A review by christyheartsbooks
Asa by Jay Crownover

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The cop and the criminal.  Royal loves her job as a patrol cop but when she has to witness her best friend and partner get injured on the job she goes into a tailspin.  Her tailspin brings her front and center into Asa's view.  Asa was a crook, a con man, a criminal but when it all caught up to him and he almost died, he made a promise to himself he would never let his sister down again.  But that doesn't mean he thinks better of himself or that he doesn't struggle to make the right choice every single day. So when the fantabulous Royal keeps throwing herself at him, he has to do the opposite of what his eggplant wants and turns her away.  Until, one day, he just can't anymore.  

This was the most emotional of the Marked Men books for me.  Asa was so hard on himself that it made my heart hurt. He was so fixated on his past that he couldn't see who he had grown to become.  But man did he grown into someone pretty amazing.  I loved that Royal saw Asa's past but knew that he wasn't that guy anymore and she only saw the good in him.  This was one of the most touching and emotional of Jay's books that I have read to date.  Highly recommend, but you do need to read the first 5 first to get the full impact.