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Happy Birthday, Taylor! Taylor has pretty well recovered from his shooting, but not everyone is happy to see him reach his next birthday. Does a cobra pickled in a bottle of wine means someone cares enough to send the very death -- best?
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Special Agents for the Department of Diplomatic Security Taylor MacAllister and Will Brandt have been partners forever and lovers for three months, but their new relationship is threatened when Will is offered a plum two-year assignment in Paris.
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For Special Agents of the Department of Diplomatic Security, Taylor MacAllister and Will Brandt, the strain of a long distance relationship is beginning to tell after eleven months of separation. A romantic holiday could be just the thing to bridge the ever-growing distance, but when Taylor spots a terrorist from the 70s, long believed dead but very much alive, it's c'est la vie.
This review will be one giant review based on all 4 books in the Dangerous Ground series that are published thus far. I’ll touch a bit on each book and then the series as a whole. A bit about me first. Lanyon is my all-time favorite author. His books and his style of writing are made exactly the way I like ‘em. I like mystery novels (my favorite is when Lanyon does horror) and I like the slow burning, imperfect romance. Just sayin’, you might want to keep that in mind when reading my review.
Spoilers in this review.
Book 1 - Dangerous Grounds
Meet Taylor MacAllister and DDS partner William Brandt. These two are partners at work, both gay, and best friends. They’ve known each other around three years and know pretty much everything about one another. Taylor is written as the playboy commitment-phobe, and William is the down-to-earth traditional family man. Somehow, this isn’t exactly how it seems to play out in the series though.
IMO, this book had a bit of a slow start. I had a hard time getting into it and started it once a few weeks ago and set it down to read something else. Once you get past the initial slow start, it’s pretty much a while party and Taylor is the punching bag. So, there was this situation that happened pre-book where Taylor was shot and William was sad because basically Taylor spilled his little heart out to Will, and Will was all “no way jose”. It’s sad and it sucks but whatever. I felt the chemistry between the two MCs in this first book and had happy feeling about them.
This book is worth reading even just for the hot tub sex scene. Holy crap. I read that scene and thought to myself it was possibly the steamiest sex I’ve read of Lanyon’s.
Lie-kit.
Lesson of this book: Taylor is a sexy, purry cat.
Book 2 - Old Poison
Happy Birthday to Taylor! In this book it’s Taylor’s birthday and it starts with seemingly a very sweet, loving gesture by his boyfriend, William. Awwwww. Turns out, William is actually quite the wiener. He says things to Taylor like how he wishes they didn’t start off a relationship. Like, c’mon. That’s a little mean, isn’t it? Taylor has seemingly dropped his playboy ways and is nothing is not completely committed and willing to create a life with William, mostly to suit William’s selfish needs.
David Bradley. He was mentioned in the first book as Will’s boyfriend at the time, but they broke up once Taylor was shot. It was getting serious between them. So, in this book they’re separated and assigned other partners in other cities. Wouldn’t you know it? Somehow Will is partnered up with David Bradley. Don’t get me wrong, I love this kind of drama. I eat that shit for breakfast. But man, Will was already walking on thin ice for me. So basically in their relationship, it consists basically of Taylor being a perfect boyfriend and waiting around for Will and being caring and understanding, and Will being a selfish jerk. He goes out to dinner with DB and you can tell that it makes Taylor uncomfortable. But who cares, right? Not Will. Maybe he’s not cheating, but if it makes your boyfriend uncomfortable, maybe you shouldn’t do it.
Oh, but wait. At one point in the story, David Bradley asks if he can kiss Will goodbye… Will sheepishly laughs and then agrees and they suck face.
Lesson of this book: William is a god damn jerk.
Book 3 - Blood Heat
So in this book they’re protecting Harry Potter’s pregnant owl from some bro’s that wanna shoot her. They decide to capture her, while basically out of their jurisdiction, and then take her back to the bossman themselves. Foolproof right? Wrong. Because everyone wants this little chica dead. Through this book they’re struggling because Will wants to take a promotion with a minimum of two years working in Paris, oh-lala. Classic William. It’s tearing Taylor up inside but he tries to be a good sport about it, but it’s hard.. you know. Because of the two year across-the-world thing.
Carrying on. Basically, a bunch of crap happens, some EXTREMELY hot sex included. Actually, quite a bit of hot sex included, and they get the pregnant girl, who turns out to be innocent, to a doctor where she can name her baby after them. Also, Taylor shoots William and William has a bit of a hissy fit. One of the best part’s of the series. **Highlight**
So, in the end, William, the selfish bugger he is, accepts the promotion in Paris.
