Review: Bailey by Ella Frank
SYNOPSIS:
Black and white. Right and wrong.
That’s how Craig Bailey has always lived his life.
The son of a fallen, decorated police officer,
He’s had no choice but to follow the rules.
Until he met the ultimate bad boy
and decided to follow him instead.
Henri Boudreaux is everything Bailey never knew he wanted.
Mysterious, sexy, and hiding more secrets than friends.
He’s exactly the kind of man Bailey knows could break his heart.
But there’s a vulnerability to Henri that calls to Bailey.
A longing for a connection that Bailey is unable to resist.
And while Bailey has always lived his life on the straight and narrow, he is now beginning to understand that falling in love is never so black and white.
REVIEW:
I have some mixed feelings as I finished this book. Did I enjoy the story? I think that it is obvious that I am invested in the characters if I read books 1-5 to get here. But there were two issues I had. One being that Priest’s story is so intertwined with Henri’s that I felt they could have shared this book or one of the early books on several occasions. Secondly, I felt that there were moments in the story where things were dragging out which I will get into more detail below.
Out of all the Ella Frank stories I have read so far, this being book 12, this is the first one where I felt a substantial amount of insta-love. I think this steams from Henri being so guarded about his past and present. Bailey truly knew nothing about Henri other than that he was a hot f*ck…which I mean he was but I want a little more substance to my book relationships.
Henri’s and Priest’s stories are so interconnected and I felt like I never truly got closure between the two of them. Actually over the course of this book, I found that I began to resent Priest for being so selfish and it sort of tainted the image I had of him in my head. In addition, we all know at some point Henri is going to have to fess up about his past, since it so dramatically impacts who he is today and it took forever for that confession to happen. I felt like every chapter was Henri debating whether or not the time was right to tell Bailey everything…and eventually it all blows up in his face.
Did I like Bailey as a character, absolutely, he was a ray of sunshine. Even through some tense moments and scenes he is a pillar of strength and positivity. I absolutely adored the epilogue and the extra closure we received there but this might be another classic case of this could have been a novella.
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