Review: And We Went by Spencer Rook





Small town life in the 1950s wasn't easy for Roger, born into a rigid family headed by a preaching father, struggling to balance expectations with his growing feelings for his best friend, Billy. Though they fight to overcome the odds, it all seems futile when Billy goes missing and Roger must balance family, a stalker, and blackmail if he hopes to live long enough to love.








Today, in the year 2014, it is a fact that coming out can be hard for many gay people. It is a sad fact that this is the case - it is a sad fact that anyone has to 'come out' at all - it is also heartbreaking that sections of society choose to judge people because of who they fall in love with. But, if it is hard today, in our, hopefully, more enlightened times, imagine being the son of a Preacher in small town America in the 1950's. This is exactly Roger's life.

This book has one of my favourite story-lines, friends to lovers, but somehow it felt different. I'll try to articulate why. Roger and Billy are best friends and do fall in love, but in the rigid structure of post war, small town, America they cannot let this be known. It wasn't even that there were places where they would be accepted, society as a whole was against them. Roger felt the wrath of his father at the age of just 6 for innocently mentioning he wasn't going to marry a girl but a boy. It broke my heart. What made it worse was it was his own mother who betrayed him to his father. His mum, his protector, betrayed his trust. I'm a mum and I can't think of one thing I wouldn't do to keep my children safe and happy, so I found this particularly hard to accept. Except I could see the truth of the era in what happened, this is how things were done. I cried.

Roger knew to keep his feelings a secret so when they had the beautiful scene by the swimming hole my heart mended itself a little. Whatever else was to happen, Roger knew Billy felt the same. Aaah - friends to lovers. Perfect.

The story was one I would describe as an emotional rollercoaster - the kind where you have that anticipation with every turn of the page that something is about to happen. And it does. I went from low to high to low to high. Roger's father (and many other characters) were bigoted with no redeeming features. Yet it felt real, yes he was the typical tyrannical priest....but I believed it. There was a small twist at the end which I liked. I don't want to give too much of the story-line away though. I'd recommend this book to anyone particularly if you enjioy historical novels or feel like a change of pace. It really was an enjoyable read.

I will DEFINITELY be looking out for more Spencer Rook books.

A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

Tag Team Review: Normal Enough by Marie Sexton

When Brandon Kenner shows up at Kasey Ralston’s garage with a 1970 Chevelle SS 454, Kasey is smitten by both the man and his car. Between what Kasey considers a shameful fetish and his long estrangement from his family, Kasey finds it easiest to be alone, even distancing himself from his coworkers. But Brandon doesn’t think Kasey’s fetish is weird. In fact, he likes it.

Kasey doesn’t know how to resist a man as charming as Brandon, and he’s more than willing to be seduced. But what are Brandon’s long-term intentions? Kasey is afraid of hoping for too much, but equally afraid that when all is said and done, Brandon will leave, and Kasey will be left alone once again.





Just cute enough, sexy enough and kinky enough to keep me interested. But I would have really liked to have more that just enough.

Kasey has a pretty unusual fetish. Now, I'm no fetish expert, except from what I've read, but this isn't one I've read about. *whispers* Cars give him a hard on. *nods* So, Kasey is obviously a pretty sexual guy since he gets horny whenever he comes across a hot car, but what I really loved about him is how weird he thought it was. Just because he could be a walking erection in the shop didn't mean that he flaunted it. He was shy and reserved and just darn cute about it all.

Now, Brandon. Brandon didn't think this was weird. Not at all. He loved this kinky bit about Kasey and planned on exploiting it for his benefit as often as he could. And all his plans? *mmmmm* Sexy as hells. I really enjoyed his 'go get him' attitude he had toward Kasey because Kasey needed a guy like that. He needed someone to bring him out of his shell and to make sure he knew it was okay to have a little kink. Actually, it's encouraged by all.

The guys were great, the car sex was all kinds of hot and I was satisfied enough with the HFN ending. But I was left wanting and can't help but feel like their story was cut too short. I would have loved to read more about these two.




I love when two crazy kids with compatible kinks come together. Kasey has an unusual fetish. Brandon seems to get off on guys with unusual fetishes. Kasey has a REAL fondness for certain muscle cars. Brandon is a collector of muscle cars. You see where this is going right?