Lesson of this book: Harry Potter wants his owl back.
Book 4 - Dead Run
Eleven months have passed and Taylor is going to go visit William in Paris! Awww. Except Taylor thinks he spots a terrorist in the airport. Booo! Turns out, they label him wrong. So he calls Will to let him know that he’s going to be on a later flight and guess who answers Will’s phone.
No, go on. If you’ve read this much I’m going to give you a moment to guess who answers the phone.
… *waits* …
Had some thinking time? That’s right, boys and girls. David Fucking Bradley. Of course he answers the phone! Who else? I’m almost not shocked at this point by anything shitty that Will does. Will is allowed to have friends. Even ex-lovers, sure. But in a relationship that’s as insecure as this, where you live on opposite sides of the world and haven’t seen each other in eleven months, maybe, just maybe you’d have the decency to mention to your boyfriend across the world that your ex-lover, who makes your current lover very uncomfortable, is going to be popping over for dinner and some drinks.
What a buffoon. The incredible part is that Taylor doesn’t even lose his shit. Best boyfriend ever. He’s very unhappy and uncomfortable but doesn’t even lose his mind. If he can be a grown-up about things like that, you’d think Will could too. Huh. Moving on. Some shit happens and Taylor and Will have to work together in Paris to search out some bomb threats. Oh no! An explosion and then William is hurt!! Taylor is sad. :(
William goes into the hospital with scrapes as bruises but wakes up with _____________!!
No, guess. I dare you. Imagine what he could possibly wake up with that would make me flip my fucking lid. I’ll wait.
…
Did you guess amnesia?
If you did, I’m making you a cake, because there’s no fucking way I seen that bomb being dropped.
Guess what? It gets better… okay. So, William remembers everything BUT his relationship for the past year and a bit with Taylor, ALSO he thinks he’s still in a relationship with David Bradley, who Taylor sees when he walks into Will’s hospital room! *slaps knee and makes gun hand-gesture* Classic!
The anxiety this caused me, I cannot begin to describe. It was around this time that Taylor’s heart was breaking. After DB told Taylor the situation, DB kissed William in front of him. And Taylor doesn’t go on a Godzilla rampage, how? I was so depressed and upset at this point in the story, I wanted to cry. I went to my BMBR friends and asked them for hugs because I was so sad. Not even mad. Just sad about this situation. I really felt like Taylor was perpetually dragged through the mud this entire series, and this was definitely the icing on the cake. His lover doesn’t remember him, only him though, and when Taylor mentions the idea to him, Will basically says that it’s impossible because he’d never be with Taylor.
I’ll give you a moment while your heart breaks.
In the end, they catch the bad dude (as if I’m paying any attention by this point), and Will get’s his memory back and they go live under a fucking rainbow in the sky.
But really, if I were William, I’d stop thinking DB was a good person all together, because kissing someone with amnesia because their head isn’t on straight, seems like… oh, say, taking advantage of someone. The fucker.
Lesson of this book: William is a fucking wiener.
Series review:
Now, while it seems like I was pissy most of the time while reading this, it wasn’t true. I had a lot of hope for the boys in the first book, and then it slowly went downhill. I wasn’t that mad. Okay, kind of mad. Not like, Jake Riordan level of mad, but kind of annoyed that William sucks as a boyfriend. Taylor didn’t deserve any of the shitty things that happened to him, and that honestly made me sad. The best part is that even if you hate the MCs (or one of them) you still care about them, and they're human. They make human mistakes and that really draws you in.
But the action parts were VERY exciting! Guns, shooting, killing, hunting down murders, surviving shots to the chest, falling down cliffs, rescuing your boyfriend, getaway chases. Love this shit.
The books, as usual, very well written and sometimes above my head. Especially the last book that was based in Paris. I tried hard to follow the storyline of everything besides the romance, but that just didn’t happen. I liked this series, I’d recommend it to read, but definitely not if it’s your first Lanyon book, or first Lanyon series. Books that leave me with little hope for the MCs makes me sad.
Things this series has taught me so far:
- Classic Will = Asshole Will
- Don’t sleep with married Japanese business men
- One’s ex is never really out of the picture
- Power bottoms might just be sexier than tops
- Taylor reminds me of Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles)
- Looking after your jerk bf’s dog is not a good excuse not to go to Iraq
- Pregnant munchkins are trouble
I’ll be reviewing the fifth installment of this series on December 10th, so come back and check it out.
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