Sasha Budanov is The Closer

Sasha Budanov was a badass woman in the best sense of the word. She evolved from a mysterious woman in the first book to a genuine member of the family and team at the end of this book. Her evolution was done at the right pace that the reader was right there along with her. Sasha is the person you always want to have at your back, whether you know she’s there or not. Sasha’s technically not a first wife but she’s as much a member of this chosen family as any of them. I love when a woman is Bourne and Sasha is Jennifer Garner’s Alias and Matt Damon’s Bourne rolled into one character. I just love this character. Bringing AJ into her world just made it a perfect revelation that the loner she thought she was, was a carefully crafted mask to protect her heart from the love she never received as a kid. He wasn’t the person you’d imagine for Sasha, yet he seemed to be just the right amount of nice guy with a touch of bad boy, adrenaline junkie perfection Sasha needed. The story itself was very Jason Bourne with Sasha at the center of it all. The interplay between her and the team, "Are you a dad yet" was funny and like all good ribbing you get from your siblings. The added character which mirrored Sasha’s own upbringing yet meeting Sasha, AJ and the team changed the direction her life could’ve ended up going in a good way. Sasha being a “big-sister” of sorts lent heart to her and the story. I can't believe that I avoided this series because I didn't want to read another romance novel, but this series is very different with strong-willed woman at the forefront and the alpha men who love them without controlling them. It’s still romances but with contemporary realism that keeps you interested. I listened to this book on Audible and the narrator, Emma Wilder, did a wonderful job especially with Sasha's accent and the male voices. I'm glad the publisher keeps the same voice throughout a series for Catherine Bybee. I’m looking forward to Catherine Byee’s next series and I hope her trend of storytelling that has less focus on marriage and babies being the end all and be all of life continues.

4 people found this helpful

Another great story from Catherine Bybee..

A little disappointed in this book. I expected Sasha to be a little tougher than she was. She didn’t show any “muscle” until the end of the book. BUT it was still a wonderful story. I’ve like Sasha since the beginning, so I was only an eensy-weensy bit disappointed. This is the 25th book of Ms. Bybee’s that I’ve listened to, so I’ll continue to read/listen to her. I’m looking forward to whatever she writes next. I liked AJ and it was nice to see all the wives and their husbands and kids. I liked that there was a murder mystery in this book instead of just a romance. 300+ pages of just romance, angst and misunderstandings is too much of all that. But that’s just my opinion. There was one sex scene, which was nice that sex didn’t dominate the entire story. And the F-bomb was used 9 times. As to the narration: Emma Wilder did a fantastic job on this book. The voices and emotions were spot-on and she’s quickly becoming one of my favorite female narrators. Love, love, love a female reader who can do a man’s voice and not just women. Nothing worse that a man who sounds like a woman in a book.

4 people found this helpful

SOOOOOO GOOD!!!

This is truly one of THE BEST SERIES I've read!! They have love but the stories are amazing! Full of depth and excitement, action and the best character profiles!!! I hope this isn't the last, Ms Bybee. And the audio versions.... holy moly.... THE BEST! The performances of each one of these books are spot on and such a joy to listen to! Please keep 'em coming!!!!!!

4 people found this helpful

Great book. Excellent ending to a fantastic series

Great book. Excellent ending to a fantastic series. A new hit for the author. The series worth 10 stars.

3 people found this helpful

Buy this book!

Loved it! I loved this entire series. This was a great story and great narration.

2 people found this helpful

Another winner!

I’ve been waiting for Sasha’s story and this did not disappoint. What a great look into this complex woman’s background, fully flushing out her character and humanizing her. The narrator did a great job too, adding to the story. This is not a stand alone novel. Without reading the previous books in the series the reader wouldn’t understand the pain, isolation and abuse that Sasha has endured and overcome In this book she works WITH the team instead of alone to find the killer of 3 innocent alumni of her boarding school. One of them is the sister of the sexy AJ. He too is a loner. Together can they find the killer and love at the same time?

2 people found this helpful

Sasha, Sasha, Sasha!

I’m glad Sasha got a happily ever after, she deserved it. With all she had to go through with her biological father 🙄🙄 she differently deserved it. AJ tamed her & showed her she deserved to settle down a little & be happy. So happy for her!

Listened to the whole series 😂

Liked everything about each book. It was easy to follow and picture the characters, all but Sasha. I thought she should have been a natural blonde. All their stories were believable ( if you can imagine being rich that is ) and blended well together. Made me smile while I listened. I'm already planning on listening 🎧 to more of Catherine Bybee's books.!

Another great story

This book was a great conclusion to the series. Sad to see it end. It was a great story line!

Last of the Series, Best of them All!!!🎊🥂🌠❤❤🎉

Well, I have followed this Series; "The First Wives Series," from the first novel to the last novel; "Say It Again." "Say It Again" is about Sasha, the half-sister to Trina Petrov's late husband who Sasha learned later was murdered. Catherine Bybee wrote in AWESOME, Intriguing Hearts, Mind-Blowing Sex, Electrifying Storyline, that exceeded in my mind, to be the best of the five novels. You can tell she gave everything she had inside to this novel. I was so proud and happy to been privileged to listen to it and I really believe I was reading about a friend of mine and that's what I thought about Sasha. I love how it flowed and there were no hiccups, no carrying on of feelings; like come, on come, on come, I had to listen to it in one sitting. There was no pausing of this novel and I don't regret it, this's definitely one of those love stories that you wouldn't want to stop until you finished it. Emma Wilder was the narrator for all five books, which she did an AWESOME job in all of them + she was able to stay in character through all of them. I think she is a very talented narrator and I see a lot of good things coming her way. So, again 5-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for both my writer and for my narrator. #AudiobookObsessionReviewer🎧ronigirl