Desperate

Ekko Rose has struggled her entire life, only wanting one thing . . . to feel loved and wanted. But, even though she has been on her own most of her life, she refuses to give up on her dreams. Even when she hits rock bottom and all her effort is on surviving, she keeps her eyes on the prize of going back to school and becoming a librarian. Ekko feels her luck starts looking up when Dominick Moore walks back into her life. She’s never felt so lucky before.

Dominick Moore hasn’t been able to forget about Ekko since the night he saved her from becoming part of a sex trafficking ring months ago. He’s been watching over her from afar, because she had a boyfriend. But, now that she is single, all bets are off and he can finally make his move, and the timing couldn’t be better for the struggling Ekko. But Dom wants so much more than just to help Ekko get back on her feet. He wants a happy ever after with her.

As Dom and Ekko fall further and further into their relationship and each other, Ekko’s luck takes yet another turn for the worse. Dom’s current case also takes a sinister turn. With fate seeming to pull them apart, it’s up to Dom to find out not only the secret Ekko is keeping but also crack the case that is deadly enough to keep them apart forever.

A.K. Evans did a stunning job with Desperate! Dominick Moore is truly one of the good guys who only wants the best for Ekko. He’s incredibly caring and supportive of her as well as her hopes and dreams for the future. His patience helps her blossom and thrive, and all he wants in return is her love and happiness.

Ekko is an amazing heroine. She’s never had the very basic of things that people have in life, including love. The fact she has achieved all she has and that she still has hopes and dreams is a testament to her character. Watching her become more sure of herself and begin to experience things like having friends for the first time as well as the joy of a loving relationship was beautiful to read.

While watching their relationship unfold was gorgeous, there is enough drama between Dom’s unsolved case and Ekko’s secret that leaves readers wondering if these characters will get the happy ever after they both desperately deserve. I also wanted to give a shout out to the author for handling Ekko’s self esteem and other issues (sorry, no spoilers LOL) with beauty and grace. 5 stars!

This book exceeded all my expectations. One of the few books I don’t mind that it is written in first person switching POVs between Dom and Ekko. Dom is perfect book boyfriend material, it’s almost annoying how perfect he is but that doesn’t turn me off in any way I still want him to be my book boyfriend. Ekko hasn’t had an easy life, she thinks the only luck she has is bad luck, until Dom walk into her life again. Ekko is days away from earning enough money to getting her own place when she finds out her ex-boyfriend/roommate is selling drugs she decides living in her car is a better choice. Dom has been keeping an eye on Ekko ever since he saved her from being kidnapped and sold into white slavery. He’s known since the moment he saw her that she was going to be his, but he bided his time until he was sure she wasn’t in a relationship. When he finds her sleeping in his car he makes his move.

Good things start to happen and Ekko is waiting for the other shoe to drop because for her nothing good lasts forever. Dom is determined to show and give Ekko the life she deserves and not the life she’s been dealt. But Ekko was right and life deals her one last blow that devastated her enough to break up with Dom. That’s not all Dom has a case that has him completely dumbfounded he doesn’t realize until almost to late there’s a threat to Ekko as well.

Overall, I loved this book. The characters are well written you really empathize with Ekko and Dom is just yummy I want one of him. The story is well thought out and well paced it did have has much excitement and suspense as the last book Overcome but it was still very good the main focus was the relationship between Ekko and Dom and dealing with Ekko’s emotional hesitation when it comes to her relationship with Dom. It was emotional and exciting the end was just, wow. I can’t wait for more.

My My My is what I was saying after I finished reading this book. I was totally gutted by this book. I cried at times because Ekko has had a hard life and she has shizz luck. She has bad things happen to her all the time. She struggles everyday until one day she is left homeless living in her car. That is when she meets Dom and he helps her out.

Dom Dom Dom I loved him right from the start. He is such a nice, loving, caring guy that will do anything to help Ekko out and make her his. At first Ekko is leary about accepting Dom’s help because she doesn’t want anything bad to happen but she soon gives in and they start a relationship. But you know the saying life’s a biatch and it comes back with a vengeance and it does. Ekko and Dom will have to fight to the end to stay together but it is worth it.

Can Ekko hold on long enough to let Dom be her savior and protector? Can Dom save her from her bad luck? Read on to find out!

I read this book as part of a box set. It was absolutely wonderful. I only discovered this author recently and I can’t read her books fast enough. This series is fantastic. Loved the romance and sense of family.

From the minute I opened this book I was HOOKED!
Dom is incredible. The more we learn about him, the more we love. He is this huge man with the most amazing heart. The way he loves his family, his friends and the way he loves Ekko, well, I’m swooning. He is stubborn, he is kind, he is thoughtful and admits his faults. Who wouldn’t fall in love with him?
Ekko is one tough cookie. She has been given the short end of the stick at every turn and yet she still manages to push through and never give up on life. She is such a lovable and relatable heroine.
Get ready for a book hangover when this one ends!

Desperate was a rough read for me. The story was intriguing enough to make me want to finish it, but the writing was so amateurish it continually pulled me out of the book. In the acknowledgments I read that this is the author’s seventh book, but had I not read other books by AK Evans – and that sentence in the back of the book – I would have thought this was a debut foray into publishing.

I loved the idea of Ekko and Dom, and there were moments when they were beautiful together. I appreciated how fully he supported her in everything and how sweet he was to her. A lot of their relationship was just too saccharine for me, though.

I also felt like there was a lot of story left on the table. In the prologue this huge bomb is dropped on us that Ekko is going into the foster care system, then – apart from her briefly recalling the exact scene that made up the prologue – there is never another mention of it. In fact, she continually laments how hard her life has been until Dom entered it but never delves into what made it that way. After a while, it felt like she was just whiny since we had no real reference for the traumas she’d suffered throughout her life.

I also felt like beyond the romance book perfect boyfriend Dom was through Ekko’s eyes, I had no idea who he was. I don’t know why he was so kind and caring, I don’t know what his past was like, I don’t know what motivated him. His character development was sorely lacking, and I am wholly disappointed that after spending an entire novel reading about a character I have no deep impressions of him.

Finally, this book is in desperate need of some heavy-handed editing. AK Evans continually goes back and forth from present to past tense, occasionally in the same sentence. There was also a lot of who/that confusion, and a lot of very clunky and awkwardly constructed sentences. For a good part of the novel, the writing felt very forced, as if Ms. Evans didn’t feel the natural flow of the story and was just trying to get enough words in to hit a required word count by a specific deadline.

Desperate is the third book I’ve read by AK Evans, each time hoping the writing would improve and be worthy of the ideas held in the plot to no avail, and it will be my last. I’m sure she has the potential to be better than the books of hers I’ve read, but she has yet to impress upon me that she is anywhere near it. I wish her the best in honing her craft and reaching her full potential.