Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Special Agent Ryan “Mac” McGuinness has no idea that when he meets Richard Falstaff, aka Toby Seacoal, aka Henry Page, that his life is never going to be the same again. Henry witnessed a murder in the kitchen of his patron’s home, a patron who had no idea he was a conman, but that’s okay because Henry had no idea that her nephew was an infamous mob boss.
As a witness, Henry is invaluable, but as a person, Mac finds Henry lacking in all areas except in his gorgeous body and handsome face. When Henry gets away from Mac, not once, but twice, Mac is not only humiliated, he’s incensed. Adding fuel to his anger is his withdrawal from caffeine and sugar. He’s trying to follow instructions from his doctor to lose weight and reduce stress, but that’s impossible with Henry around. Wise-cracking, donut-loving, Shakespere-quoting Henry just can’t help teasing Mac with both sweets and his body until he blows.
When Mac suspects a leak in his office, he and Henry take off with the blessing of Mac’s boss and former partner, Val. With Henry sharing how to evade capture and how to “borrow” a car in order to make their getaway in secret, Mac is ready to throttle him by the time they get to Mac’s parents’ remote vacation cabin. But within a few days, while taking advantage of their attraction and in the midst of a hot and heavy petting session, Henry breaks away when a clap of thunder scares him. Mac takes the opportunity to reevaluate his choices. He definitely isn’t ready to give up his career and jeopardize the case by having sex with the witness, but he can’t deny his fascination with this smart-mouthed, uber-talkative, sexy guy.
Disaster occurs when someone discovers their location, and to keep the concluding chapters spoiler-free, this reviewer will only say that this story is not typical of this writing team in that there is no D/s, no BDSM, no spanking, and no sex. There’s also no HEA, however we know the series will continue and the characters are so endearing and so attracted to each other that there’s no way they won’t get back together for another fun romp. And fun it was—there was just as much humor as there was chaos and the writing was fast-paced with fun quirks around every corner. Henry is witty, sweet, and sexy and Mac is gruff, taciturn, and powerfully male. We see Mac’s soft spot for Henry over and over again and we see that Henry, despite his current escapades as a con artist, has a deep soft spot for Mac, a man for whom Henry may be willing to compromise and change. We can only hope that’s true as we look forward to the next installment, “The Merchant of Death”.
I highly recommend this story if you are looking for an M/M action adventure with a couple who have great chemistry outside of the bedroom, and you’re willing to hang in there as their relationship develops into something more intimate, but undoubtedly strong and full of potential.
Cover Art by L.C. Chase depicts an almost empty donut box containing one single donut with a bite out of it. This represents MC Mac’s efforts at dieting in the face of MC Henry’s efforts to get him to eat the donut treats and lighten up. It’s a nice way to represent the underlying humor in the story.
Sales Links: Riptide Publishing Pre Order All Romance (ARe) amazon buy it here
Book Details:
Author: Lisa HenryJ.A. Rock
eBook ISBN: 978-1-62649-218-9
eBook release: Dec 29, 2014
eBook Formats: pdf, mobi, html, epub
Print ISBN: 978-1-62649-219-6
Print release: Dec 29, 2014
Word count: 56,500, Page count: 228
Type: Part of a Series
Cover by: L.C. Chase
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 
I’ve got this to read, another to move up the order!!
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