The Victor by Nicole Flockton

This is a short sharp and thoroughly enjoyable introduction to the upcoming series The Freemasons and if this is just the start then I say bring on the rest because I am certainly ready to read some more.

Ava and Cole are separated after a short time together they have spent the last six months apart but the trauma that they both experienced has affected them in very different ways.

Ava firmly believes that she does not belong on Cole’s world, a one with money and privilege, festooned with secrets and lies but one which, if she wants to finally cut her ties, she has no choice but to step back into.

If like me you are a little puzzled to begin with about where all this is going then I would say “patience” because at first I wasn’t sure I was on the same page as everyone else with what was going on or at least with the reasons for the goings on! But hang on in there it all makes sense in the end.

Ava wants to get the divorce over and done with, to finally move on with her life and to allow Cole to do the same, there is one problem with that – Cole doesn’t want to move on – he wants his wife back and he is not taking no for an answer, for the time being anyway – whether he will eventually bore of the idea and call it quits on his terms who knows but one thing is for certain- he certainly isn’t giving in on Ava’a say so.

He hatches a plan and for her naivety or maybe desperation Ava goes along with it, because despite the terms and conditions the outcome is what matters and she will get her divorce, so she will accept the terms and take whatever comes in her stride.

But what they hadn’t bargained on was the fact that under the same roof, the feelings that they once had come back to play havoc with their plans.

But were the feelings completely one sided?

Did Cole care, had he ever cared or was this all a case of him wanting his own way?

I loved the fact that the author took them both by the hand and guided not only them but me through the minefield of emotions that were hurtling throughout the book.

My heart broke for the tragedy they suffered and my anger bubbled at the apparent selfishness that they both exhibited, yes I mean both of them because while Cole was an arrogant man, who thought nothing of demanding his own way, Ava was guilty of much the same, she had undertaken his proposal in her fight to get what she wanted – a divorce.

But take all that out of the equation and you have what I suppose given the bottom line was a sweet story, one that had me reading with my fingers crossed because I wanted them to work it all out but on the other hand I didn’t actually know if they could.

I think I liked the element of angst that the two of them going on and was relieved that the ending did have me biting my fingernails until the release of the next book.