Tag: series finale

A Stella Review: Spencer Cohen, Book Three (Spencer Cohen #3) by N.R. Walker

RATING   5 out of 5 stars          ★★★★★

Spencer Cohen #3Learning to be in a committed relationship has been easy for Spencer. In fact, too easy. Andrew has fit into his life seamlessly. Spencer’s let go of his insecurities and hang-ups, and he and Andrew are enjoying where things are headed.

For the first time in years, Spencer’s life is unbelievably perfect. Andrew overthinks everything. So when Spencer gets a phone call from Australia, he’s certain Spencer will push him away.

But instead of driving them apart, maybe it will solidify what they already have. Maybe Spencer will depend on Andrew more than ever. Maybe the Spencer Cohen story will come full circle, and maybe, just maybe, Spencer will have the happily ever after he never thought possible.

Spencer Cohen Book Three is the perfect ending for the awesome new series by NR Walker. I really am in awe of this author ability of write books like these, each one perfect, easy and with unexpected depth.

The third book is adorable and sweet till the last words. Spencer and Andrew are more perfect then ever, still crazy in love and hot together. The chemistry and the feelings among them crystal clear. It is never a shallow story, there is a lot of relationship devolpment, not just the one between the MCs but the ones with their closer friends/families. There is a lot of past hurt to overcome, some angst and tears to cry. Although some very heavy moments, sad and painful, I still found the story easy to read, maybe the first time the MCs didn’t have to get over misunderstandings or little issues to solve, they went smoothly to the most perfect epilogue I’ve ever read.

I loved each word, each scene, each character. I smiled through out all of the story (except for some ugly crying) and I couldn’t stop reading it for a minute. I particularly enjoyed the tempo and the writing of course was great. Plus the choice of release the three books in a short time frame was a huge bonus. I can’t recommend the series and the author enough.

Now can Yanni and Peter have their own story, please?

As I already said in the reviews of the previous books, I adore the style of these covers by Sara York. It’s new and so welcome in an ocean of often too similar covers in the mm world.

Sales Link:  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 189 pages
Published April 21st 2016 by BlueHeart Press
Original TitleSpencer Cohen, Book Three
ASINB01EDDUAMM
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesSpencer Cohen #3

Trilogy with links to Stella’s reviews:

A MelanieM Review: Strength of the Rising Sun (The Borders War #5) by S.A. McAuley

Rating: 5 stars out of 5     ★★★★★

Strength of the Rising SunMerq’s always known there’s only one way Armise and he can end.

The Opposition is losing—both the war and the fight for citizen support—and the Revolution’s victory appears certain. Despite that success, Merq knows his leaders won’t let two of their greatest assets simply walk away. But with Armise fighting for his life, getting out becomes Merq’s primary objective.

Almost two decades of selfishness can’t be alleviated with one right decision, and Merq is faced with the reality of how deeply he has wounded Armise in ways that cannot be seen from the outside. Merq’s world has been upended more times than he can count and he’s always survived, but life without Armise is no longer an option. He just has to prove that to Armise.

Merq believes there are few who are strong enough to challenge them when they stand together. But when the secret Armise has been protecting Merq from is revealed, the truth has consequences neither of them can prepare for.

Reader Advisory: This book contains graphic violence, mention of torture and genetic experimentation.

I admit I approached each Borders War book with more than a bit of trepidation and sense of anticipation.  I would be hard pressed to remember a series that has more twisted layers, more betrayals and anguished losses than this one.  The Borders War series has  involved no less than a worldwide conflagration of countries, environments and humanity that has played out over five novels through the perspective of two warriors and the band of people around them.  Not always on the same side, certainly not at the beginning, or even numerous times (even in the same book) when no one knew what side each man was on, even themselves.

If this sounds confusing, in anyone else’s hands but S.A. McAuley this series and this relationship could have been a muddy mess, instead it became one of magnificent passion, love and commitment to each other in the face of obstacles (realistic ones within this world building) that should have killed them.  And often came close.

