" by Maya Banks

One of my online friends was kind enough to post this review for me on her blog earlier this month as I didn’t have a blog at the time. I decided to post it again today because this wonderful book is being officially released on November 4, 2008. I am given to understand that it is already available at Borders. I felt so fortunate in winning an Advanced Review Copy of “Be With Me”, and have read it again since Maya first sent it to me.

When I feel bereft as I am reading the last page of a book because I don’t want it to end, I know it is a great story. I have to say, I felt bereft when I finished reading ‘Be With Me’, by Maya Banks. Maya threw out her hook and line and reeled me in from the first page.

‘Be With Me’, isn’t just an erotic romantic fantasy involving a woman and three men in a ménage a quatre relationship, it’s a story about friendship, deep devotion and love. The thing I really admire about Maya is not only her gift for writing a wonderful, exciting, sensuous and action packed story, but it’s the depth of the characters she creates and how they are woven into the plot.

Regina “Reggie” Fallon, is an intelligent, tough, no nonsense, policewoman who has been friends with Cam, Sawyer and Hutch since childhood. All three of the men are everything a girl wants to see in a story’s heroes, as in drop dead gorgeous and sexy. However, each of the guys has a unique endearing personality. Cam is brilliant, analytical and essentially the peacemaker of the family. Sawyer is strong, volatile and exudes an almost animalistic aura. Hutch is tough, but with an innate sensitivity and endearing sweetness, and, this boy can cook! One of the other things I thoroughly enjoy about Maya Banks’ characters is their wit and humor and ‘Be With Me’ is no exception. Reggie has a razor sharp tongue and has no compunction about speaking her mind.

The plot of this story is unpredictable and packed full of exciting twists and turns. However, the story is also believable because the characters go though the type of conflict, tension and sacrifice that one would expect to make a relationship of this nature work. As always, in Maya’s books the love scenes are beautifully written and sensuality sizzles on the pages.

Maya has also written in a suspense/mystery subplot with heart thumping action sequences that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.

‘Be With Me’, is one of the best contemporary erotic romances I’ve read this year and in my humble opinion, it is definitely deserving of an ‘A’ grade.

Bravo Maya! I cannot wait to read Maya’s next publication.

Every so often Amazon.ca emails me a list of recommended reads based on previous purchases and one day a recommendation for “Coulters’ Woman”, arrived. I read the synopsis and a couple of reader reviews and thought ‘what the hell’. Having never read a Maya Banks’ book or a ménage story before I was a little skeptical, however this story gripped me from page one to the last page. IMHO this story is erotic romantic fantasy at it’s finest.

As I mentioned in the review of “Be With Me”, this author’s strength is her ability to develop strong endearing characters that are individually unique. The Coulter brothers are no exception.

Adam, Ethan and Ryan Coulter own a hunting lodge in a remote area of the Colorado Rockies. The setting for this book is breathtakingly beautiful and Maya takes you though a full change of seasons as the story progresses.

Adam is strong minded, stubborn, and tough, essentially the ‘patriarch’ of the family. He is accustomed to being a dominant in his personal and professional life, patience doesn’t tend to be his strongest virtue and he is quite stubborn by nature. Ethan is the peacemaker of the three brothers, strong, intelligent and easygoing. He is the one that referee’s the arguments and smoothes any ruffled feathers. Ethan is a methodical thinker, which comes into play in any decision he makes. Ryan, the youngest of the three brothers is, I would say the most volatile of the three. A free spirit who is also stubborn and cautious, he has suffered a horrible experience as the result of the war. Ryan is struggling to come to grips with the emotional and physical damage this has caused to his body and spirit. All three brothers have one thing in common they are fiercely protective of their family and love each other unconditionally. They also instinctively know that there is one woman who will fulfill them and be ‘their woman’.

Adam finds ‘Holly Bardwell’ unconscious and freezing to death in a snow filled ditch at the roadside outside the brother’s lodge. From the moment Adam lays eyes on Holly, he feels a special bond and senses she is ‘the one’ to complete his family. Holly is a woman on the run, terrified, abused, insecure and half frozen, she awakens in the lodge to find not one but three handsome men have taken her in and are willing to nurture and love her.

Maya spins a story of a relationship between these four people that can only be described as intense, erotic and beautiful. Holly matures and gains confidence in herself as a person, as a woman and in her sexuality under Adam, Ethan and Ryan’s careful nurturing. Adam, Ethan, and especially Ryan also grow as individuals. Holly’s past comes back to haunt her however, and her men are forced to protect and try to keep her safe as a malevolent threat from her vile abusive previous spouse closes in.

The sex scenes are graphic in this novel, but Maya crafts them in a tasteful way that is fitting with the character’s unusual relationship. There is also some violence in the story, but again even those scenes are well managed and woven perfectly into the plot.

“Coulters’ Woman”, made me laugh, chew my nails and weep, in other words I experienced a full range of emotions while reading this book. What is it that makes it so special? I think it is the classic ‘knight in shining armor’ rescues ‘damsel in distress’ theme. (Except you have three gorgeous knights in shining armor. lol) But more than that it is about four people whose feelings grow into a deep love and lasting commitment to one another.

This book holds a place on my bedside shelf because it is one of the few books I read, again and again and again.

Maya Banks Website is: http://www.mayabanks.com/

You can find a free story entitled “Coulters’ Wife”, which completes Holly, Adam, Ethan and Ryan’s story on her website.