Lovestruck (The Donovans)
It's been a while since I've hung out with the Donovans, so it was nice to visit with them again after all this time. It was like we were never apart.
Zephyr is amazing. One of the most amazing people you'd ever want to cross paths with. That's why it hurts so much when his generosity and spirit is damaged. While trying to help a woman escape a horrible situation, he's both physically and mentally scarred - so when an opportunity comes to start fresh in another city, he takes it.
Malia is no less astonishing. After losing her parents, she's in a terrible financial position. Living situation up in the air, having to send money to her Aunt in order to keep her sister taken care of, and balancing work and school... well, it's exhausting. She meets Zephyr, and even though there's a shock of electricity she can't deny, her life is too complicated to add a man to it.
That feeling is vindicated when he calls her name in a high-level class, and she finds out he's her mentor. Someone Malia definitely cannot be involved with.
The same goes for Zephyr. He only knew her as Eva, the fake name she gave him. He finds out she's his best candidate and he's both relieved they didn't take their attraction further, and sad they can't explore a relationship.
But can Zephyr leave his white horse and battle standard at home when she so obviously needs saving? And can Malia resist his help when she wants to stand on her own? Well, it's not a love story if they can, right?
I loved all the characters in this tale, from the mains to the very auxiliaries. It was just exquisite. It has me jonesing to go back to the original stories. It's been long enough that they're not even marked in GR as read. If my tbr pile wasn't so big... *sigh*
All that being said, I'm giving Lovestruck five real Philly Cheesesteak stars.