When Day Breaks

A KGI Novel, Book 9

By: Maya Banks

Narrated by: Adam Paul

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

The all-new KGI novel by New York Times best-selling author Maya Banks.

The Kelly Group International (KGI): A super-elite, top secret, family-run business. Qualifications: High intelligence, rock-hard body, military background. Mission: Hostage/kidnap victim recovery. Intelligence gathering. Handling jobs the U.S. government can't…

Eden is said to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Her face has graced countless magazines and her body has sold millions of dollars of clothing. But her fame and beauty has earned her more than she ever imagined. Evil is stalking her, determined to extinguish the ethereal beauty forever.

Swanson or "Swanny" as his teammates call him is always up for the next mission. He came back from Afghanistan wounded and scarred. Hardly the kind of man who even belongs in the same room with Eden. And yet there's something about the quiet beauty that stirs his blood and makes him dream of the impossible. Because Beauty loving the Beast only happens in fairy tales and KGI doesn't deal in fairy tales. Ever.

©2014 Maya Banks (P)2014 Penguin Audio

DISAPPOINTMENT on an otherwise splendid series!

I have listened to the entire KGI series with full enjoyment...until this one! Even the narration fell short! The storyline was shallow and heavily outweighed with sexual content. I have always loved the balance of story vs. sex that Maya Banks achieved in the KGI series. However, in this book...if you divided it into thirds, it would shake out as 1/3 storyline and 2/3 sex. The storyline didn't truly kick in until the last hour of the book. Adam Paul didn't deliver on the establishment of the characters either. He made the main male character seem like a high schooler with a major crush and absolutely NO self confidence at times. The main female character moved WAY too fast which made her unbelievable (considering she was suppose to be a virgin). Come on Maya!!!! You can do better than this! I think if you took the time to LISTEN...not read the entire book, you would quickly pull it from the series.

Wish I could recommend this to other readers, but just can't do it! I have in the past hooked my friends on this series and will continue to highly recommend all the other books in the series with the exception of this one. Not worth the credit!

MAYA...YOU GOT A LITTLE LAZY ON THIS ONE

Don't get me wrong...I enjoyed it as I enjoy all your books...however, there was a lot of repetition that was just not necessary. Too much praise of each other between the H/H over and over and over. Adam Paul as narrator was perfect as usual. Worth the read? Absolutely...could it be better....absolutely!!!

Enjoyable

What did you like best about When Day Breaks? What did you like least?

I waited for months to read Swanny's story..I loved how open and honest Eden was about her attraction to Swanny. It seemed genuine and I was invested in them really exploring this attraction. Unfortunately, while I felt he attraction between the two (2) characters, I felt that the story moved too fast and didn't establish a true "I love you, happily ever after feel" that we got in the other Kelly books.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story started off with a potential mystery that we could follow..finding out the threat to Eden. Unfortunately, this was not the basis if the book, so this "action" was solved relatively quickly which was a little disappointing.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I enjoyed the narrator and have gotten used to his voice and mannerisms.

Did When Day Breaks inspire you to do anything?

Unfortunately, no.

Any additional comments?

I will always be a Maya Banks/ KGI fan, but I was not that thrilled with this particular story. I would have loved to have more "conflict or action" that would bring the characters together and allow their relationship to grow. While we know that Swanny is an "adoptee" of the Kelly family, it would have been nice to know more about Swanny's background, introducing Eden to the Kelly clan, especially Mrs. Kelly, the recovery of Eden after the sttack. It would have been nice to spend a little more time developing their relationship, revealing the villain, and watching it all come together.

WORTH SKIPPING

This is definitely one of the most disappointing books in the KGI series. Although the premise is basically the same in all of the books this one seemed to be void of any real substance. Every moment seemed to be a flashback of a prior book. Huge snooze fest! Add in the poor narration, and I was completely done. I still love Maya Banks and will purchase the rest of the KGI series because I want see what happens to the rest of the gang, but my expectations are really low at this point. If you’ve got a credit to waste...don’t.

