FRAYED - Kim Karr
Connections Series, Book 4
New American Library
ISBN-10: 0-4514-7068-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-4514-7068-3
September 2014
New Adult

California - The Present

Ben Covington is back from hell, back from witness protection, back from the lowest point in his life. At an award banquet where he is receiving a journalist's award, he sees Bell Wilde, the young woman with whom he strayed from his longtime girlfriend Dahlia and destroyed that relationship. Dahlia is now married to River, Bell's older brother, but she and Ben have found a path back to each other as friends only. Bell, the woman he always found desirable, and another person he harmed in the darker places of his past, works in the banquet room's background. After the ceremony ends, he seeks her out.

Bell has made many mistakes in her past, one she keeps secret from Ben upon their re-acquaintance. Yet from first sight of him, she has always found him irresistible, as she does now. Before, it has always led to trouble, and her brothers dislike Ben, especially River. How can anything come of their relationship, especially when Ben hears her secret?

Both Bell and Ben are trying to rebuild their respective lives from serious past mistakes. Ben wants to try to build a relationship with Bell; however, Bell knows she should avoid Ben. Yet every time they meet, they end up having sex, sometimes rather kinky sex. There are many lengthy flashbacks in the story as Ben and Bell recall their past encounters. FRAYED explores the theme of redemption and the part love and family play in the process. This is part of the Connections series and listed as book 4, although there are six titles in the series. A novella, BLURRED, which I have not read, is story 3.5 in the series and is about Ben's return. In the first few stories, he was the thorn in everyone's side, so it is good to read this story and learn about his good side and his future.

Robin Lee