Kasey is a mechanic and one day Brandon brings his car into the garage where Kasey works for service. Kasey is painfully shy and as I learned about his upbringing I could see where he not only got his shyness, but where his fetish came from. It makes a lot of sense really and kudos to Marie Sexton for bringing something unusual to the story and still making it believable.

I liked Kasey’s character a lot and while he did get a needy voice now and again, it was realistic and he knew he was doing it and wanted to kick himself for it so it wasn’t annoying, I just could empathize with him. He had trouble believing someone like Brandon would be interested in him and while at first it may have seemed like a hookup, turns out they really do have a connection. Speaking of . . . the connections were fine, damn fine as a matter of fact.

I did like the communication and connection between Kasey and Brandon. Kasey was believably needy, but finding his own inner strength and voice at the same time. Brandon was more than willing to shore up Kasey’s confidence but he didn’t coddle him at all which would have so been the wrong thing for Kasey, especially when he was just breaking out of his shell.

The only thing I wanted was a little more of them together. I was really getting attached to the two of them and it was over. It’s a good gripe to have really and I would love to read more about these two AND their car shenanigans.

Marie Sexton and The Normal Enough Blog Tour Stop & Giveaway!

Thanks so much to Marie Sexton for making Boy Meets Boy Reviews part of her Normal Enough blog tour and for bringing prezzies!!!! Who doesn't love that?




Enter for a chance to win an ebook copy of Normal Enough and a $50 ARe gift certificate for some of Marie Sexton’s backlist books.

WOOP WOOP!
When Brandon Kenner shows up at Kasey Ralston’s garage with a 1970 Chevelle SS 454, Kasey is smitten by both the man and his car. Between what Kasey considers a shameful fetish and his long estrangement from his family, Kasey finds it easiest to be alone, even distancing himself from his coworkers. But Brandon doesn’t think Kasey’s fetish is weird. In fact, he likes it.
Kasey doesn’t know how to resist a man as charming as Brandon, and he’s more than willing to be seduced. But what are Brandon’s long-term intentions? Kasey is afraid of hoping for too much, but equally afraid that when all is said and done, Brandon will leave, and Kasey will be left alone once again.

Length: 24k words
Publisher: Amber Allure
Release Date: March 16, 2014


Stay tuned to the noon post for dual reviews by Breann and Ann for Normal Enough.
*whispers* It's highly recommended ;)

AUTHOR INFO:

Marie Sexton lives in Colorado. She’s a fan of just about anything that involves muscular young men piling on top of each other. In particular, she loves the Denver Broncos and enjoys going to the games with her husband. Her imaginary friends often tag along. Marie has one daughter, two cats, and one dog, all of whom seem bent on destroying what remains of her sanity. She loves them anyway.

Website: http://mariesexton.net/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/MarieSexton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarieSexton.author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarieSexton
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/msextonauthor/

Author of the Month Interview - Lyn Gala

Today the UM welcomes Lyn Gala to the clubhouse! We chatted about Claimings, Tails and Other Alien Artifacts, squeed over the amazing Ondry bonus scene that Lyn Gala debuted here on BMBR, and are now super thrilled to have Lyn herself visiting us!




BMBR: Keeping with our book of the month, where did you get the inspiration for the Rownt culture?

LG: C.J. Cherryh is a huge influence on my writing. I love how her alien cultures are always so alien, and when I started doing coursework for a Masters in International Diplomacy, I came to appreciate her even more. I could see how various societal structures showed up in her work, only with particular aspects exaggerated or shifted.

I wanted to create a society that valued subs, so I wanted that trait to be rare in this society. That meant I needed to create a society that emphasized individuality and competition instead of service. However, if these creatures were hyper-focused on the individual, they wouldn’t have family structures the way we knew them. Even family members would be competitors, although parents would be proud when their offspring were strong enough to challenge them.

The second breakthrough came when I tried to figure out what animal to pattern them after. If they were that individualistic, a cat was such an obvious choice. I just didn’t want obvious. So I went with the least obvious choice I could come up with… a turtle. The choice turned out to be a blessing as the Rownt long lifespan and enormous penis came into play.

BMBR: Had you decided from the beginning that Ondry and Liam wouldn't be having sex in the "traditional and expected" manner? Did that plan evolve as you wrote or was that the plan from the start?

