Review & Giveaway: Everything She Wanted by Jennifer Ryan
Everything She Wanted
The Hunted Series #5
By: Jennifer Ryan
Releasing January 5, 2016
Avon Impulse
New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Ryan returns to The Hunted series
Ben Knight has spent his life protecting those in need and helping abused women escape their terrible circumstances. He’ll stop at nothing to save the lives of his clients, especially the hauntingly beautiful Kate Morrison, a woman threatened by a man whose wealth allows him to get away with everything—including murder.
Kate’s days spent as a social worker, fighting for those unable to help themselves, means she’s spent her fair share of time in a court room. She and Ben have crossed paths, but never that professional line. When he agrees to aid her in putting Evan Faraday behind bars where he belongs, she must trust the sexy lawyer with her life and that of a precious baby.
Will Kate learn to trust Ben in time to save herself, and will they have a chance to explore the love blossoming between them before it’s too late?
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“You have to
kill him or we’ll lose everything.” Christina Faraday ignored her
son’s eye roll, too distressed about the earlier argument with her
husband Donald to care about Evan’s insolence.
“Mom,
seriously, don’t you think you’re being overly dramatic, even for
you?”
“Dramatic.
Really? He’s divorcing me.”
“How many
times have you or he threatened that over the last nearly thirty
years? I mean, really, come on. He’ll come around. He always does.”
“Not this
time.”
“What now?
You slept with your yoga instructor? The Pilates guys? The guy who
always remembers your coffee order at Starbucks? The waiter you met
at dinner last night? Did you finally up your taste in men and drop
your young pups and go for one of the stiff suits Dad calls friends?
What?”
“This isn’t
funny.”
“Well
whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll work it out. You always do.
You’ll go back to the usual indifference you have for each other
and what you do.”
“Not this
time,” Christina yelled. “He served me the papers. If this goes
through, it will ruin everything.”
“You’ll be
fine. It’s not like you love him and can’t live without him.”
“The prenup
I signed means I get next to nothing.”
“Well,
that’s your own damn fault for signing it in the first place.”
“How was I
supposed to know he’d take on a partner the following year and
build a multimillion dollar business out of it?”
“Dad’s
smart, focused, and a workaholic. He probably had that partnership
set up before he asked you to sign the prenup. That’s what I would
have done.”
Christina
tried not to think Donald had been that cunning before their
marriage. He’d had plans and big dreams for the business. She’d
never paid much attention—then or now—and it was coming back to
bite her on the ass.
She
desperately needed Evan’s help to get out of this mess. With his
volatile temper, it wouldn’t take much to set him after his father.
But would he come through for her? He’d have to if he wanted to
keep his cushy lifestyle of drinking, gambling, partying, and
playing.
“He swore
he’d cut you off for good this time. You’ll have nothing and
neither will I.”
“No he
won’t. He always says he will, but he never does. Not really. Well,
not for long anyway. I know how to change his mind.”
“You’re
not listening. It won’t work this time.” She fell onto the sofa
and dropped her head in her hands. She stared at the plush carpet and
her Jimmy Choo shoes. “Why did I sign that prenup? The one million
payout isn’t even a drop in the bucket of the wealth we share now.
The company is worth three hundred times that. This house is worth
five times that. I’ll lose my home, my money. Everything I’ve
accumulated and helped that bastard achieve will all be taken away.”
“Well you
shouldn’t have been so blatant about cheating on him. I’m
surprised he didn’t leave you sooner.”
Christina
wagged her pointed finger. “Be careful, Evan. You side with him,
you may find he’s not on yours anymore.”
Evan narrowed
his eyes and leaned forward. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You pushed
him too far with that last bar fight. You nearly killed that man.
Then you get a DUI and wreck your car and nearly kill yourself.”
She stared at the long scar on his neck. He’d nearly bled to death
before help arrived.
“He deserved
it. Fucking asshole thinks he can hit on my date.”
“What do you
care? You’d only met the woman that night. You probably don’t
even remember her name.”
Evan’s face
took on a thoughtful, far off look. He shook his head, indicating he
really didn’t remember the woman’s name. What did it matter? Her
son went from one woman to the next like he changed his shirts.
“It’s the
principle. She was with me.”
“Sometimes
you’re like a spoiled child. Someone touches your toy and you punch
them out.”
“Maybe, but
I’m never going to let my woman get away with looking at, let alone
sleeping with another man right under my nose. Not the way Dad let
you get away with it.”
Christine
huffed out an exasperated breath and rolled her eyes. “Are you
going to help me or not?”
“What the
hell do you want me to do about this?”
“Kill him
before he has a chance to do anything.”
The silence
grew between them as Evan finally understood that she meant it. They
had no other choice.
