Review for Brother's Keeper by Elizabeth Finn

Rowan is a high school senior. Logan is her best friend’s much older brother. With one ill-fated phone call, Rowan’s darkest secret is discovered, and she finds herself at Logan’s mercy, begging for his silence. Can he keep his distance while protecting her from the secret threatening to destroy her?

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To put my review succinctly, Brother's Keeper is an emotionally gutwrenching read that's immensely satisfying from word one.  Rowan's had a lifetime of pain in her young life and it's the dramatic change in her relationship with her best friend's brother, Logan, that gives her a glimpse of happiness if they're both strong enough to accept it.

Rowan is an amazingly strong character who always remains hopeful no matter how many times her father leaves her bruised and bloodied.  The internal conversations she has with herself allow great insight into her thoughts and feelings and showed a young girl wise beyond her years just trying to find her place in the world.  Her shyness was endearing and her quickly evolving relationship with Logan showed how unsure of herself she was but through him she gained unexpected confidence.

Logan is the epitome of heroic.  He always tried to do right by Rowan and quickly apologized the few times his careless words hurt her.  He was her shelter in the storm her life had become around her drunken father and it felt natural for those feelings of protectiveness to evolve into something intensely steamier.  Being able to be in his head allowed the reader to understand his conflicted feelings and desires and made him appear even more admirable for this internal struggle he fought for so long to keep Rowan's heart safe.  The final moments of the book were Logan's finest though and were so sweet that I half expected him to ride up on a white steed.

The relationship between Logan and Rowan were extremely sexy in some unexpected ways.  Some readers may have a problem with their age difference but Rowan is a mature 18-year-old and she knew what she wanted and what she was getting into so I had no problem getting past their ages.  The numerous sexual interludes were seamlessly interspersed with scenes of them just hanging out that reinforced their compatibility and showed how important they were becoming to each other's happiness.  The secondary characters of Logan's family were a heartwarming addition as they treated her as their own and were her real family.  Their interactions were realistic and I enjoyed these postcard moments.  In contrast were the horrendous actions of her father who was truly the devil in his rage and the scenes of his abuse of Rowan were hard to read and brought a tear to my eye.

Elizabeth Finn's created an unforgettable book that's gutwrenching and uplifting at the same time.  It balances the two extremes beautifully to conclude with a satisfying HEA.  This is my first book by Ms. Finn and its high caliber of writing has me wanting to read more by her.

My rating for this is an A.

*I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.