LG: The second I picked a turtle as the physical inspiration for the Rownt, I knew the couple wouldn’t be compatible. Not even close. That’s not to say they could have had sex if I had chosen another animal because I don’t see why incompatible species would have interlocking parts. That doesn’t make sense biologically. I have a het romance, Blowback, where one of the main characters is alien, but she’s part human and she was created in a laboratory. That’s the only way I could imagine an alien that had similar sexual organs. So yeah, if I have an alien culture, the couple is unlikely to be getting lucky the old fashioned way.

BMBR: In general, which character type do you enjoy writing more, the Dom or the sub?

LG: Generally I like to explore the sub when I’m writing slash stories. It’s the sub that’s breaking society’s rules about what it means to be “manly,” and I like characters that break the rules and find their own paths. However, I mainly like the way partners fit together. I like subs that push Doms into new territory. I like “caretaker” Doms that derive pleasure from controlling but also pleasing their partners. So I think this is a long way of saying that I don’t know how to answer this question.

BMBR: Favorite scene you've written so far?

LG: I have so many that I don’t know what to say to this. I love the scene where Liam finally admits that he was raped only to realize that Ondry will never blame him for that or even understand why a victim might feel the weight of guilt. I am a little in love with Rownt culture for not even understanding the psychological toll of rape. However, I am equally in love with the big action scene in Blowback where the heroes take down an alien invasion, and I love the scene in Fettered where Dylan’s friend gives him some pills, and he doesn’t realize how strong they are. He ends up wandering down the street trying to find his way to the club while utterly stoned. In Gathering Storm, I love the scene where Charleston catches Vinnie spying on him. I often write individual scenes as they inspire me, and I only go back and write the rest of the story later, so I have a whole host of these snippets that actually predated the book they appear in.

BMBR: A unicorn fan jumped in to ask: I'm in love with Jacqs from your book Turbulence. Is he based on someone you know in real life? And more importantly, will we be seeing more of him in future works?

LG: As a teacher, I’ve seen such a range of students come through my classes. I teach government and history, and that means that I get to talk to them about such real subjects that it allows me to know them in a way that a science teacher might not. I’ve seen a number of students who had honestly good hearts that were matched with such social ineptitude that I would cringe when they would piss off some classmate. They would make some political statement and then act bewildered when half the class wanted to kill them. Hopefully I taught some of those students to stop and listen first, and hopefully I taught a few of the other students to look beyond the surface. Honestly, I don’t know. However my sympathy for that set of character traits comes out in Jacqs.

I would like to do more stories in the Turbulence series. I think they’re going to have a lot of adventures, and I also think there are some mysteries to explore. People high up in the military had an eye on Jacqs from the beginning or he wouldn’t have landed on the Candiru instead of in a jail cell. The who and why of that is a great story, but I don’t know if I’ll get around to writing it. I tend to have entire universes in my head, but writing sequels is my kryptonite. I also think the relationship with Ben, Copta and Becca is interesting. Just because Copta is asexual doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want a long-term relationship. I can see doing a book with them as a triad.

BMBR: Any upcoming projects, Lyn? Maybe a sequel to a certain book with a certain character that is certainly popular?

LG: I always have a dozen or more irons in the fire at any one time. I currently have three books half or more than half written. Desert World Immigrants follows Verly Black, a disgraced captain who accidentally caused the deaths of a ship full of immigrants and Naite Polli, a wounded man who has always tried to fix things by working harder. Customary Miracles is about a geeky, unlucky-in-love author who has done the cheap sex thing until he’s tired of the game and just given up on men. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get his happily ever after until he meets an equally geeky professor of comparative religions from India.

However, I suspect you’re asking about Assimilation, War, and Other Human Oddities. Liam and Ondry are back and are happily nesting and trading. However, the humans are determined to take advantage of what they see as an “in” with the Rownt. Craig makes a cameo appearance. He’s the tech who showed Liam “Rownt porn” when he first came to Prarownt. However, Earth has sent some power players to try and reopen negotiations with the Rownt, and Captain Susan Diallo is their “go to” girl.

I was 80% done with this when my mother had a stroke and then needed emergency surgery for her gall bladder. Right now I’m trying to get back into the right mindset to finish this story. I don’t know if I’m ever going to finish the Desert World book because I’ve been away from it too long, and I don’t want to let the Claimings sequel fall into the same black hole.

