Kristen Ashley ~ "Creed"

Honestly, I'm not sure if I should even consider rating this book.
There were some things I loved - Knight, to be exact.
There were many things I wanted to skip, and just move on.
There were some things I wanted to read more about - Knight, again.

You know how much I love KA's work. Enjoy it, go back to it on regular basis, sometimes think I could never have enough of it.
And then, there's Creed. It's just...
*sigh*




My first huge issue with this book has a lot to do with the series it's in. Knight was my very first KA read. Yes, I'm well aware that it did not work for many of the KA fans out there, but I loved it. By the time I finished reading, I was hooked and so happy there are more KA books for me to devour. And I just kept loving them since then.
So, when I grabbed Creed, I was hoping for (hell, expecting) another anti-hero, that would make me rethink the whole my thing/not my thing list. Sadly, it never happened. There are many things Tucker Creed is. He's tough. He's badass. He's haunted by his past. He's too similar to all the other KA males. But, he most definitely is not an anti-hero.

I kept thinking that maybe (just maybe) I'd feel differently if Creed were a stand-alone. If I could read it and not keep expecting it to overwhelm Knight's story. If Tucker Creed was just another KA badass hero, and it was okay for him not to have a single "unfinished" quality.
Sadly, Creed is not a stand-alone, and I was incredibly underwhelmed by it all. Especially by the fact that Sylvie is more of a badass than Creed. And, speaking of Sylvie, another huge issue of mine is the heroine herself.

When there was that talk about Sylvie being a badass, and nothing like the other KA heroines so far, I somehow pictured her like Jules (but slightly OTT). As Jules is one of my favorites, there goes another "I'm gonna love it" thought.
Yes, Sylvie is a badass.
Correction - Sylvie was a badass. She was a fuckin' badass (excuse my French), and she was so too fuckin' OTT it wasn't even funny. I couldn't, for the life of me, like her. I could understand her behavior, but I kept feeling detached. Just didn't work for me. Not the badass. Not the "How many times can I say fuck" thing. Not her (present) connection with Creed. Nada.
Once Sylvie stopped being a badass, and went straight to the girlie behavior, things made even less sense for me. Yes, even Knight changed a bit for Anya, but he kept the most important parts of his personality. It didn't feel wrong. It was kind of cute, even.
I felt like Sylvie changed completely, though. And, I was confused, disappointed and just wanted to finish reading the damn thing already.

The third huge issue (surprisingly) is sex. I never felt the connection, the emotions, there wasn't even a hint of that (almost) desperate passion that always gets to me.
Here, the sex was mechanic. Acrobatic. Nothing more. It was like watching the same bad porn. Over and over and over again.

As much as I liked those flashbacks, and the way Creed kept looking after Sylvie and protecting her over the years, things started dragging at some point, and I just wanted to skim the pages and get it over with.

What I most definitely liked is Knight and his relationship with Sylvie. But, then again, if they have that strong of a connection, how come she was never mentioned before? Not a word about her, and she'd spent years working for him??? Weird. Too weird.

So, there you go.
I will not rate this book. And, all I can say is - let's hope Raid will turn out to be everything Creed's not. That would most definitely help.

"Bottom of my soul."
Bottom of mine, Knight. Bottom of mine.