Avenged: A MacKenzie Family Novella

Jay Crownover did it again! She created a masterful crossover of The Saints of Denver, Welcome to the Point and The Breaking Point in Liliana Hart’s MacKenzie Family. The little excerpt that describes the books says a lot about what to expect, even if you don’t have a clue about what it could mean. My first though was, “So, how is this going to roll?” Than you get to meet the characters. This time around the heroine is Echo, a girl that we all got to meet in The Saints of Denver. She’s the one who contacted Zeb when, because of all the bad choices she made in the past, she’s unable to adopt Hide. In Avenged Echo is deep in pain after her sister dies, looking for the person that she belives is responsible for the obsession that caused her death, one of the MacKenzies. Life has other plans for her when due to her deseration she end up in a terrible car accidents that places her in Ben’s path. Ben, or Benny, is the hero (or antihero) of this great story. He is the right hand man of Novk in Welcome to the Point. Let me tell you he isn’t a nice guy at all. Just as Echo he is a product of the people and places around him. Unlike her it isn’t only vices that taint his past, but violence and crime. Surprisingly, in this book he redeems himself in this book and Jay managed to make me feel empathy for a character that I once loathed. Ben is now living in a cabin in Surrender, in the middle of nowhere, under the witness protection program. There he’s found the time to think how he can change his life over, specially when he meets Echo in the middle of snow storm after she had the accident. This is true and true a second chance story, one that I loved. The attraction between Echo and Ben is sizzling hot. Together they find a way to be perfect, not for the rest of the world, but for each other. I personally loved the different appearances of characters from Jay’s many series. Specially when the devil himself provides Ben a way to go back to Echo when they part their ways and there seems impossible for them to get back together. I was glad it had a happy ending of sorts and they foud a way to find a future togheter. I highly recommend this book.

The only bad thing about this novella was that it was too short. I always want more of Jay Crownover. I wanted to dislike Benny, & yell at Echo to run, but you just can't. They are both completely intense in their honesty & need for redemption. Each one owns their past. They save each other & themselves in the process. The combination of little red riding hood, a breakfast staple & a Disney princess in their nicknames for each other brings a chuckle.

A quick segue back to 'connect the dots'. A good (very quick) read for regular readers. It would seem disjointed for those not up to date on this book series.