Other than that, I have a lot of scenes written that might turn up in later books. Aaron is a tired soldier who has fought demons ever since a spell destroyed their ability to hide using magic glamours. He’s come to realize that not all “demons” are evil, but he’s realized this after killing too many. He’s worn down to nothing by the time an incubus hunts him down.

John is a lobsterman who was too injured to keep fishing. He made an unlikely switch to high-end prostitution (through a weird series of events), and now he’s been hired by a Hollywood type who likes to put men in harness and then try to tame a wild stallion. John likes it a little too much.

Vicissitude of Magic stars David, a mere mortal in the secret world of wizards. Faulkner believes that mundanes should be protected from the magical world; however, a spell turns this good guy into a bad guy, and David becomes the target of an evil monster that wears the face of a former ally.

Darryl is a black man raised by a white family after his mother died and his father crawled in a bottle. Now as an adult, an injury means he has time to visit his birth father, who has sobered up and asked for another chance. However, Darryl doesn’t know how to handle his jealousy when his father seems more comfortable with Evan, another recovering alcoholic his father is sponsoring.

I think it’s easy to say that I have ideas on ideas on ideas, and not nearly enough time to write them all. And add onto that the fact that I do still write fanfic. It’s fun to get in and just build sandcastles in someone else’s sandbox sometimes. It all means that if I had time to sit at the computer full time, I could never finish one-tenth of my projects. However, as a part-time teacher/part-time administrator and teacher trainer, I am completely screwed. And with my mother’s recent stroke, I am not even pretending that even half these will be written. My mother is definitely getting better, but I’ve had to do a little rearranging of priorities.

So, that is me in a nutshell.

Thanks once more to Lyn Gala stopping by and gracing us with an awesome interview and exclusive bonus scene for our book of the month, Claimings, Tails and Other Artifacts. We couldn't let her leave without unicornizing her. She shall hereby forever be known to us as Starflower Fair Rump:



Starflower is always as happy as a clam.
She is handsome to look upon,
and she melts the snow and brings the warm weather.

Review: Turbulence by Lyn Gala

Corporal Jacqs Glebov is a simple soldier who wants a bunk, decent food and the company of other battle-hardened men and women who understand the realities of fighting. Instead he's stuck patrolling a remote corner of the border with cadets straight out of boot camp. They don't understand him, and he sure doesn't have an ounce of respect for them.

After a field promotion, Earth sends Commander Zeke Waters to the Candiru for some practical experience in a leadership role. Instead, Zeke falls in lust with the adamantly heterosexual Jacqs. The way Jacqs fights and the way he sees the world draws Zeke closer, even if common sense tells him to walk away.

Even if they can find a way to reconcile their sexual differences, they are both still soldiers. The war will eventually take them away from each other unless they can find a way to escape the rules that have defined their lives.


Man, did I get sucked into this story, this world and these characters or what?

You get the gist from the blurb right? I’m not going to go into what Turbulence is all about, read the blurb and you’ve got the basics. I want to tell you about all the things that make this so much more than sci-fi, M/M romance.

I love M/M romance stories. You know, the 100+ page stories about the relationship, there’s some angst, some self-discovery and then an HEA? Those? I love those. But, if you read too many in a row, it won’t matter how good they are, they are going to run together and that’s not fair to them. You’ve got to have a book that is going to give you more and take you somewhere else in there too. This is one of those books.

There is an incredible amount of world building and politics that needed to be explained but it never read like an instruction manual or a laundry list of rules and regs. The history and state of their world evolved organically with the story and I was never left confused as to why or who. After reading Claimings, Tails and Other Alien Artifacts I can see how Lyn Gala is a master of this. Being that the bulk of the story takes place on one spaceship, the Candiru, while the earth is at war, the situation has a monumental impact on the crew and every part of their lives. Knowing what is happening and learning about Jacqs’ past explains everything about who he is and why he acts the way he does.

So, Jacqs. One of the most memorable characters I’ve read. He’s big, he’s rough, he’s scary and he likes it that way. He keeps people at arms-length on purpose. He’s a simple man who has no tolerance for stupidity and indecision. Problem is, he deals with it daily as much of the crew on his ship are either fresh out of training and/or have never been to the front to experience the true impact of the war.

“Jacqs snorted. Stupidity didn’t deserve more of a response than that.”