In the beginning, One Breath One Bullet (The Borders War #1), Merq Grayson was a high-ranking officer (sniper) for the Continental States.  His enemy was the Dark Ops officer from the People’s Republic of Singapore, Armise Darcan.  These  two had met over countless battle fields and covert operations, sometimes killing those close to the other man, and even coming close to killing each other, often inflicting near fatal wounds.  But there was something more there as well.  A building passion and undeniable connection between them that neither could understand or repress for very long.

McAuley builds this confusing, angry and often violent relationship through 20 years, five books and around some shocking, often personally shattering revelations to both men.  Its hard to describe just how magnetic these men and their lives become.  Sometimes so raw and wounded, you think their  pain will never stop. That is especially true here.  Sometimes the feelings flow cold and distant, than back strong and raging.  Through vivid descriptions and dialog that pulls you into the scenes, you become a part of Merq and Armise’s world and that often leaves you feeling as pain-filled and battered as they are.

Loss of humanity, scientific experimentation (willing and not) on soldiers, the ramifications of genetic/chemical warfare on the world environment…its all addressed here in some form, as a nuanced plot thread or a direct blow to the heart by the author.  Hard to be prepared for that.

But The Borders War is a magnificent series and it deserves its equal in a final story. It gets it in Strength of the Rising Sun.  This story was the equivalent of running through a narrative mine field, you just didn’t know it at the beginning.  Just when you thought the story was getting ready to settle down, another revelation would occur,  then another shattering scene, one so devastating in its impact that it took my breathe away.  I can’t even begin to give you even a smidgen of details or plot.  It wouldn’t make sense. You have to read the story and the ones before it. And when the ending came, well,  I cried buckets of tears for the men, but also of relief that the tension and agony of the narrative was gone.  You are so involved, you couldn’t pull  out of the story, even if you had wanted you.  You, Merq, and Armise to the end.  And what a ending it was.

I have no idea how S. A.McAuley will top this.  Not a clue.

So.  Love science fiction and enemy to lovers story?  Well, this is so much more.  It sexy, violent, passionate, layered, complex and agonizing on the heart at best.  But its one I  wouldn’t want you to pass up.  One of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Best of 2016.

Cover art by Posh Gosh shows a certain eventful scene in the story.  It might not work as well as a cover before you read the story but its perfect afterwards.

Sales Links:  Pride Publishing  | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 198 pages
Published January 26th 2016 by Pride Publishing
ISBN139781784309954
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series The Borders War :

The world has only recently emerged from a three hundred year war which saw half of the world’s population wiped out and the rise of five superpowers. Despite the hundreds of millions who died, the Borders War was nearly bloodless because of the sonicrifle—weaponized sound waves, tuned to their highest frequency, and harnessed to kill.

Merq Grayson has known only war. He is a skilled Peacemaker, soldier, and sniper. And it is his destiny to right the wrong created by his grandfather six generations removed—the man who invented the sonicbullet.

Armise Darcan is his enemy. A sniper and Dark Ops officer who fought for the People’s Republic of Singapore in the Borders War, Armise may be the only person on the planet strong enough to keep Merq from completing his mission.

Their loyalties are to conflicting countries and diverging agendas, and despite the very real threat to their lives if they’re discovered, Merq and Armise keep finding their way into each other’s beds. It is a drive which Merq is sure will kill him one day.

But how much time either of them has is questionable. As Opposition is pitted against Revolution, the Borders War reignites, and Merq and Armise have to decide where, and with whom, their real loyalties lie.

Links to MelanieM reviews:

 

A MelanieM Review: A Cut & Run Series Review (Crash & Burn #9) by Abigail Roux

Cut & Run Series Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Crash & Burn coverBook Rating:  5 stars out of 5 for Crash & Burn (Cut & Run #9) by Abigail Roux

In 2008, two authors – Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux – introduced two  complicated and dangerous men to the M/M readers all over.  Little did they know what had been born that day with Cut & Run, the first of nine main stories, multiple side stories and a side series, Sidewinders.