Too immature

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The book was just OK. The story line was lost in the hours dedicated to the romance developing between the main characters. The dialog sounded like a couple of pre-teens
noticing the opposite sex for the first time... "do you really like me? Really?"

Pretty good addition to the series :)

3.5-4 stars

This was a pretty good story. I already liked Swanny from previous books and was hoping that he's find someone that would love him past his scars. Eden ended up being a great match for Swanny as she has a big heart and doesn't care about his scars.

Eden is a model and considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. She lost her mom years ago but is close to her dad and 2 brothers. Regardless of her job as a model, Eden is very down to earth and a nice woman. She's milking her career while she can, knowing that models have a short shelf life and she needs to work while she's in demand.

Swanny used to be a soldier but lost a lot when he was taken as a PoW with Nathan Kelley. They escaped together and returned to the states (in book #4 Whispers in the Dark) but Swanny was left badly scared. Swanny ended up joining the KGI team and has been relatively happy. His main problem is that he believes his scars make him unworthy of a good woman and Swanny doesn't think he can find someone that would be willing to look past his scars.

Eden is on a modelling job and is just leaving when there are shots and her bodyguards protect her and get her to safety. She doesn't know what's going on but thinks it's just a random shooting that couldn't possibly be aimed at her. What she doesn't know is that her Dad pissed off some people years ago. They caused her mother's death and now her Dad has received threats against her (just before the shooting). Eden's Dad quickly gets KGI on the job (one of Eden's brothers served with Swanny and Nathan and called them in ASAP) and everyone flies out to where Eden is. Eden is kept in the dark about the exact nature of the threat against her because her Dad is footing the bill and he insisted she shouldn't know. Swanny isn't happy about this but goes along with it. From the first time Swanny and Eden are in a room together, it's obvious that there's a mutual attraction. Eden hasn't felt this kind of attraction to any other man and doesn't care about Swanny's scars so she's very interested in pursuing something with Swanny. Swanny thinks Eden is beautiful and nice but can't seriously think she's want to be with someone like him. He has some image issues due to his scars but I also think it's a bit because of what he went through during his time as a PoW. As KGI starts providing Eden with security on her next modelling job (taking place in Paris), Eden starts trying to get to know Swanny more as soon as the plane leaves the ground. Swanny is cautious and doesn't think she's serious. Eden tries to show him she likes him but isn't sure how to handle his rebuffs. Fortunately, he soon realizes (with a little help from a friend) that she's only going to be open to him for so long and if he continues to rebuff her, she'll give up and he's an idiot to lose his chance. Although he's still unsure of her motives, Swanny decides to take the chance.

Things between Eden and Swanny move rather quickly as there's a very strong attraction between them. Swanny is torn between worrying about getting his heart broken and worrying about being too distracted by Eden and not doing his job well enough which could put her in danger. Eden is pretty good about doing what she's asked to and not fighting them on the security precautions and things stay surprisingly calm for a while. This gives the love at first sight between Eden and Swanny to mature between them and solidify so that they both find they'd like more in the future. But they're both a little bad about talking of their feelings and don't get things out in the open as they should (at least not right away). They are rather busy though because while there's no more attacks on Eden, there is plenty to do with her modeling and the full schedule that goes with it. Swanny and Eden try to take as much time together as they can and things continue to deepen between them. Eventually, the bad guy does strike again in a big way and Eden eventually finds out the truth of who's after her. We also find out that Hancock (from previous books) is very close to Eden and her family and Hancock's interference causes some issues which ends up putting Eden in danger. There's much drama and some worrying before things get worked out. Thankfully, everyone comes out alright and Swanny and Eden start their HEA together.

This was a pretty enjoyable story. I liked Swanny and was so happy he found a woman to appreciate him. Eden is a good woman and I liked how she was with Swanny and the fact that she never let him believe he wasn't good enough for her. My only real complaint is that there was a point that I felt the action plot didn't get enough attention. It wasn't too bad though and the end certainly had an action packed conclusion. This was a good addition to the series. I'd recommend it. :D

It Was Just Not Her Usual "Great"

If you could sum up When Day Breaks in three words, what would they be?

