Review of At Peace (The 'Burg #2) by Kristen Ashley

At Peace is the second book in the series The 'Burg.

Violet Winters had it all--a successful cop husband and two teenage daughters in a family filled with love--until a criminal madman shot him. Now she's relocated from Chicago to a quiet town in Indiana outside Indianapolis to start over.

Late one winter night, Violet is kept awake by loud music at her next-door neighbor's house. With no husband to do it for her, she stomps over to tell him to turn the music down--and meets the scary, scarred, and oddly attractive Joe Callahan.

They both break personal rules and keep secrets to spend time in Joe's bed night after night. But Joe, wrung dry by his past and determined to stay alone, breaks Violet's heart.

Violet comes to terms with never being able to win Joe's heart, but when her husband's killer renews his obsession, Joe realizes that Violet, and her daughters, fill his life in a way no one ever has. And he'll do anything to keep them safe.

I loved this book. The arcs of Joe and Violet--especially Joe--were wonderful, I adored her daughters, and the way Violet made friends with Cheryl, a heartbreakingly sympathetic minor character from book one, made me so happy for both of them.

The character of Joe was my favorite from this book--very complex and layered, more than I've seen in many novels, and it felt like layers were continually peeled back with each new chapter. It's a fairly common trope to have a male lead in a romance novel have a tragic past, but this didn't feel remotely like a trope. Joe had a very tragic past--like massively--but it didn't feel the way things like that often do in romance novels.

Violet was funny and strong-willed yet loving and kind, and I loved her. She wasn't as interesting as Joe, but I liked her a lot. She was sympathetic and understandable, a good mom, and a good friend.

There were many, many funny moments, as there always are with Kristen Ashley novels--she is excellent at writing comedy--and I had so much fun reading this book. One thing I noticed that was pretty subtle but subverted the trope of a widow finding new love in a romance novel was she never said that she realized her late husband wasn't the love of her life when she fell in love with Joe, only that she loved Joe just as much. I really liked that. Many people remarry after their spouses die, and there are times when the first spouse is the love of their life, but they do find love again. I found it refreshing that Kristen Ashley didn't lean into the tendency for romance novels to erase the "true love" of a character's first marriage to a dead spouse.

The plot was fantastic in my opinion--the stalking was good, and who was stalking her was even better. The climax was insanity, and as I read it, I wished we could have met Joe's secretary long before then because I loved her so much.

I had very little to criticize about this book. I found the writing better than in the first book, For You, which seemed to me to pretty obviously be early in her career. The writing in this book was much better. I cannot wait to continue the series!

Photo Credit: Eneida Nieves

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