5 Smooches!
Synopsis
Michael was that guy.
The one that everyone was cautious of. Maybe it was the tattoos. Maybe it was the way he gave off a ‘don’t screw with me’ vibe. Maybe it was because he just told them to leave him the hell alone.
Regardless, people gave him his space.
He was screwed up, and everyone knew it.
He got tattoos because he liked the pain. He was standoffish. He didn’t have many friends outside of work. And the only thing he had going for him was that he was a good cop.
Everyone wondered about him, but no one asked.
The only one that didn’t treat him as if he was screwed up was Nikki Pena, a woman that he couldn’t have.
Nikki was that girl.
The one that everyone loved.
The one girl that he’d destroy if he let her have her way. What did she want?
Him.
But, he couldn’t give her him. She didn’t deserve what it would take to be with him.
So Michael would suffer in silence…or so he thought.
The woman who loved him had different ideas.
Review
Coupe de Grace is the seventh and final installment in Lani Lynn Vale’s fantastic Code 11-KPD SWAT series and is Michael and Nikki’s story. One of the things I loved most about this series was the way Vale was able to surprise me in each book with an imperfect hero – each one of them had some characteristic, flaw, or issue that they hid, dealt with or had to live with. Some of these things I never saw coming, and of the ones whose situation I did see coming, the surprise was in the way that character handled themselves or their issue. It was really refreshing to read about these totally badass alpha males dealing with some of these things, it just made these guys all the more endearing to me.
Michael ‘Saint’ Alvarez, the lone police officer in a family of medical professionals, is used to not meeting up to expectations. His choice of profession is a constant source of friction with his family, a family that includes his pediatrician father, surgeon brother and his mother and sister who were both nurses. Michael attempted to tow the line by going to medical school. But while witnessing a particular procedure during his schooling greatly affected him, he realized he couldn’t actually pursue the profession. Instead, he went into the Navy, while finishing up his degree, and then upon his discharge, he joined the Kilgore Police Department as a patrol and SWAT officer.
“I was in love with the woman. No ifs, ands or buts. So in love with her that I could barely be around her.”
Nikki Pena is a phlebotomist working on the IV Team at the hospital while studying to become a midwife. The younger sister of Michael’s police officer colleague, Nico, she’s the life of the party, notoriously and chronically late and has been in love with Michael as long as she’s known him. They dated briefly two years earlier when a comment by Michael didn’t come out exactly as he intended and a devastated Nikki ended it. For his part, Michael never corrected her understanding his mistaken statement, thinking instead that he was doing her a favor by letting her go.
“She would forever have my heart, but I’d never hold hers.”
For two years, the pair circled or avoided each other while studiously attempting to ignore their feelings for the other. When finally, on a really rough day for Michael, Nikki reaches out by doing something kind for him, and he realizes he’s had enough of being without her. He asks her out, she accepts, and they begin seeing each other again.
“I’m not that fucked up mess I was when I was fifteen. I’m not ever ‘in my head!’”
Michael is working with some outside agencies to solve a string of murders against police officers and their spouses, and this case is affecting him greatly. Coupled with the fact that he’s “being handled” by his family because of his brother’s engagement to his ex-wife, the hospital whore, nurse Joslin, he’s grateful for the light that Nikki brings to his otherwise dark life.
“…the thing about Michael and me was that we’d both gone through hell together and come out the other side.”
These two had a lot to overcome and deal with in order to be together. If he wanted to keep her, Michael needed to open himself up and share with her. It wasn’t easy for him, but he did it. For her part, Nikki had to trust in their relationship and that Michael was going to let her in. Having been burned by him before, this wasn’t easy for her. Nikki gets news that could rip them apart, will she trust this new Michael with the truth or will she keep it hidden?
“I just knew everything would be alright. Why, you ask? Because Michael said it would, that’s why.”
I loved these two! These two have always been in love with each other. Stuck in the barely friends zone for so long, they had their work cut out for them to get to the other side. Michael was determined, though, that this time would be different, and Nikki was hopeful.
“We had our scars. We had our doubts. But we also had each other, and as long as I had him at my side, we could get through just about anything.”
I loved the way that Vale portrayed Michael. He had a lot of issues revolving around his condition, and she nailed those issues perfectly. This was probably one of the more emotional books in the series, and it dealt with some heavy issues. Ever the masterful storyteller that Vale is, though, she managed to balance it out perfectly with light and funny moments. And of course, no Lani Lynn Vale book would be complete without those hilarious quotes that kick off each chapter.
Another book down, another series complete, and what is sure to be yet another bestseller for the talented Lani Lynn Vale. Coupe De Grace was a fantastic ending to a fan favorite series! I love this author, I love this series, and I loved this book.
Five hot, honest and hopeful smooches for Lani Lynn Vale and Coupe De Grace!
~ Danielle Palumbo