Sweet, Sexy and Insecurities Run Wild (oops, that is more than 3 words...sorry)

Would you recommend When Day Breaks to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes but with the disclaimer that this was not her best work. In the other KGI novels there was the story of two people finding each other but there was also an adventure/danger to the story. While the story did have certain points of danger entwined it was just not enough to hold my interest. Instead we got to hear over and over again how Eden was too good for Swany because of his scars and how Eden wanted to make Swany understand that his scars mean nothing to her.

What about Adam Paul’s performance did you like?

Adam did a good job on his performance.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I needed a break from hearing how each deserved someone better.

A little disappointed.

Would you try another book from Maya Banks and/or Adam Paul?

Adam Paul has been a great narrator for this series and was good with this book. Maya Banks is also very good with romantic suspense.

Would you recommend When Day Breaks to your friends? Why or why not?

This book was a little slow for me compared to the others in this series. I liked the characters, but it seemed to keep repeating itself.

Any additional comments?

I am still a fan of Maya Banks, Adam Paul and this series and will try the next one out.

Maya Banks does it again!

I have been looking forward to Swanny's book for a while and this book didn't disappoint. I hate to be cheesy, but I liked the underlying Beauty and the Beast story line.

As always, Adam Paul's narration brings the characters of this series to life.

When Day Breaks is action packed right off the bat, just the way I love it! This series of books has never failed to keep my attention from the start. I'm invested in the characters and excited to visit them. I look forward to more!

Definately not her best work

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better character development. Less repetitious conversations. Definately more action. More interactions with prior characters. Seriously, Swanny and Nathan (Whispers in the Dark) have a history, but they didn't even have a conversation in this entire book. I was very disappointed and really bored.

What could Maya Banks have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I have very much enjoyed the other books in this series, but this one dragged. I was looking forward to Swanny's story as Whispers in the Dark, where he first appeared, was such a memorable book. Unfortunately, I was really fustrated by the constant "I'm not good enough for you" conversations between the leads -seriously -everytime the leads talk to one another. There wasn't much action until the end of the book, so it really didn't have much to keep my attention. Even the relationship building really didn't have much build.

What about Adam Paul’s performance did you like?

He did a wonderful job as usual.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from When Day Breaks?

I would have told the author that the interactions between the main characters wasn't strong enough to carry a whole book. More action was needed. Swanny could have been, SHOULD have been a much stronger character.

KGI BOOK 9

What made the experience of listening to When Day Breaks the most enjoyable?

THE STORY IS STRONG ONCE YOU GET INTO IT YOU KEEP ON READING UNTIL YOU FINISHED THE BOOK

What other book might you compare When Day Breaks to, and why?

ANY OF THE KGI BOOKS ARE GOOD TO READ

Any additional comments?

THIS IS A SERIES THAT I WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANY ONE WHO WANTS A REASONABLE ADVENTURE AND EACH BOOK THE STORY IS DIFFERENT

who is team leader!???

What made the experience of listening to When Day Breaks the most enjoyable?

This was one of those books that had me both laughing and crying in equal measures. It was great to see Swanny take over as team leader even though nothing was said to put him into that position. This changed the dynamics a bit within the team but it helped the story. The bit with them trying on the formal wear had me in stitches.

What about Adam Paul’s performance did you like?

Adam Paul has come quite a way from the first books I heard him narrate, he is better at separating the voices and his female voices sound ok. There is intonation when needed but he still needs some work to be up there with the best.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When it is revealed that Eden is Hancock's foster sister that blew me away and I never saw that coming!!!

Any additional comments?

There is more updates about the rest of KGI family and overall this was a great listen, with the action moving fast at times. Some things came out of left field but in the end they added to the enjoyment of the book.