Novel Review: Colters' Gift (Colters' Legacy, #5) by Maya Banks

Rating (Out of 5): ~2.5

Genre: Erotica/Adult Contemporary Romance/Menage

Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)

Release Date: November 2013

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

BONUS: ALSO INCLUDES A NEW ORIGINAL COLTER NOVELLA!

New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks’ enthralling saga continues as two men, and one resilient woman hiding from the past, brace themselves for an emotional storm of unavoidable danger and unmatched desire….

Lauren Wilder fell for the wrong man, trusted the wrong man, and she paid a very dear price for it. Now broken and wounded, she's retreated to the bosom of the Colter family and the unshakeable love and support they offer. But the man she once loved and trusted is not without his own power, and he'll use every bit of his money and resources to make sure he gets Lauren back, no matter whom he destroys doing it.

Liam and Noah were hired by Lauren's brother to watch over her. But with danger looming, they head to the Colorado mountain—where Lauren has found temporary sanctuary. In her wounded eyes, Liam and Noah see the woman she once was—and could be again. They’re determined to show her everything a man can be—someone who will love her, cherish her, satisfy her, and when the time comes, put their very lives on the line for her.

The Cover:

I don't mind this cover. It doesn't look bad, it's predictable, but it represents the book well enough.

Quotes:

• "'Then goddamn it, he raped you. He forced himself on you,’ Noah said fiercely. ‘If you said no. If you even thought no. If you had no power to make him stop, then how could it be anything else? You sure as hell didn’t give him your consent.’” (Paperback, pg. 76)
• "Denial didn’t change the outcome of anything.” (Pg. 95)

Review:

This book started pretty good, and it sounded very good. But about halfway through, I just got bored with it.

I didn’t mind any of the characters, including the heroine and her men. They didn’t particularly stand out to me, but I didn’t dislike them. The attraction between them was fast, but it worked just fine for me. The sex was all right, some even good. The overall storyline wasn’t too bad, either, with Lauren’s ex-husband. I guess some of it was exciting, maybe.

I was mostly just bored with it, honestly, and that made it hard to finish. Lauren and her ménage relationship didn’t stand out to me as anything different from Banks’ other ménage stories. The entire storyline, including the romance, just didn’t seem very different from so many others I’ve read. The conclusion didn’t stand out, either. And, honestly, the amount of gushing love confessions, the characters stating how much they love each other over and over again, in such cheesy language, got on my nerves. It was just too much, and so unneeded, which is something I’ve noticed in quite a few of Banks’ books recently. And the sex kind of became boring to me, too, maybe because there was so much and none of it was all that different from each other, but also because I was just bored at that point with everything.

It also bothered me how easily the story wrapped up, that the characters didn't seem that emotionally wounded after everything, particularly the heroine. And it bothered me that, after everything she went through, no one mentioned therapy, or her getting help in any way other than from her family. Her family is important, yes, and she needs time, which they seemed to be giving her, but I thought she needed more, and the idea wasn't even brought up.

I enjoyed seeing the characters from the previous books, but I haven’t even read all the other books in this series. And now I’m wary to read the first two at all.

This book just got too gushy and boring for me. I wanted to like it a lot, but I didn’t.