Happily Ever Ninja

Knitting in the City, Book 5

By: Penny Reid

Narrated by: Em Eldridge, Will M. Watt

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

There are three things you need to know about Fiona Archer...I would tell you what they are, but then I'd have to kill you.

But I can tell you that Fiona's husband - the always irrepressible and often cantankerous Greg Archer - is desperately in love with his wife. He aches for her when they are apart, and is insatiable when they are together. Yet as the years pass, Greg has begun to suspect that Fiona is a ninja. A ninja mom. A ninja wife. A ninja friend. After 14 years of marriage, Greg is trying not to panic. Because Fiona's talent for blending in is starting to resemble fading away.

However, when unexpected events mean Fiona must take center stage to keep her family safe, her response stuns everyone - Greg most of all. It seems like Greg's wish has come true.

Except...not.

When all is said and done, can Greg handle this new version of his wife? Will his irrepressible cantankerousness push her away? Or can the couple find a way forward without either being forced to step back into the shadows?

©2015, 2016 Penny Reid (P)2016 Penny Reid

I was ANGRY!

This book left me with a Hulk-like green tinge when I arrived at work each day. It would take me at least five minutes each morning to recover from listening to Happily Ever Ninja.
Deep breaths, constant reminders that it's "just a book" and steering clear of people helped me calm down. I have never read or listened to a book that constantly had me angry.

I was angry that women have to go through childbirth. I was angry that men sometimes don't see what is right in front of their noses. I was angry that people think they know what's best and they're not always right. I was angry that sometimes wives have to fib a little to husbands to keep the peace. I was angry that pregnancy feels like you're dying. I was angry that the hero made me laugh when I wanted to join the heroine and put him in a chokehold. I was angry that the heroine didn't scream, shout, rant and rave when she should have. I was angry that love makes you forgive too easily.

I was angry because I recognised it all.

I was angry because I could relate to it all.

I was angry because we do it for love, peace and happiness.

In the end, the things that made me angry in the story made me love it more. I'm not alone. Penny Reid again proved to me that she's a master of real women romance. I bow down in gratitude and thanks, Ms Reid, I don't feel angry and alone anymore.

Every reason to never marry

Arrogant, controlling, self satisfied husband and amazing, competent, doing-everything and never getting any respect for it wife. Who apologizes constantly and buries all her feelings.
I wanted him to die. I hate this man.

Ridiculous

It was painful listening to this book. Greg is a horrible narcissistic jerk and I cannot imagine why anyone would want to be with someone like him, let alone write an entire book at him. If the world doesn’t revolve around him then it doesn’t matter. He is an immature man child who believes he is always right, leaves his family to live his dream and then expects them so live by his every dictate with no forethought to what anyone else, particularly his wife wants or thinks because we’ll he’s always right isn’t he? He can’t even manage to get his laundry into the hamper, wipe a counter or not leave the apartment looking like a tornado went through it and cannot imagine what the problem is. Then he pops home on a moments notice and expects his wife to be the perfect combo of mother, housekeeper and hooker. Then to abandon his wife overseas rather then use her skills was beyond contemptible. Why would anyone in their right mind want to be around a person like him, let alone be married to him. And yet even in the end even his apologies are couched in “Its all about me”. So though I previously adored this authors work, this book nauseated me and I am done with this series.

Surprisingly disappointing.

I really looked forward to this next installment of KIC. I had already enjoyed Ninga at First Sight. In fact, I thought I was ready for an interesting experience. Different from the previous works but interesting. I was waiting for, anticipating, even lusting after the droll wit of amazing characters and the situations they faced and over came. I wanted to see how they interacted and grew, how they supported and nurtured one another.

Unfortunately this installment did not fulfill my hopes. The characters all seemed thin, maybe two-dimensional. Characters were were introduced for a second then...Poof!! There was no chemistry displayed within relationships.

This book was hard to finish. I kept falling asleep. In fact the entire thing was somewhat depressive. I see now why it has so few reviews. In the future I will consider atypical reviews when I decide to purchase. I do not know if the narrators let the story down or if the story let the narrators down, but either way it was sad.

The best part of this book was the email vignettes between other couples. The worst part was the distance between Fiona and everybody else. There are more problems than her "ninganess". I am sure there were good things about this book. Unfortunately there were more bad things.

This was a special e-book + Audible reduced price purchase. I am not sure it was worth the cost. While I am not sorry I read this book, it was an unfortunate experience.

Happily Ever Ninja

Oh, I loved this book, I love that we get all times in Greg and Fiona’s marriage and that it isn’t always easy they BOTH have to work at it. This made my romantic heart sing. That might sound weird to you but romance doesn’t always have to be meet fall in love and a wedding. It can mean picking up the laundry and doing the dishes, getting up with the kids so you can have an extra 30 mins of sleep.

This book has this but it also shows how hard it can be. Real romance isn’t easy it is messy and this book has that along with wit and charm.

Penny really knows how to bring us a great story but with all the seriousness and love that I like in my romances.

