Title: Alexei
Author: Brenda Rothert
Series: Chicago Blaze #5
Pages: 179
When Alexei wakes up in the hospital after a DUI car crash he is given an ultimatum – get sober or get packed for the minor leagues. Rehab ends up being a lot harder than he expected and makes him realize the truth about himself, he is an alcoholic. It helps that his therapist is beautiful and he can’t stop thinking about her.
Alexei is Anton’s brother and has been in trouble from the beginning. He parties hard, slacks off, and doesn’t realize how his life was spiraling out of control. Going to rehab opens his eyes to how addicted he really is and how much it has affected his life. I liked Alexei but even though we got a lot of emotion from him he never really clicked for me, which was a little disappointing.
Graysen was an interesting woman. She had a troubled childhood and used it to fuel her need to help people. She is a control freak who has problems opening up to Alexei, especially because he is an alcoholic. I liked her but I feel that we didn’t get enough of her side of the story for me to truly fall in love with her. I was really expecting to learn more about her once they became a couple but that didn’t happen. Also there was never any outcome from her mother visiting her. She made that out to be a big deal and yet nothing came out of it, so that felt like an unfinished piece of the story.
Overall, this was still a good story and a good addition to the series. I just didn’t connect to these two as well as I have with previous couples. I still liked them both but wish we had more development with them as a couple, instead of all the time skips.
Previous books and reviews for the series:
Red-Haired Ash Reads 