Anyway. Today's release was Forever Notorious, a book we've all been waiting for with bated breath. Forever Notorious will hold a special place in my heart because I know what Kathleen went through as she was writing it. One of Kathleen's greatest supporters was her father, and he, unfortunately, passed away last year. During his final illness, Kathleen pushed off Forever Notorious' release date from early January to today, and it's the first book she's written that her father didn't read. That doesn't make the book any less amazing, but knowing the story behind it makes in even more special to me.
My favorite book of the original generation of Keenestonites is Final Vow, the story of Ahmed Mueez and Bridget Springer. Ahmed is the original badass--people are terrified just looking at him. He has an interrogation technique named after him for goodness' sake! And you had better not get between him and his puppy, Nemesis, who he.... carries around in a baby sling? Okay then, Ahmed.
Now, every one of the Davies' clan men has had to deal with a daughter dating and they've all been hilarious with their daughter's boyfriends'. But we all knew that it would take a strong man to get Abigail Mueez-- Ahmed's only daughter. She's an incredibly frightening person in her own right and absolutely deadly, but it would take a man with balls of titanium to take Ahmed on. But first we nee to learn a little bit about Abby and what she's been doing for years, because it's not private security.
Abby is truly one of a kind. She is the first female CIA SOG team member. What's SOG? It's the Special Operations Group of the CIA. Basically, Abby is a freaking badass. I thought Layne was fun, with her murder-by-spoon abilities, but hot damn. She takes out her entire training cohort AD her instructors with fake tears and a bench after 30 hours of torturous interrogation.... and that's just at the end of her TRAINING. Can I be Abby when I grow up?
Anyway, after the frustration of being turned down for an Alpha team again--simply for being the proud owner of a va-jay-jay--Abby gets a personal call from Birch Stratton, the sitting president. And we know him from the Web of Lies series! We had a few crossover characters in this book and it was lovely to have the check in on their lives. Birch needs a quiet favor from Abby, one where she doesn't have too much support. It seems easy enough: Go to a beach resort in Costa Rica, toss some money around and get invited to a party. Sweet. Oh, except the party you're infiltrating is being hosted by someone who is potentially funding terrorists. Okay then. Maybe it's a little more complicated. But Abby pulls it off easily and heads home for Christmas.
Then she gets another call from Birch. There's another party she needs to get invited to, and she'll need a little help. The only issues this time is that the invite is going to be handed out at the Daughters of Elizabeth ball, a charity event filled with Keenstonites as the charity is run by Sydney Davies McKnight.... who had her own book a few novels back. She manages to survive with her cover intact, somehow, then she and her date are off to Costa Rica once more. This time, everything goes to Hell in a hand basket, and Abby needs a bit of help not being killed in the aftermath.
She gets Blank. I'm going to pull a Kathleen here and NOT SHARE HIS NAME. It's been torture in the Cafe, for all of us wanting to know. It's been central to debates and arguments. And I know the secret! It's rather late in the book it feels like when you find out who it is. Abby and Blank finally admit that yes, they have feelings for each other, but Abby is worried about her father.
There's only a small explosion in Ahmed's world when he realizes that Abby is dating. He sets Blank five challenges to win his approval for dating. Most of it seems possible.
1. Take the babies, Cricket and Ash, to Mommy and Me. Easy.
2. Keep Abby safe and take down the bad guy. Duh.
3. Beat Ahmed one-on-one. Doable, but it's gonna hurt.
4. Give Abby a gift that will make her cry. That one made me cry.
5. Teach Aniyah to shoot someone in the chest. F*cking. Impossible.
Nice knowing you, Blank.
I really don't want to divulge more. but this is such an awesome book. We get an answer to the panty droppers, we learn a bit more about Father Ben. What has Abby been up to? Does Lucas Sharpe really fight polar bears (and who is Bertha)? Who are the panty droppers? AND WHO IS PREGNANT THIS TIME?
Read and find out. I'm off to reread, I do believe!
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