Keep Me Safe

I adore Maya Banks, so I was very excited to sign up for an ARC of the third book in this series, and the publisher generously sent me books 1 and 2 so I could catch up. I was a bit impatient to start the series, but I had a ton of housework to do, so I decided to pull the audiobook off Audible. If you follow my reviews, you will see this is a regular occurrence for me on the weekends, listening while doing things I hate (like cleaning and mowing the yard).

Anywho, so as I said, I adore Maya Banks and was stoked for this story. Unfortunately, the narrator absolutely KILLED it for me. I am not a huge fan of male narrators, but this one was a very poor choice for this book. He would be great at narrating horror stories, but romance - not show more so much. I swear that listening to this narrator read sex scenes made me think Caleb's schlong was gonna turn into an alien monster and eat her (literally). It was disturbing. And ALL of the narrator's character voices sounded exactly the same, so I could not tell who was speaking half the time. So I will not be listening to anything else by this narrator (unless it's written by Stephen King or Dean Koontz). I give the narration/performance only 1 star.

Rant over, on to the story. This was quite different from what I normally expect from Maya Banks. It almost transcends the line from romantic suspense to psychological thriller. While the romance is contemporary in nature, some of the characters have psychic abilities. And not just "they know things" or have visions, but that they can control other people with their mind. Fah-reaky.

Our heroine, Ramie, is this uber-delicate psychic lady who can find missing victims by touching something of theirs. Unfortunately doing so comes at great sacrifice to Ramie and she has gone into hiding. When the sister of our hero, Caleb, has been kidnapped, he tracks Ramie down and forces her to help. So they do not start off on the best of terms.

When Ramie seeks Caleb's help, he pretty much takes over her life and she let's him because she is the uber-weak heroine and he has a magic peen. The intimate scenes in this book seemed forced in, there was no natural flow for me. So unlike Ms. Banks' usual work. Unfortunately I cannot tell if I would have liked the story because of that dang narrator. It may have been better as just a straight thriller without trying to force the romance. I wanted to connect to the characters more, but they came off as a bit superficial to me.

I will continue on to the second book, and hopefully reading this one (instead of listening) will improve my connection to the story. show less

Keep Me Safe is the beginning of the Slow Burn Series. I love psychic elements in romance books, so it was a given that I would like this book at least a little. This was a very intense story. More time probably should have been spent on those parts of the story that were so intense with less time spent on dialogue which repeated things that had already been said. Aside from those issues, this was a very interesting and well-written story. I'm anxious to read In His Keeping.

There were a lot of things wrong with this book that nearly every other reviewer has brought up, but I should have known it was time to throw in the towel when the villain "laughed maniacally" off-screen, which happened basically in the 1st pages. But I instead chose to suspend my disbelief for 300 pages.
The chemistry between the couple wasn't the only implausible thing (not to beat a dead horse, but seriously. I should just stick with fanfic erotica because at least they're compelling and have heart), but there were so many times I rolled my eyes while reading I can't even remember them all.
I just keep coming back to what a perverted Disney Saturday Morning Cartoon villain this book gave.

I enjoy a hot love story with suspense but this is not what I was anticipating. The premise of Ramie using her link ability to locate victims was a draw but the amount of violence between the two main characters was not my idea of a romance. These are damaged people not a HEA all sunny and rosy.

I didn't love this one. Caleb was crude and too forceful when they first met. It took me a long time to get over the way he used and abused her. He forced her to do something against her specific wishes and she was hurt very badly by it. It was disgusting and unforgivable. And though he claimed to feel guilt and remorse, he also claimed he'd do it all again if he had to. So that's the start of this relationship between Caleb and Ramie. Ramie was a mess. But she knew she was a mess. And quite frankly, I could hardly blame her for being the mess that she was. I was grateful when she decided to not be that mess of a weakling anymore, though. And I accepted her falling in love with Caleb. But then Caleb again does the unthinkable. It was show more just too much. I was glad this book ended. The HEA wasn't so much joy at their happy ending. It was more relief that no one else would end up saddled with them. But, I didn't hate it and I tend to enjoy books by this author, so that's why the 2 stars. I actually enjoyed Dane and Eliza, so hopefully we'll see more of them later in the series. And hopefully when next we meet Caleb and Ramie, she won't be such a mess and he won't be such a bully. show less

I have been a huge fan of Maya Banks for years and I jumped at the opportunity to read her new book Keep Me Safe. So I have found throughout the years that Maya doesn’t allow herself to be pigeon-hold into one sub-genre. Her books range from historical Scottish romance to paranormal romance and then from Polyamorous romance to BDSM romance and I love them all!
So we start this book in a heart breaking situation, Caleb Devereaux’s younger sister is kidnapped and only one women can save her… and that is Ramie. Once Ramie gives his the information Caleb is hesitant to leave her, as he didn’t realize how much pain he would put her in, but ultimately he goes to save his sister (at Ramie’s insistence also) and once he finds his show more sister and makes sure she is safe, he goes back for Ramie, only to find her gone.
What Caleb doesn’t know is the amount of pain and horror he has re awoken in Remie’s life, by seeking her in her hiding spot. Now Remie is on the run from a killer and she turns to the person who destroyed her safety and demands that he protect her. Caleb cares for Remie, but can he protect her from the one that means her harm?
This books ignited all sorts of emotions in me from horror to love and pain, but it was so addictive that I couldn’t put it down and read it straight through in one sitting. I loved all the characters, except the killer obviously! I would say Caleb is my favorite character for the whole book, even though at some points he comes across as a jerk. Remie is a magical and warm woman and you just want to wrap her in cotton wool and keep her safe forever.
IF you are looking for a simple boy meets girl happily ever after romance this book is not for you! But if you are looking for a gritty, bumpy romantic thriller, this IS the book for you! I would recommend that this book is for over 18 only read this book, due to the violence in the book.
I give Keep Me Safe 10 out of 10 and I am already desperate for the next book! show less

Listened for Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 3.25
Story Rating: 3.25
Character Rating: 3.25

Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)

NOTE: Keep Me Safe by Maya Banks was an excellent thriller but the romance really got in the way.

I have put off writing this review because quite simply I didn't know how to say what I felt about the story. So I am going to make a list:

1: The thriller part of the story was very strong! Even though the pacing was a bit off (more on that in number 2), the "case" was solid.

2: The romance kept getting in the way. I hate to say that about a romance book but this one would have been stronger without it. It slowed the story down.

My Biggest Problem:

[ My biggest problem with Keep Me Safe was a scene that show more happened at the end of the book. Oddly enough if this was a Fringe thriller and that scene was there to prove the "reach" of the bad guy (he basically took over Caleb and made him almost kill her)---it would have worked. However, that scene was two-fold in that it was used to prove the reach/control of the bad guy and then BOOM we are at "I love you". This to me, was the biggest example of how the romance just did not work. Especially after what happened at the beginning of the book, the pacing and placement of "romance" just felt forced because it was supposed to be there. I felt if you wanted to solidify the romance, it should have been separated. (hide spoiler)]

All of that being said, I like dark thrillers and this was solid on that front. Rating was hard: I liked the book (can ignore the romance) and gave it a 3. If I was rating it as a romance it would have been a 2 but I don't rate based on genre. However, for full disclosure that would have happened if I did.

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated By Jeffrey Kafer / Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

This was my first book narrated by Jeffrey Kafer and he was probably the reason it ended up with a 3 instead of a 2. He brought edge to the story and added emotion just where it was needed. I was really impressed! I will listen to him again!

Final Thoughts: I will continue this series because honestly I want to see what happens! show less