Maya Banks – Softly at Sunrise

A novella in the Kelly/KGI series, published May 22, 2012. It is also published in the back of Shades of Gray.
Genre: romantic suspense
Cover: lovely



Rachel Kelly has traveled a long, hard road in her journey back to her husband, Ethan, and the Kelly family. Now, as she and Ethan are poised to move into their new home, safe behind the walls of the Kelly compound, Rachel wonders if she'll finally be free of the ghosts that have haunted her for so long and if she'll step into the sun after a past steeped in darkness.


I have been looking forward to reading this short story for a while now. In P.J.’s book, Shades of Gray, a little is told about what has happened in this one, but it was still a good story. Rachel and Ethan are the main characters in the first book, and Rachel has literally gone through hell. Surviving that, and getting on with her old life, are not easy, and is not done in a week or a month, or even a year. It is now 4 years after her rescue, and Rachel and Ethan are ready to move to their new and safer house on the KGI compound grounds. Rachel is very happy that she can leave the bad memories of her old house behind her, which is something Ethan doesn’t really understand. But Rachel’s memories are not 4 years old, she is still getting some of them back, so they are fresh in her mind, and they hurt just as much as when she lived through it. The loss of her unborn child, the decline of her marriage, Ethan serving her divorce papers in the living room.

But now Rachel is starting over. A new teaching job, a new job, and she even got pregnant. Which was what they both want, but did not think would happen so fast. Rachel wants to wait to tell the family, until the perfect moment, but of course real life intrudes. Teaching can be very dangerous nowadays, and KGI is needed to rescue Rachel from a hostage situation. Rachel keeps her head cool, and manages to call Sean to tell him what is happening, so he can inform the family and the other rescue organisations.


I loved this novella. Of course we get little updates on Rachel and Ethan in the other books in the series, but this one was especially about them. It was good to find out what Rachel was going through, that she did not mind Ethan’s over protectiveness, and still went out to start teaching again. She could have stayed sheltered by the Kelly family forever if she so wanted. And Ethan is coping well with giving Rachel the space she needs and wants, even though he doesn’t like it at all. Their marriage is strong again, and neither takes anything for granted anymore. Maya Banks did a superb job in letting the characters emotions feel so real, I was almost with them. I sure hope for more of those novella’s in the future, and can’t wait for the next book to be published.

9 stars.





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© 2013 Reviews by Aurian