Book Summary: 

Jackson
I’ve given up on finding love. I’m fine loving my kids and not having that special someone to share my life with. That’s until Darian Lawrence walked into my life. She’s changing everything I thought that I knew. She’s beautiful, sexy, smart, funny and a little dirty. She’s suffered loss, and may not be ready to love me, but I’m ready to love her.

Darian
My soulmate left this world too soon. Part of me died with him. I’ll never get it back. I don’t know if I want it back. That’s until a chance encounter with the handsome Jackson Knight reawakens a long dormant part of me. A part that I thought was forever gone. But I don’t know if I can betray my past to have a future.

 My Review:

One word – Wow! That is how I would describe Knight: City of Sisterly Love. From the back cover summary and the cover of the book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As I am not really a romantic drama type person, I normally shy away from that genre. This, however, was categorized as a romantic comedy so I thought I would keep an open mind (you never know). I can’t even begin to describe how loudly I laughed through most of this book! Now don’t get me wrong, there is suspense and drama but it wasn’t all encompassing. This book played my heart like a fiddle. Again, I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I blushed (and trust me, I did that last one a lot!)

It’s been three years since the love of Darian’s life passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. Her life will never be the same and, despite the efforts of her three daughters and best friend Cass, she doesn’t want to go on without her beloved Scott. He was her everything for over twenty years. Despite Cass’s relentlessness about Darian getting back out there, she just can’t do it. Cass finally decides enough is enough and forces Darian to make good on her promise of a girls’ night out. Against her better judgment, she agrees. Across town, Jackson is trying his hardest to resist the badgering of his son and his assistant. He finally caves and agrees to check out a cover band, have a drink, then head home. What he didn’t agree to was being distracted by a laugh coming from the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It is an attraction he has never experienced, especially under the circumstances that landing him with his now ex-wife. Jackson is determined to get to know Darian more but how close can he get to a woman who still longs for a man no longer with them?

What I like about it: This book had everything. It was surprisingly witty – especially when the kids or Cass were involved. It had so much heart – I loved the relationship between Cass and Darian and the parents with their children. It has suspense – the ominous situation with Bryan and how all of that was going to play out. The drama of Jackson spiraling, Darian learning Scott’s secret, Darian caught between two worlds – wanting to move on but wanting to remain undying loyal to her husband – all the feels!

What I love about it: Those letters! The beyond the grave aspect of Scott was so moving. Even after he was gone, you understood very quickly why Darian couldn’t move on. I admit I teared up when she read the last one. I am happy AK did explain the letters because that did peak my curiosity and stole my focus for a bit but once I understood the “how” of the letters, I was able to settle back into the story. I truly loved the parent/child dynamic and how much they played a role Jackson and Darian’s relationship.

AK does make a very interesting point in her book, through Jackson’s father, that I never realized. When people divorce, if they are the one initiating it, they made a choice to walk away. With a widow or widower, they didn’t make that choice. A part of their heart was involuntarily ripped away from them and some people never come back from that. As far as they are concerned, they are still committed to the one they lost and moving on from them is a sign of disrespect and tarnishes the loved they once shared. Again, never thought about any of it in that way and in my own life, it makes me understand my mother’s fiancé more as he refuses to move on from my Mom even though she has been gone for five years. Bit personal for a review but a special thank you to AK for helping me understand that. 

Back to the characters, watching Jackson fall in love with Darian was honestly my favorite part of this entire book. First off, can we clone him? I mean you couldn’t have structured a better man physically, emotionally, and psychologically if you tried. He is the mold for book boyfriends!

Speaking of which, saying the book was hot is an understatement. How it didn’t simply burst into flames is beyond me. AK wrote scenes so hot, so intense, to lust filled that you needed to grab some ice and cool down before going back to the story. The crazy part is that you think you have read an intense scene and there is no way she could possibly top that, and then you keep reading and you discover yes, yes she can!

I can’t believe how much I loved this book! She has a prologue in it for Book #2 and I couldn’t get my hands on that book fast enough. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this series has to offer. I know I say that often but again, NEVER read a prologue and skipped every ARC and TBR book in my list to read the next book in a series. This was a first and yes, AK is that talented of a writer!