Ex Appeal

Ex Appeal (2022) Cathy Yardley (Ponto Beach Reunion)

This follows Gouda Friends and one of the characters is the brother of Tam from that book, but you do not need to have read the previous books for this story.

Vinh is very good at what he does–even though what he does isn’t especially good.

Aimsley’s team of consultants were fixers, the superheroes of the corporate elite, the ones who came in and cleaned up messes with discretion and creativity. They strategized. They maneuvered.

They made things go away.

Emily is his ex–and they parted on very unpleasant terms after Emily’s father died and she had to return home to help her mother. Dropping out of college means that Emily was never able to follow her career path.

Banshee tended to run with ethical hackers for the most part, and Emily had felt comfortable there. That said, nobody was pure white hat there, either. Honestly, most of their alignments could be considered chaotic good at best, neutral at worst.

So she works at an IT call center.

“Can I turn this back on or what?” the caller groused.

She glanced at the clock. “Yes, you can,” she said, and he continued to mumble obscenities, presumably under his breath, as she heard him power it up again. “How’s it working?”

Another pause, a long silence. “It . . . seems to be working,” he grudgingly admitted.

“All right. If you have any further questions, please feel free to call us anytime.”

He hung up on her.

The story was interesting, and I kept reading, but I had a very hard time liking Vinh–specifically the work he was currently doing, and what he did to Emily in the past. Yes, there was an explanation, but the work he was currently doing? I had a hard time seeing him as anything like a goodguy.

Publisher: Montlake

Rating: 6/10

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