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Kennedy Ryan slays my heart and my soul and my mind every single time she writes!
5 I Am Yours CROWNS
Hook Shot, unlike its predecessors, has a quiet power. Kenan and Lotus’s journey isn’t shocking, in your face, controversial in nature, but it is just as consuming, just as moving. The subtle way she brings them together, heals them, is powerful. Their story is a silent pulse under your skin, building slowly and sensually, exploding into full blown love and culminating in romance that still made my heart flutter and shatter and my perceptions challenged and crafted into something new.
Lotus, like all Kennedy Ryan heroines, exemplifies the best qualities of femininity - independence, intelligence and bravery. While Lotus shares similar qualities with that of Ryan’s previous heroines, there is a peacefulness to her character, a quiet storm that blows in slaying the enemy when those she loves is threatened. Lotus is introspective, an observer. She believes fully in her faith and her upbringing with Mimi, refusing to be ashamed of who she is and where she comes from. Her quiet strength, though, speaks so loudly, she demands attention. Like any good characters, there are layers to Lotus. We get to see who she truly is with those she loves. Through her friends and Kenan and Iris, we get see a woman who feels and loves fully, who is funny and vibrant, who is complete. If you have read the previous standalones, then you know Lotus’s history, and if not, you will find out in Hook Shot, and it is not surprising that this experience has shaped her, affects her during her story, and ultimately forms who she is and becomes. It is this experience, though, and how it still affects her that puts her on the path to Kenan. This part of the story is where the readers truly get to see her fortitude and her ability to know herself and that there are many paths to healing. Her reflection, her decision to own her soul and body with no apologies, and her ability to love are her greatest attributes.
Kenan is so incredibly different than any other heroes Kennedy Ryan has created. He is an old soul in every way. And while he shares his reflective and introspective nature with Lotus, he uses his observation to close himself off to most. Through the course of the novel, Lotus tears his walls down, and we see a man who is disciplined and loves deeply, which we see most in their intimate moments. She draws out a side of him that is silly, adventurous, and sensual. Of course he has those characteristics that we love in a hero - that delicate balance between possession and freedom, and readers will absolutely swoon over this man who is as disciplined in his pursuit and love of Lotus as he is on the court.
Story writing is always where Kennedy Ryan shines. Her writing style and prose just makes a story more. I feel her words reach into my soul, twist me up and by the end of the novel, I am something new, something different. With her words, a kiss is more than a kiss, the intimacy between characters becomes transcendent, and her stories pulse with the vibrancy of life. I feel every moment, every joy, every heartbreak, every flash of anger and heat of passion. I LIVE with these characters, and I was consumed by the story or Lotus and Kenan because their love is unique and scary and healing. What readers will ultimately see, though, is that their journey shows that love, even with the most level-headed and observant characters can be consuming. Their love becomes an altar, a place of worship, not just with their bodies, but their minds and souls. Kennedy Ryan also excels and creating conflicts that organically stem from the characters she creates, the threads woven into the story from the beginning, developed and expanded upon with each chapter. It is organic and natural, and the resolution offers some type didactic offering for the public to ruminate on.
With every story, Kennedy Ryan makes me fall in love with her characters, their journey, and the romance of it all. It doesn’t seem to matter, though, who or what the story is about because her words and her story-telling are what truly make me fall in love with each and every book she writes. Her talent is truly unparalleled, her ability to make readers feel and think is her greatest gift.
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