A lopsided
grin tilted his mouth. He shook his head, dismissing her again. “I’m
not going to shoot him dead because you signed away a fortune. Hire a
lawyer and fight him for more money. He’s a good guy, he’ll pay
you just to make this go away.”
She growled,
then tried another tactic. “He has a girlfriend. Everything will go
to her if he divorces me and marries her.”
“Bullshit.
Dad? A girlfriend? No way.”
“He bought
her a house ten months ago. That’s where he spends his evenings
now. Not here. Not with me.”
“How long
has this been going on?”
“I don’t
know. I found out about the property when we did our taxes. He
doesn’t think I read over those things, but I do. He thinks he can
spend five point two million on a house and I’m not going to
notice.”
“You think
you can spend thousands on dinner, drinks, and hotel rooms and he
won’t notice. And watches. Seriously, you don’t think he knows
you buy those fucks gifts. He sees the credit card bill, you know?”
Evan shook his head and downed the last of his Scotch. “You two are
something.”
“He’s
never had another woman in his life. She’s special to him if he
bought her a house and spends time with her. If he marries her, we
lose everything. She’ll inherit, not you.”
“He won’t
do that.”
“Yes, he
will,” she snapped. “He’s already said as much.”
“I’m
calling him.” Evan pulled his phone from his back pocket frustrated
his parents’ fucked up lives always screwed with his. He hit the
speed dial for his father and put the phone to his ear, but kept his
eyes trained on his distraught, and obviously mad, mother. “Dad,
I’m with Mom. What is going on?”
“What did
she tell you?”
“That you’re
divorcing her and have a new girlfriend.”
“Not new.
I’ve been with her over a year and a half. I’m happy. I can’t
do it anymore, Evan. I can’t live a lie with your mother. Her
deceit, your continued lack of motivation to get a job, build a
decent life, and getting into trouble at every turn has pushed me too
far. My life with you both has turned into a bad habit that eats away
at who I am and the kind of man I want to be. I won’t do it
anymore. I’m done. She’ll receive her settlement. I’ll set up a
trust for you that will pay a monthly allowance for your rent and
utilities but nothing more. The next time you get arrested or need to
pay someone off to keep them from pressing charges for whatever
trouble and harm you cause, don’t call me. I won’t bail you out
again.”
“Dad, come
on, you can’t be serious.”
“It’s
over. I will not pay both personally and financially for your debased
lifestyles anymore. Believe me, under the circumstances, what I’m
offering is generous. Push me on this and you’ll get nothing.
Unless and until you change your ways, we have nothing left to say to
each other.”
“What the
hell do you mean by that?”
“Ask your
mother. She obviously didn’t tell you everything.”
“You can’t
do this.”
“Don’t
blame me. Your mother lied and cheated throughout our marriage. She
got away with it right up until I discovered the real truth. A truth
I never wanted to see, but stared me in the face every day. You never
take responsibility for the things you do. You always blame others.
So you want to blame someone for this outcome, blame her. She did
this to me and to you. I’m sorry for that. Because I am, I’ll set
up the trust. Take it or leave it, but that’s all you get.”
Evan wanted to
chuck the phone across the room, but held on to his temper. Barely.
“Dad, this isn’t fair. I don’t understand what you’re talking
about.”
“You want
answers, get them from your mother. Let her explain why she did it.
Why she does anything. The only things she cares about is herself and
the money. I mistook her joy when I gave her things as love. She
never loved me. She loved what I could give her. Now, I’m taking it
all away.”
Evan stared at
his phone in disbelief. His father hung up on him.
“I told you.
He won’t be swayed this time. We’re cut off.”
Evan fisted
his hands at his sides, the phone digging into his palm, and tried to
control the welling anger in his gut. “What did you do?”
“Something
that can’t be undone.”
“What did
you do?” he demanded.
“What I had
to do, but that isn’t important. We need to fix this before it’s
too late.”
Frustrated
with her non-answers, he growled under his breath and tried to think.
Without his father’s money, what the hell would he do? The lawyer
he’d hired to keep him out of jail cost a fortune. His father paid
off that fuck he assaulted at the bar, but he still had the DUI
charges hanging over his head. If his father didn’t pay for a
top-notch lawyer, he might face some serious fines and jail time.
Furious his
mother refused to give him answers and explain why he was about to
lose everything, he tried to come up with a plan. Based on the call
with his father, the way his father spoke, there was no use talking
to him. He’d made up his mind. Evan had changed it many times, but
something about the way he spoke, the deep hurt and anger laced in
his words set off alarms in Evan’s mind. The rift in their
relationship had turned into a tear that couldn’t be mended with
empty promises to change his ways.
“I’m
telling you, Evan, there is only one way to fix this. If your father
lives, we lose everything. You’ve got to make it look like an
accident or murder. The insurance company won’t pay out if it looks
like a suicide.”
