Leather and Lark by Brynne Weaver

 What would we do for the ones we love? This can be love for family, friends who are basically our family and our loved ones who can become our entire worlds with each passing day.

First time ever meeting characters who can both be so stubborn but so dedicated to their loved ones and willing to do anything for their safety. Both Lachlan and Lark know that the reality of the world is not pretty, and it isn’t fair. Both want to avoid and protect their family but for that to happen, sacrifices and compromises must be made. I do adore how quick our sweet aunt Ethel is to scheme and put in motion the whole plot of the book and how much that character affected me. Family for me is important and their opinions are something that I take to heart every time, just like Lark who although knows their viewpoints on Lachlan and his “part-time” occupation, puts their well being and care first. Lachlan is the same when it comes to protecting his brothers, his stubbornness in how to achieve that, is his weakness in the eyes of Lark. She knows she can get him to agree but implying the very real dangers his brothers might suffer because of the interactions happening between the “Big People” as I like to call them.

Lark and Lachlan are no strangers to gore and to violence, but they suffer from trauma and certain things can trigger anxiety attacks that just by reading them we can sympathise with their struggles. They aren’t hurting innocent people, Lark explains that in detail, the people she “takes care of” are monsters dressed in sheep’s clothing. The first monster that hurt her got what he deserved but it’s the ones who stood guard while he was hurting her that still needed to be taken care of and Lachlan, was just the right man for the job. Closure is not something many victims can accomplish, some take years and others don’t manage to get there at all, everyone has their own experience and what happens to them is something that no one can put into words. Lark locks herself in a state of isolation so deep that exhaustion is constantly knocking at her door, but it’s true the final goodbye that she can close that one hard chapter of her life and fight through the struggle of the aftermath.

Lachlan is the head of the family Kane, the three brothers although very different are dependent on one another for what is left of their idea of family. They fight and defend each other; Lachlan knows the deals he has made to either help Rowan or even save him. Yes, some of their interactions leave us wanting for more closure on their own traumas and we crave for those bonding moments between all three of them. I have yet to read the third book of this trilogy, so I shall make some notes in case those moments make the desired appearance.

I adored this book, it was one I did leave on read for a bit due to some complications in my own life, but it always astonished me how I always left it on the right page to read for the moment I came back. We stop reading for a mere moment and then because we lack the free time to come back, we sometimes forget what the last sentence was, paragraph or even page. Yet to me, it always amazed me how when I needed the mental rest, this book described exactly how I felt. Call it Aunt Ethel calling the shots on the book or simply coincidence, but it sure helped me, and I can say the way Lark closed a dark chapter of hers, it helps me deal with the aftermath of one of mine.