Oh, the narrators! I love so freaking hard, Greg’s accent... I am all for it more, please!

wittily written and narrated

Love this story! Kick-ass agent Fiona gives up tan action-packed life to stay at home and raise a family. About ten years later, she organizes a rescue for her husband, who has been taken hostage while on a humanitarian mission. She's still got the moves! I love the banter between the couple, but I think that Greg could still have eaten a bit more humble pie and given recognition where it was due in the end, as well as taken more responsibility for making the situation worse every time he refused to go along with a solution Fiona had planned. Even so, what fun!

Story All Over The Place

The first book was okay, second not very good, third great, fourth also great, but this one was a bit of a mess. The structure of the storytelling was supposed to be cool and refreshing, but it was just confusing and I didn't see justification for it. Also, our male lead suuuuuuucks as a person and clearly does not deserve our heroine. This novel also has very little of the fun interactions of the knitting group ladies. Additionally, I feel that the resources of the other male partners are utilized to an unrealistic degree. As a novel that is supposed to be about women, they rely on the male more than the female characters throughout the story. Disappointing.

Trash hero

This book is my least favorite in the series, (and I DNF’d one) specifically because of Greg. The story could have been so cool especially after the amazing novella that introduced us to these characters. Ninja at first Sight ended on a cliffhanger and I was so ready to jump into the full length Fiona and Greg. But then Greg became a misogynist asshole and Fiona became a doormat and I clearly just finished this cause my annoyance is palpable.

This book was awful

I like to read. Alot. I will read anything. I will finish anything. I just could not with this book. The hero and heroine were both so awful that they kind of deserved each other. He was a completly controlling, arrogant, narcissistic bully. She was smart, capable, resourceful but pretty comfortable being treated like dirt. Not because she didn't recognize it or think she deserved it but just because she didn't want to stress him. I could not finish but I did skim through to the end and they didn't change. Sex, even great sex doesn't make obsessive, manipulative, and controlling behavior romantic. I never hoped a character would divorce someone so badly.

loved it and all things Penny Reid!

The story was amazing and the narration was beautifully done! I hope more books are in the works for this series!

Greg gives me heart eyes

Let me just say one thing. If Penny Reid hadn't brought my OTBL (One True Book Love) Cletus Winston into my life, then I would be bestowing the title to Greg Archer.

Greg is flawed man. Between Ninja At First Sight and this book, you learn the type of person Greg is. He loves Fiona, some might (wrongly) say a little too much.

Fiona Archer is a mother. A former CIA field agent and a mother. A brain tumour survivor and a mother. She's basically a badass and I'm in love with her.

This book has everything. Characters with real problems, a romance to root for, some action, knitting, laughs and maybe a tear or two.

I can't believe I put off reading this for so long. I'm an idiot.

My favourite of the series!

Have read every book in this series, and so far, this is my favourite. Greg is my favourite of the men in this series. Nothing beats a posh British accent!

Sad to see the end of a great series

Penny Reid again demonstrates her ability to write romance from an unusual perspective. This book is about a couple who have been together for 18 years, with two young children. Because of their jobs (H is oil worker, wife h is former CIA operative), they have a marriage dominated by long periods of separation.

This constant separation means that the h has learnt to cope as a single mother, and carries the burden of the day-to-day monotonous details of trying to raise young kids, hold down a job and run a household, which leaves the H, in his rare moments of attendance, often feeling rather superfluous to requirements. Although there is an undeniable deep love between the two, there is also a huge lack of communication, mainly because the h desperately wants to avoid conflict so that they can enjoy their infrequent times together, and the H, in his need to feel involved in a family that has learnt to function without him, often dictates autocratic decisions to his wife from long distance.

The unusual plot twist in the middle, (H is taken hostage overseas and h flies over to rescue him) is the catalyst for the couple to confront the damage that their lifestyle is causing to their marriage. At this stage I really started to dislike the H. He habitually overruled his wife’s decisions and in times of crisis ignored his wife’s extraordinary abilities. He was like “a bull in china shop” blundering around trying to be the hero, while refusing to utilise his wife’s amazing talents. He was so scared of putting her in danger that he increased the danger to them both by failing to let her help and refusing to accept the contribution she could make to their partnership. What annoyed me most was that he failed to change this attitude throughout the book, no matter how many times he witnessed her “in action”, and continually justified this by explaining how much he loved and needed her and didn’t want to put her at risk. I kept thinking he would suddenly have an epiphany and realise how amazingly capable she is but no, he just kept trying to exclude her from everything.

This is not my favourite Penny Reid book. Many marriages fail because the love dies, so it was weird to see a marriage failing when the love was so strong. I would have liked to see the couple actually make a long distance marriage work as so many people, ( e.g army spouses) learn to do in real life, instead of the solution that came at the end of this book. However Penny Reid does explore the fact that after the “happy ever after”, there does come a long of hard work to make a good marriage. The conclusion was interesting in that things were not really concluded. Instead of wrapping up the ending in a nice, neat little parcel, we are left with the couple in the constant ebb and flow of discussion, compromise and decision making that is needed to make a successful marriage. I guess that this, in reality, is a real “happy ever after”.

Regardless of my criticisms, this is a good book, better than most in the genre, and still worth a credit.