Review: Star Crossed

Reviewed by Shelly
 

Picking up immediately after the first in the series left off, Star Crossed continues the story of Clay Powers' family. This time the story is about his sister (by choice, not blood), Juliet ‘Jules’ Conner and her starcrossed lover, Romeo Wellings. I know what you’re thinking – not another Romeo and Juliet story, it’s been done! Well heck yeah it’s be been done, but Moon has her own spin on it and it’s quite good. But make sure you like your drama – all day, e’ryday.

If you’ve not picked up Defy the Odds, I would definitely recommend that you pick up a copy because it’s really good and Moon doesn’t rehash anything from Clay and Melody’s story to bring you up to speed. Jules is the sheriff, Wyatt's, twin. They’ve been inseparable since birth and despite their hijinks you could feel the underlying affection they have for each other. In the small town of Garnet, Jules is also a volunteer Sheriff’s deputy, the town’s only lawyer and along with her brothers she co-owns the MMA training center. She’s the kind of fighter who will kick your butt while wearing a Gucci suit. But even with her enviable wardrobe and loving family, there’s very little that excites Jules enough to see a future not living without her twin for the rest of her life.

And in comes Romeo Wellings. Romeo was Clay’s championship fight opponent in Defying the Odds. Raised by their poor mother, Romeo and his brothers (Nova and Tino) did not have the best start in life and this was further complicated by Nova and Tino’s thug of a father taking them into his home while they were at an impressionable age. Romeo has a lot of guilt and remorse about the way things went down during that time and this sets the stage for an interesting adaption of the Shakespeare’s tale of the Capulets and the Montagues.

Romeo and Juliet, as Romeo likes to call her, are a fun couple to know. Separately they were really quite interesting, complicated and had well rounded personalities but together – oh dang, talk about combustible (in a good way). Their relationship didn’t start in the conventional way. You see folks, Jules' brother Clay issued to Romeo a heck of a beat down in their caged fight but when Clay’s girlfriend Melody was attacked by her psycho ex-husband, Romeo stepped up and saved the day (that’s from book 1). And from that point on, it’s hard for any sane person (except for Wyatt, but that’s another story) to dislike Romeo including Jules.

There’s a ton of sex between these two -- I think I’ve hit my max on gratuitous copulations – so much so that somewhere during the second half I asked myself if Jules was truly interested in Romeo as a person or she just didn’t want to be alone. But thankfully, Moon brought me back around to her way of thinking. Comparatively, this is a darker story than the other and the violence count is high and frequent; keep in mind my earlier suggestion because without the back story that the UFC fighters are a little special in their own right, you might question the survivability of some of the injuries but thick skulls and strong wills prevail.

In the end, Jules and Romeo reminded me that sometimes true love doesn’t always look pretty and flowery. Sometimes you’ve gotta get your hands a little dirty and fight for it. Speaking of dirty --- I can’t wait for Wyatt and Tabitha’s story. I think that might rock my world even more that this one did.

Happy Reading Folks!

Rating: B+

*Provided by Loose ID via NetGalley 

Click to purchase: Amazon

Star Crossed

by Kele Moon

Release Date: July 3, 2012

Publisher: Loose ID