A new captain is assigned to his ship and Zeke confuses Jacqs to no end. Their dialog is classic and I loved reading it. Jacqs is one of those characters who can be witty without meaning to be, brilliant on accident and insightful to the point of being scary. Unfortunately a lot of those qualities get buried in his gruff delivery and overall lack of social skills and no one really takes the time to know the real Jacqs. Fortunately for Jacqs, Zeke does come along and he does see and more importantly, he appreciates Jacqs for who he is. Scars and all.

What was so incredibly refreshing about the relationship between Jacqs and Zeke was Jacqs reaction to the fact that he wasn’t the het he thought he was. He didn’t freak out, get overly aggressive or push Zeke away. He went to Zeke and TALKED about it. What a novel idea and interesting concept. As an FYI - Sexuality in this world is very different and it was incredibly interesting to read about the dynamics, and that made Jacqs' reaction believable and completely normal for him. Jacqs is not the kind of guy to back away from something, so he barrels right in and gets a handle on who he is and who he can be for Zeke.

As the two become closer and Jacqs gets the major revelation about his sexuality, the reality of the war comes to the ship and the real tension and worry that the two have for each other is so well done and I got completely wrapped up in the mission. I really felt the confusion and stress that they were under when Jacqs finally made it back to the ship. The war they knew was changing and they had no clue what was coming for their future.

There is just so much crazy stress as the war seems to be coming to an end and not a favorable one for the humans. Thankfully Jacqs and Zeke did have some great stress relieving activity throughout and their chemistry together was off the charts. I loved that Zeke truly appreciated everything about Jacqs and those little moments as Jacqs was figuring that out were quite sweet.

I really had no idea how this was going to end. You really have to read it to get the full impact of their situation on what turns out to be their last mission. It was really well played out and I loved how it turned out for them. It was really an HEA for them and their world.

There are WAY too many great Jacqs quotes to pick out just one or two to give a taste of how he thinks. I do think this thought process about his sexuality sums up Jacqs well:

Jacqs didn’t rightly like self-introspection. It never led to good things. It didn’t even lead to mediocre things, not in his estimation. But, at the same time, he’d never run away from a fight in his life, not when it came to bullies in the camps, not when he’d faced off against the batfaces for the first time, and not when he had demons rolling around in his head. He battled them, and he either won or lost the fight, but he didn’t go hiding.


Review: Snatched Anthology

Any hunter will tell you part of the satisfaction is in the chase as well as the triumphant capture of their prey. In Snatched, the focus is on the eroticism of the power play between men and their male captors. Sometimes romance ensues, sometimes just a good amount of steamy sex, but in all cases, the effects of one character being in utter control of the man he has captured takes center stage. The appeal is in the erotic dominance and the way the captive would try to escape if he could, whether he truly wants to deep down or not.

Thomas is determined not to let the fights with his boyfriend, John, ruin his vacation in the tropical rainforests of Equador. But when he steps off the trail, he steps into danger as he is taken captive by guerilla freedom fighters. Held against his will, he nonetheless finds himself developing an attraction to the man who both arouses and repels him. And as his captivity weighs on him, Thomas finds that being "The Guerilla's Plaything" is not the worst fate he can envision...

Bryce's life changes forever the night that he and his boyfriend are brutally attacked by creatures that seem like they can only be demonic. He's sure, when they carry him off, that he's being packed off for lunch, so it's a shock when he finds that one of his captors is not the horror that he expected. As their attraction grows, it could be "The Two of Us" against the world.

As a member of the lesser nobility, Micah has never truly been able to "Feel the Wind" of freedom, and he and his family are not exempt from the brutality of the highest of the nobles. When he is imprisoned, hunted for sport, and captured by Ari, one of the realm's Princes, he feels that his life is over. But when an escape attempt leads him to the bed of Dhea, Ari's brother, he finds that there is much more to live for... and at the same time, so much more danger than he knows.


Snatched is an anthology featuring three short stories about kidnapping, some stories feature romance as the end result. Out of the three stories, two of them were really good. It was like the anthology was a naughty boy, hording his treats finally sharing the best story for last. I was almost thrown off by the weaker start. Almost.