Evan raised
his hands, then let them fall and slap his thighs. “Do you hear
yourself? Do you know what you’re asking me to do? Kill my own
father. It’s beyond reason.”
“You’ve
killed before for a hell of a lot less than what you’re about to
lose.”
Evan tried not
to think about the man he beat to death and left in a dumpster behind
a bar over a fucking five hundred dollar bet. The guy cheated. He
needed to be taught a lesson. Evan was drunk and high and out of
control. He barely made it home that night, too messed up to even
remember how he drove home. His mother found him passed out in bed
the next morning, his clothes covered in blood from beating the guy’s
face in. His memories of that night were more flashes of images than
an actual play by play of what happened. They found the guy’s body
at the dumps four days later. By the time the cops came to question
him as one of the last people who had contact with the guy, Evan had
his shit together and his story straight. They played poker. Evan
lost and went home to sleep off his night of drinking. His mother
backed him up about what time he arrived home. She even helped hide
the bruises on his knuckles with makeup before he went downstairs to
meet with the cops. That’s it. The cops never came back or linked
the murder to him. She always had his back.
Unlike his
father who always wanted him to take responsibility, do the right
thing, and generally let him suffer whatever fate came his way. No
thank you. He didn’t deserve to spend his life rotting in a cell.
If it came down to it, he’d go out in a blaze of glory before he
let the cops lock him in a cage.
He liked his
life. The freedom he had to do what he wanted, when he wanted. Now,
his father wanted to take that all away. Make him responsible for
earning the money he’d learned to enjoy his whole life. He’d
never had to work for anything. Didn’t really know how. Definitely
didn’t want to do the whole daily grind in an office or some other
shit job. As far as he was concerned, his father made him this way.
He couldn’t just cut him off now. Evan didn’t care about the
reasons, he wanted what he’d always had, what he deserved as his
father’s son. But could he actually kill him? He needed to see his
father, this woman, the other life his father had been secretly
living.
“What’s
the address?”
His mother
handed him a slip of paper she took from her pocket.
He walked out
the front door without a word to his mother. He got in the Range
Rover she got him for his birthday two months ago to replace the car
he wrecked. It pissed his father off that she’d given him the gift.
His father always wanted to pull back when his mother wanted to spoil
him. Well, he’d take his mother being in control of all that money
over his dad any day. This wasn’t about killing his father but
securing his future.
A thought
flickered, maybe the Scotch might be fueling his outrage, before it
burned out without really flaring to life inside his mind.
He checked the
address and swore. What kind of person buys a house for his mistress
this close to his own family? His parents were fucked up. No wonder
he didn’t turn out normal. Hell, normal was for all those stiffs
working their lives away. Not him.
He was fucked
up enough to know what needed to be done. To keep his life, he had to
take his father’s.
Jennifer Ryan is the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of The Hunted Series and The McBrides Series. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary small-town romances featuring strong men and equally resilient women. Her stories are filled with love, family, friendship, and the happily-ever-after we all hope to find.
Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home and in how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
Some times you come across a character that you really want their stories. It sucks when you don't get them. You want so badly to beg the author to do it but understand that sometimes they can't make it happen. I'm happy to say that I didn't even have to bug Jennifer Ryan for Ben's story. Apparently others did the work for me.
Thanks, guys!
I really liked Ben in Saved by the Rancher. Since he was only a secondary character you only got to know so much about it. You knew he fought hard for women who needed help and that he was good friends with both Jenna and Jack.
That was about all.
But it was enough to want more. Or at least it was for me! I so badly wanted to know his story. And now I do...
Ryan didn't disappoint me what so ever. I loved Ben! He is just as good a guy as I thought.
Everything She Wants is perfect for the Hunted series.
Not only do you get to visit with past characters, you get a new ones, Kate & Alex. Ryan is so good at making you feel for her characters. It will break your heart for what Kate is going through. Yes Alex's life has changed but not like Kate's. He's to little to understand what's going on.
From page one your lost in the story. You won't be able to stop until it's finished. I think you'll really enjoy Everything She Wants and yes you can read it on it's own but why would you? Start with Saved by the Rancher and read the rest in order. You'll be happy you did. All of them are good!
If you've read Everything She Wants or anything else by Jennifer Ryan I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!
Thank you for hosting EVERYTHING SHE WANTED!!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome!
DeleteGreat review. I have been loving this series, so dang fun to read but very emotional.
ReplyDeleteI know! They all go through so much and you can't put the books down!! Love her books.
DeleteOh man. I need to start this series. I read one from her other series last year and LOVED it. Sounds like these are just as good :D
ReplyDeleteThis one is so good you'll really enjoy it.
DeleteI love the series! And Jennifer's writing. Her covers are sneaky. You think it's just a contemporary, but she grabs your gut with the suspense.
ReplyDeleteThey sure do. I really liked the cover for this one. It was such a good story. I really enjoyed it.
Delete