RETURN TO POUGHKEEPSIE by Debra Anastasia

RETURN TO POUGHKEEPSIE

(Poughkeepsie #2)

by Debra Anastasia

ARC Review

Published: December 30, 2013

My rating: 5 of 5 ⭐️

Five years after vowing to turn his life around, Beckett gets a call he has always feared. One of his family is in trouble and he needs to go home. Why he hasn't returned before now he isn't quite sure. Probably because he still doesn't feel, and quite likely never will, that he has cleared his conscience and his soul sufficiently to ever be the man that his family and in particular Eve deserves. Eve has never been far from his mind since he left Poughkeepsie and  he wants nothing but happiness for her.

Something is going on in Poughkeepsie and it is making Eve nervous. Since coming back from New York she has heard Beckett's name whispered more than once, but despite his promise to return, she hasn't heard a thing from him in all these years and suspects he might be dead. Still she clings to hope. But when an attack is launched directly at her family, she needs to become involved, and despite keeping her nose clean for years, she has no problem slipping back in her old familiar character once again.

With both Eve and Beckett using old familiar avenues tot try and track down abducted Livia's whereabouts, it is inevitable that their paths cross. Eve is angry, five years she has waited for his promised return and although Beckett will always be the one for her, love and hate are close neighbours in her heart. From a distance it was easier for Beckett to assume Eve was destined for better things than what he could offer, but up close there was no way he was able to keep his distance from her.

Partnered up once again, but this time to keep their city and their family safe and perhaps to see if there is a future for what is left of their hearts.....

*****

Larger than life!!! 

Debra writes dark contemporary with an epic feel! Her stories border on the fantastical and yet they are rooted in the gritty and raw realities of the darker side of society and I can't get enough!!

RETURN TO POUGHKEEPSIE is a continuation of the story POUGHKEEPSIE, her first novel in the series, which centred around Blake, you can find a brief synopsis and review HERE. In this book focuses on Beckett, oldest of three foster brothers, all with traumatic backgrounds, wo had each other's backs when they ended up in the same foster home and remained as close as blood brothers thereafter. 

All three distinctly different in their roles and their coping strategies in terms if how they cames through their tragic childhood. Blake found beauty in the simplest of things, lived the simplest of existences on the street until he met Livia and Cole had sought out God, worked through his demons with him and through him and still did, but with the support of Kyle. Both of them found their match in POUGHKEEPSIE.

Beckett, the oldest, biggest, meanest and most fierce of them all, had taken on the role of protector from early on, becoming a crime leader in Poughkeepsie, ruling any underground movement in the city. He seemed a heartless, cold and calculated bastard, but his heart had become a very focused organ, and it beat for only a handful of people; his brothers, their loves and Eve, his right-hand enforcer and all time obsession. His loyalty and love had been shown when he sacrificed everything, walked away from his life and from Eve, in order to protect his 'family'. After a period of internal struggle, he decides to reform, convinced he is not worthy of Eve as is. Filled with self doubt, he never gets to the point where he deems himself worthy until a family emergency calls him back to the city. 

Eve was consumer by hunger for revenge. Raised a regular middle class girl, she once had everything her heart desired, until it was ripped from her arms violently. She vowed her revenge and trained to become the weapon to exact it, transforming her from middle class housewife to killer. This is how she ended up working for Beckett as close to her goal as she could. Hate and love are in constant battle in Eve and the conflict is eating at her, but despite the conflicting emotions she agrees to wait for Beckett, knowing only he can give her what she needs to fill that dark empty hole. After all, she only has part of a heart left.....if that.

A story so tragic when you take the individuals' histories, hilarious when you listen to some of their dialogue and banter, thrilling when you can envision the hair-raising action and heart-warming when you can feel the love come off the pages. Debra Anastasia is a storyteller from the heart.....I can imagine her sitting by a fire somewhere, just spinning a good yarn out of nothing...... Her imagination knows no bounds. Phenomenal!

✨A completely captivating, dynamic, provocative and stirring tale!✨

**ARC provided in return for an honest review.**