The Guerrilla's Plaything by Tilly Hunter - 2 Hearts

*sigh*

A British student who likes bondage is on vacation in Ecuador. He's taken by a "guerrilla" named Alvaro because he looked suspicious while taking a piss in the jungle. The guerrilla has a fondness for the brit's "little dick" and leaves him exposed and kidnaps him. Then a weird, weak kidnap story starts where the Brit's dick is out and hard because he likes being tied up. No humiliation really. No bondage. No action. Just more meh.

And then the sex scene happens where the guerrilla tells the kidnappee (I can't remember his name) that they are going to have sex but he can call it rape of he has to. I couldn't even attach the lamest of dub con tag on this story. It was like C rated porn. I gave up. No wait, the closing line changed my 2.5 to a 2.
"It's perfectly understandable," John said evenly. "What do they call it? Stockholm Syndrome?""Yeah, I think so."
Really? Wouldn't you need to be kidnapped for longer than a day? I wasn't invested with the characters, so other than the different setting, I thought it was just okay. Had potential but missed the mark.

I fell asleep three times while reading this.  I was channeling Monsoon.
The Two of Us by Lor Rose - 4 HEARTS

Twenty-two year old, ginger virgin Bryce is on a lackluster date with a guy he feels no real attraction for. However, Bryce wants to rid himself of his virginity. While sitting on his potential lover's lap in a car, they are attacked by mythical horse shifters. Apparently this is story #2 from Lor Rose's Horse Shifter series. I didn't know what these shifters could do but let's just say they need to eat human hearts once a full moon to stay alive. Warning: there's a rape scene [not between the MC].

Xanthos and his fellow shifter Lampon (I couldn't help but think it rhymes with tampon) keep Bryce alive with some major bruising. But where the last story failed with capturing the power struggle between captor and captive, this story did. You could believe Bryce's fear even if he claimed he suffered from not feeling much emotions.

Xanthos is thousands of years old, has skin that is like movable granite and can't feel anything but pain. (But he feels erections) He's a killer, emotionally stunted and feels something for his captive. He's part of a group of four horse shifter killers but the group is split. Half of the group left for love. And at first Xanthos scoffed but he can't help feeling something towards Bryce.

Sadly this was just a short...I would have loved this if it were a novella. A lot of strong points and ideas were introduced but not followed through. Still it was a sexy ride, even a little mention of snowballing. I really liked, wished it wasn't as rushed towards the end.

Hooray for a more unusual type of shifter romance!
Feel the Wind by Ann Anderson - 4.5 HEARTS

It seems the best story of the anthology award goes to this story. This was what I wanted - hot sex, kink (some D/s, orgasm denial, bondage and pain kink, baby!), a surprise ménage, virgins (yep two virgins!), collaring (*squeals*), actual rape...It was fantasy, some magic, grit and deliciousness wrapped up in a sexy bow.

And I ate it up.


We have a thief (did I mention I love thieves too?) with a magical gift of controlling the wind who has been imprisoned for six years. In this fantasy filled society (there's a smidge of technology thrown in), the nobility and royalty hunt lesser folk for sport and make the captures their prey, their pets. This time around it's the thief, Micah. And he is captured by a prince! But this prince is a virgin as is Micah. But compared to Ari's larger, more sinister brothers, Ari seemed like the safest choice for Micah.

I wish there was more exploration in the world the author created. We get enough to carry the story this story would have been even better as a novella. Get more page time exploring the magical talents people have, etc. Micah was a fun character. He knew his limitations and played up what he had when he had to. Loved reading him switch from submissive to dominant. And playing those brothers? (You'll have to read to see which brother joined in this menage between pet and masters) Micah was delish! The ending was HFN/HEA-ish. Hint: a golden collar. *squeals*

I hope the author will follow up with these characters or the other brothers. It's an interesting world I wouldn't mind revisiting. 

Hands down favorite! Gotta check out more from this author. I squirmed!
The Snatched anthology is worth a read. I usually get bored because there can be a lot of duds mixed in a bundle. But this was not the case, on average. And now I have a new author to check out.

Score!

Review: Ball & Chain by Abigail Roux

Home from their unexpected deployment, the former members of Marine Force Recon team Sidewinder rejoin their loved ones and try to pick up the pieces of the lives they were forced to leave behind. Ty Grady comes home to Zane Garrett, only to find that everything around him has changed—even the men he went to war with. He barely has time to adjust before his brother, Deuce, asks Ty to be his best man. But that isn’t all Deuce asks Ty to do, and Ty must call for backup to deal with the business issues of Deuce’s future father-in-law.

