Slayter Brothers #5: Kane – L.A. Casey

As I said before some people have to work hard in their relationship, others are inevitable, and then there is Kane and Aideen. These two would have never been together if it wasn’t for the circumstances. As they are so different in a lot of ways. Yet, both are as stubborn as rocks. Admitting that they do care has been hard for these too. We have read their story, we know how they met. We follow them as they are ‘happily in hate’ but then things change. Turns out, they shared more than hate…

Disclaimer
This book contains erotic material. If you do not feel comfortable with reading erotic stories, I recommend not reading this book. In theory, you could skip over the parts but I do feel that it is very much integrated with the story. There are amazing books out there without explicit materials that I would recommend you check out instead.

The book in short
Aideen Collins is a free spirit. She is outspoken and tough as nails, but she has to be after growing up in a house full of men. Family means everything to Aideen. Her family consists of her four brothers, her father, and her group of wild friends. Aideen is protective of her family, there is not a lot she wouldn’t do to keep them safe.
Kane Slater is a tortured soul. Literally. He is misunderstood by people, even feared by them thanks to the scars that mar his face and body. He relishes in their fear because people who fear you, won’t want to know you. He likes his circle limited to his brothers and their girlfriends, but a thorn from an Irish rose is dug deep into Kane’s side, and her name is Aideen Collins.
Aideen and Kane don’t get along… at all. Aideen is the only woman who stands up to Kane and throws his bullshit back at him without fear of hurting him. Kane is the only man who can see right through Aideen’s tough exterior. He knows her deepest, and darkest secrets. They can’t stand each other, but they want each other. Badly. They hide their need behind arguments, and banter, but when Kane drops his guard for all to see, and succumbs to an illness within his body, it’s Aideen who steps up to the plate to take care of him.
An illness is the least of their worries when a devil from Kane’s past comes back to play with him. Everybody in Kane’s life is threatened, and with his body fighting against him, he doesn’t know if the luck of the Irish is enough to keep his family safe and his demons at bay.
Kane needs Aideen, and what Kane needs, Kane takes.
I found this information here.

What did I think?
With spoilers as always
We went from Alec, the sweetie of the family to Kane who is so stubborn. At this point in the series, it feels that nothing can touch the Slayter brothers, and then… Kane collapses in the supermarket of all places. It just feels like it had to happen for us to understand the stacks. These people are not invincible at all. Kane suffers from diabetes but cannot give himself the injection because of his past. We understand then that we truly do not know the horrors these boys have lived through. In a sense, we have been viewing their lives in a similar way to the twins. We know stuff, we know a lot but there is so much we have been protected from (also, don’t give me that Dominic knows it all crap I do not believe that for a single second. I think he knows a lot but definitely not all).

We find out why Kane is scared to death of needles, from the other books we know that Kane has physically been through a whole lot. We do not know what. We do know he has been sick, when Aideen finds out Kane collapsed she is upset and scared and she does not fully understand why. Everyone else does though. She is in love with this man. Kane and Aideen both are so stubborn that their story could not have played out any other way. When she gives him the injections and he trusts her with that, we know they will end up together no matter the hardships. They bicker and such but there is this underlying problem. We find out that the Slayter brothers and the Collins brothers (Aideen’s brothers) do not like each other. Aideen has this full knowledge through her knowing the Slayter brothers. None of any group of brothers know that she is connected to both sets. Aideen loves her family thus it’s not something she goes about easily. Her best friends are with the brothers of this guy she sort of likes but her family hates him and his family. But then.. she is pregnant and the choice is somewhat taken away from her, as they are now connected to each other for life.

Kane and Aideen are similar yet so different. They both value family so much. Aideen is quite young at heart, she has always taken care of her family and now she has this big girl job and a big girl apartment and all these responsibilities but she is a girl at heart and I think Aideen is one of those girls that grows up when she becomes a mummy and that is totally alright. She goes out, parties, and has fun. For her it’s difficult to go there with Kane, she even keeps the one-night stand from her friends. She cannot ‘go there’ without it being serious which would make it awkward with her family, so it makes sense for her to not want to date him. They get pulled towards each other though. I think Aideen has this not-so-serious side to her as she felt very responsible for her little brother growing up, I think in her 20s she found the place to let loose a bit more and not be such a grown-up. I loved seeing more of Gavin in this book, we all love Gavin. We are Gavin stans in this house. In the end, Aideens heart wants Kane and I love how her family comes around to it.

I also really like how Aideen truly sees Kane for who he is and she truly does not get why people look at him or are taken aback by his appearance. In all the books it’s this thing but she just thinks he is hot. When he smiles he is cute but he is always hot to her and I love that for them. Because the book is from Aideen’s perspective when someone looks at Kane funny you also wonder ‘why are they looking at him like that?’ ‘Why are they being weird?’. The book makes you adopt her view and that is beautiful. When Aideen is confronted with his scars she is never nasty about it, she always simply wonders why someone would ever do that to someone else. The girl has a heart of gold and it’s lovely to see. I also think she is really good at assessing if she wants to ask something or not. Kane can be really closed off and Aideen from the jump can read him like a book and know when not to say certain things.

This wouldn’t be a Slayter brother book without people from the past coming back to haunt all of us. It is also interesting that in this case Aideen knows who it is, yet it doesn’t change anything. In the other books you sort of wonder if they had known, would it have made a difference? Clearly not. The story is so dark but it’s so nice as well. The book has much more suspense than you would expect from a pregnancy story. We find out Ryder is up to no good and I have a few choice words for our Ryder but it has to wait. The apartment hunting scene was so cute. It’s one of the scenes where we really see how Aideen and Kane work as people.

I love how you can tell how much Aideen’s family love each other and specifically how much they love Aideen. Kane and Aideen are quite similar in the fierceness of how much they love their family. I like the fact that Kane and Aideen are honest with each other. Even if it takes a bit, I think it’s one of those things they will grow in. As he does not understand just yet why everyone has to know everything. Aideen’s honesty about how scary Kane’s behaviour is is so good. She knows and understands that if he doesn’t change she will become a victim of his aggression one day. She gives him the kick in the balls he desperately needs. In the book, we find out that he got his scars because he was a sweetie pie and didn’t want to hurt anyone. Because of this, he looks scary and everyone treats him as if he is. It was one of the most heartbreaking things I have read. I was so worried about Aideen and the pregnancy throughout the book and that is what a good book does.

and then, in the end… Damian is back, and the family is back together. The question is are they all still going to be together?

I read this book for free with my audible account. My thoughts about audiobooks, in general, will be discussed in the final review.