Review: Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid

Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid
Series: Knitting in the City #5
Published by Cipher-Naught on 2016-01-19
Length: 312 pages
Reviewing Kindle from My Book Shelf
Rating:
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There are three things you need to know about Fiona Archer… I would tell you what they are, but then I’d have to kill you.

But I can tell you that Fiona’s husband, the always irrepressible and often cantankerous Greg Archer, is desperately in love with his wife. Yet as the years pass, Greg has begun to suspect that Fiona is a ninja. A ninja mom. A ninja wife. A ninja friend. After fourteen years of marriage, Greg is trying not to panic. Because Fiona’s talent for blending in is starting to resemble fading away. However, when unexpected events mean Fiona must take center stage to keep her family safe, her response stuns everyone—Greg most of all. It seems like Greg’s wish has come true. Except… not.

Happily Ever Ninja is book #5 in the Knitting in the City series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the misadventures and exploits of seven friends in Chicago, all members of the same knitting group.

I adored this book! Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid is the fifth book in her series Knitting in the City and is completely different from the ones we’ve read so far. Here we get Fiona and Greg’s story, the only couple that has been married the entire series. Greg works overseas, only home for a few weeks at a time every few months. Fiona is home, holding down the fort, raising their two children and managing everything from the finances to the food they eat to what to tell her husband. When he comes home for a surprise visit, Fiona is exhausted, physically and mentally, and Greg is at a loss for what to do. When a series of events sees Greg kidnapped, Fiona is forced to return to a life she left behind.

To say I enjoyed this book is an understatement. I loved every word and read it in under two days. This couple is just so much fun. Fiona is your typical mom, putting her kids and husband before her own needs. There just isn’t enough time in the day to take care of herself. As a cancer survivor, she goes yearly for check-ups and scans to make sure the cancer stays gone. But this year, she’s late getting in and she’s having headaches, headaches she tries to explain away. Add to this that she just misses her husband. His visits home are too short, and she wants to be selfish, to say she needs him more, but she doesn’t want to take him from his work.

Greg is in over his head. He loves his wife desperately, as the blurb suggests. You’ve heard the phrase “he hung the moon?” Well, for Greg, Fiona hung the moon. She is his center, his constant, and he knows he’s messed up. When he comes home for a quick visit after a video call ended with them arguing, he realizes just how tired his wife is. He’s worried the bright girl he fell in love with is disappearing. But his trip home is less than 24 hours and not nearly enough time to fix what he suspects he’s broken.

While Fiona is reeling and feeling a little bad for her anger during Greg’s short trip home, he’s being kidnapped. When she discovers what’s happened to him, Fiona enlists her friends for help getting to overseas to save her husband. You see, Fiona isn’t just a housewife, she’s a former CIA operative and can seriously kick butt. I did not expect the story that unfolded here. I loved it from start to finish. The action and tension of Greg’s situation as well as the issues going on in their marriage make for some laugh out loud moments and moments that will make you tear up.

Overall, I loved Happily Ever Ninja. I think this is my favorite of the series so far. Reid always blows me away with her ability to write characters and their feelings and actions as true to life. The situations Greg and Fiona face in this book might be over the top, but the feelings behind them can be found in every day life. I loved how Reid portrayed a married relationship, how you can be so mad at your spouse you don’t want them to touch you, but still love them so much it makes your heart ache. Beautifully written and highly recommend it.

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