Nick O’Flaherty and Kelly Abbott join Ty and Zane at the wedding on an island in Scotland, thinking they’re there to assuage Deuce’s paranoia. But when bodies start dropping and boats start sinking, the four men get more involved with the festivities than they’d ever planned to.

With the clock ticking and the killer just as stuck on the isolated island as they are, Ty and Zane must navigate a veritable minefield of family, friends, and foes to stop the whole island from being destroyed.





***may contain spoilers so watch out!***


OK, so here’s the deal.  I have been anticipating this book ever since I finished Touch & Geaux.  I was jealous of everyone who got an ARC and I couldn’t wait to read more about Ty & Zane and see what kinds of shenanigans they could get up to.  When I learned that it had been released early on Riptide I jumped on it right quick.


Then I started to read…


I was eager to see the reunion.  I just knew it was going to be epic.  I was expecting one of the hottest sex scenes I have ever read.  I knew they were going to reunite, it was going to be so romantic and joyful, and then burn up my screen with the wild monkey lovin’.  I didn’t get that.


And I was pissed!!!


Only 5% in and I was already disappointed.  Big, epic reunion at the base and they go home and fuck like bunnies, right?  NO!  All of a sudden it is two weeks later and I’m left looking for the missing scene, thinking I got a defective copy because surely Ms. Roux wouldn’t skip over something like that!  I mean, who does that?!?!?


Then they go to some castle on a cliff on a remote island off of Scotland for Deuce’s wedding.  Already my eyes are rolling because, yeah, I can see where this is going.  As I progress through the story my eyes just keep rolling until I think they’re gonna detach from their sockets from the strain.  Really?  Secret passageways?  Come on!  It was like watching the movie Clue or seeing really bad mystery dinner theatre.  Then someone is murdered, all communication with the mainland is cut off and all the boats float away in a storm.  Yep, I’m watching Clue.  


Oh, and this book is funny.  I’m telling you it is.  See, right here in the book it tells you that this book is funny.  Why aren’t you laughing?  You should be laughing because this shit is funny dammit!  The book says so for crying out loud!


I’m so freaking disappointed by this time that I consider DNFing the book.


But then I read one sentence, just five little words strung together by Nick and my entire perspective changes.


She did this shit on purpose y’all.


Suddenly my eyes are open and I’m seeing this not as a serious book (or a book trying to be serious) but for what it truly is.


Entertainment.


Now it’s gone from horrible, rant worthy mystery dinner theatre to entertaining blockbuster movie.  Because that’s what it really is.  Just pure entertainment.  So much more enjoyable that way!  I started flying through the book with glee.  Here are the shenanigans I wanted.  Oh, this is gonna be good!


As I continued reading though, I couldn’t help but notice that I was getting less and less Ty & Zane and more and more Ty & Nick and Kelly & Nick until it became just Nick.  Nick, Nick, Nick, Nickety Nick.  All Nick, all the time.  I was now watching the Nick channel.  Why is that?  I thought this was book 8 in the Cut & Run series, not book 2 of the Sidewinders novellas.  Did i buy the wrong book?  What the hell is going on around here?!?


And I’m back to being disappointed.  


But!  I persevered because, hey, it’s Ty & Zane!  Well, kinda.  I think I was hoping Nick would fade into the background so we could get back to the MAIN CHARACTERS of this story.  Sad to say, that never happened.


Then at 69% (heh) I was thrown into a big ole batch of WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?!? Chaos has ensued and I’m digging it.  I’m digging it hard.  I am just going to come right out and say this:  I love shenanigans.  I love over-the-top storylines.  I love chaos.  Needless to say I am back to loving it.


I’m not even going to touch on the ending because it was just more of Nick the Great and I don’t wanna get mad again.  I will tell you this though.  There was a scene in this book that just about gutted me.  I won’t tell you what it was and I won’t tell you where in the book it was.  Just know this:  it made me bleed.

So to sum up, I both loved and hated this book equally.  I will give it 3 stars and hope that Abi Roux gives the boys (Ty & Zane, NOT NICK) the face time and the HEA they deserve in the final book of this series.  ‘Cause they really do deserve it.