Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Shiloh Smart is alone and looking for a fresh start. Convinced he’s finished with love forever, he signs a lease at the Belladonna Arms, a tacky, run-down apartment building situated high on a hill in downtown San Diego.
Determined to turn his back on romance, Shiloh works hard at carving out a life for himself where love doesn’t stand a chance and staying single is all that matters.
Then his drag queen landlord’s nephew, Ben Moss, moves in. Thanks to a rumor Ben has heard since childhood of a fifty-year-old crime and a fortune in stolen money, he sets out to find the loot supposedly hidden decades ago in his uncle’s apartment building.
The minute Ben spots a kilted Shiloh toddling off to work at the Scottish restaurant up the street where he waits tables, he falls hard and fast for the aloof young redhead. Even a hidden treasure can’t compete in Ben’s eyes with the beautiful waiter with the fiery copper hair.
But even while he diligently works to break down Shiloh’s defenses, Ben doesn’t give up his quest for buried treasure. Soon, as their friendship deepens, the two young men join forces in a search for the stolen cash.
As the treasure hunt gathers steam and all the tenants get involved, Ben and Shiloh come to realize the greatest treasure isn’t buried in the Belladonna Arms at all. It’s buried far deeper—in each other’s hearts!
Its always a pleasure to take a trip back to the Belladonna Arms, that aging apartment building sitting high on a hill in San Diego that happens to be full of love pollen waiting to fall on the most unusual of couples. In this fourth installation, its Ben and Shiloh who gets the heap helping of pollen and much, much more.
Shiloh Smart, like all the people who end up at Belladonna Arms, has been dumped by his boyfriend. Now homeless, he needs a new place, close to his work (a restaurant that calls for him to wear a kilt) and that’s also cheap enough for his budget. He has no intention of ever, EVER, falling in love again. His heart is closed up good. Except that the Belladonna Arms has other ideas and people in store for Shiloh and that would be Ben, the nephew of our endearing drag queen, Arthur.
For me, Ben and Shiloh was a little different story then the normal Belladonna Arms tale. For one, we have a mystery to contend with, plus it seemed more of a ensemble story than normal. While we do concentrate on Ben and Shiloh who are an odd and adorable mixture, all our other couples are very present here as well. I have to admit I loved seeing them all, making it even harder to pick favorites. I might even have a new favorite character in Shiloh’s mom. She’s hilarious. Inman surrounds his new couple with all his old ones, adding in the resident cat and her kittens (also adorable), and a mystery from the past to boot. My mind was swirling all over the place, thinking about Sylvia and the new baby, our fav kleptos, and where the heck did that new couple with the bow ties come from? So it wasn’t always on Ben and Shiloh like perhaps it should have been, least that’s my opinion. Not that there wasn’t tons of sex. Hey, there was! I was just missing some other component…
I’m just not sure Ben and Shiloh got the depth of treatment that, say Ramon and Barney did in Coming Back (Belladonna Arms #3). That was an amazing, angst driven story. My heart hurt for Ramon. Certainly that’s not called for in every story. Not everyone needs to go through what Ramon did. And perhaps comparing the two isn’t fair as the characters aren’t the same in makeup and history. However, the differences struck me none the same. One book was deeply centered about one couple, and this was lovingly a Belladonna Arms affair.
However was my heart and mind happy and satisfied? You betcha! I love Belladonna Arms. I could sit on the steps and watch the goings on all day and all night long side by side with the kitties. There are still rooms to be filled. Another just got emptied. Love pollen at work again. Who will be next up the steps of the Belladonna Arms? I can’t wait to find out!
I highly recommend this series and this story. Pick them all up and get acquainted with some of the most delightfully quirky characters you will ever want to fall in love with.
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson. The artist does a terrific job with the character and with branding the series.
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Book Details:
ebook, 204 pages
Published October 10th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 163477146X (ISBN13: 9781634771467)
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series: Belladonna Arms: Add to your Goodreads shelf here:
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 