Filthy Foreign Exchange 2

By S.E. Hall & Angela Graham

Synopsis

The conclusion to Echo and Kingston’s story.

When Echo Kelly is invited on a backpacking trip throughout the UK, she jumps at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, refusing to let one fleeting past exchange stop her.

At least, that’s what she’s convinced herself of, until the moment she sees him again. It’s not the one-time “run-in” she was expecting, and therefore prepared to handle.

Instead, it’s an announcement she never saw coming…he’s the tour guide.

She’s got no backup plan for that.

Kingston knew what it meant the moment Echo accepted the offer. And when he lays eyes on her, standing in his childhood home, her fate is sealed forever. There’s not a damn thing that will stop him from finally claiming what’s always been his.

Her.

Not everyone gets a second chance—and Kingston Hawthorne sure as hell isn’t going to let his slip away.

Review

I bought FILTHY FOREIGN EXCHANGE # 2 as soon as I finished book 1, because it ended in a cliffhanger and I wanted to see how Kingston & Echo’s story ended. Why was Kingston framed? Why did he leave so suddenly? Why didn’t he defend himself? I thought I’d get answers to those questions in this book, so I was disappointed to get to the end and realise that no, I wouldn’t be getting those answers. We never found out why Kingston was framed or if the real perpetrators were ever punished, and I hate loose threads like that. Instead, the book starts about a year later with Echo on her way to the UK for a backpacking adventure provided by Kingston’s mother’s charitable foundation. Echo is still hung up on Kingston, but she denies it to herself and anyone that will listen, and Kingston is determined to win her back, but she’s angry and refuses to listen to anything he has to say. This is what makes up most of the story.

While I was able to read this in pretty much one sitting, I found I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous book. I can’t really describe it, but it’s like there was a huge switch between books 1 and 2, and I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. When Kingston fled the US, Echo’s parents hated him, but flash forward a year and they seem to like him, but they’ve never explained their change of feelings to Echo. In book 1, Kingston’s father is made out to be a mean SOB, but when we meet him here, he’s really very nice and clearly loves his son. Echo seemed very mature for her age in book 1, but acts a little childish in this book. As I said, I can’t really explain it, but it’s almost like nothing was the same, if that makes sense. The story isn’t terrible, but this was not the conclusion I was looking for, although it does come with a HEA. This is book 2 in a duet about Kingston and Echo, so it can’t be read as a stand-alone. I think Echo’s brother might get his own book, but I don’t think I’ll be reading it.