Here is the blurb for that first novel:

A series of murders in New York City has stymied the police and FBI alike, and they suspect the culprit is a single killer sending an indecipherable message. But when the two federal agents assigned to the investigation are taken out, the FBI takes a more personal interest in the case. Special Agent Ty Grady is pulled out of undercover work after his case blows up in his face. He’s cocky, abrasive, and indisputably the best at what he does. But when he’s paired with Special Agent Zane Garrett, it’s hate at first sight. Garrett is the perfect image of an agent: serious, sober, and focused, which makes their partnership a classic cliche: total opposites, good cop-bad cop, the odd couple. They both know immediately that their partnership will pose more of an obstacle than the lack of evidence left by the murderer. Practically before their special assignment starts, the murderer strikes again – this time at them. Now on the run, trying to track down a man who has focused on killing his pursuers, Grady and Garrett will have to figure out how to work together before they become two more notches in the murderer’s knife.”

 It was the first time that Ty Grady and Zane Garrett met and disliked each other immensely.  The glares flared, the snarkCut & Run cover flew, and the action accelerated the antagonism and attraction that sparked between them.  And the readers were hooked! Oh, man, were we hooked!  These guys were so dark, so complicated, so brilliant and charismatic that we had to have more.  Thank goodness, Abi and Madeleine were listening.

Already the comments were piling up and they all were sounding very similar:  “Love Ty, Love Zane, love the lines, the suspense, the action (oh, that action!)   And that was just book one.  Then came Sticks & StonesSticks & Stons cover followed by the amazing Fish & Chips (how I loved those titles).  Yes, just thinking about that book makes me run to start reading it all over again.  Ty and Zane masquerading as a gay couple on the high seas.  Here are a few lines from that memorable book:

Fish & Chips coverFish & Chips Quotes:

“When Ty was truly hot and bothered, it could be an amazing experience, like being mauled by a lion without the fuss of needing stitches after.”
― Abigail Roux, Fish & Chips

“Falling in love or just plain falling : they were both terrifying at any speed”
― Abigail Roux, Fish & Chips

Remembering now?  It was also the first time the L word was mentioned.  What a wild emotional journey that story was! A true leap to love and promise, however temporarily acknowledged, for them both.  This story was memorable for so many reasons and elements.  A large gem in a box full of diamonds.

From there we and Ty and Zane tried to move forward, always an iffy proposition with these two.  Nothing is every easy…its guns, and shootouts and physical trauma to go along with the emotional high stakes that kept pulling us in deeper and deeper.

Divide & Conquer coverThere was  Divide & Conquer (Cut & Run, #4)  which traumatized the heck out of me and kept me clued to the page through every heartbreaking scene.  This was Zane as we have never scene him before and hoped we never would again.  The fear for Zane and Ty was palpable all the way through.  This was also the last book that Madeleine Urban cowrote.  Now Ty and Zane become all Abigail Roux’s and the transition was as smooth as it could be for these two.  Abigail Roux truly made both men her own.  And ours.

Favorite quote: “First time I saw you, after I got over hating you, I knew,” he said, echoing Ty’s words, “I knew I’d fall in love with you”

 Armed & Dangerous coverArmed & Dangerous (Cut & Run, #5)  One of my favorites (ok, they all are, but this is high on a high list).  Ty and Zane separated but brought back together for a case that involves Julian  Cross, an enigmatic assassin?agent?man about crime? Julian is a puzzle that will keep on giving (read Warriors Cross) right up to the end in Crash  & Burn.  Loved Julian!  But it was the development in Ty and Zane’s relationship that made this story sing and resonate so with the readers.  The barriers were breaking down along with our hearts.

Armed & Dangerous Quotes:

“What do you want, MacGuffin, a duel?”
“No.” Julian held out both hands, one palm flat, the other held over it in a fist. “Rock, paper, scissors. Two out of three.”
Ty rolled his eyes and held out his fist, apparently willing to play. Julian hit his palm three times, and Ty kept time with his fist in the air. But when Julian threw a paper, Ty reached into his jacket with his other hand and pulled his gun, aiming it at Julian.
“Ty!” Zane said in exasperation from the front seat.
“Glock, paper, scissors. I win.”
“You are an ass,” Julian muttered.”

“I love you” Ty said, the quiet words devoid of any self-consciousness of his usual bravado. ” And I’ve never been able to say that before with such conviction. I can’t remember a time when you weren’t the first thing I thought of, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t care what stands in our way.” —that noise is me sobbing away

Dine & Dash coverDine & Dash (Cut & Run, #5.5) a cute, free short story is followed by one I consider another foundation stone for Ty and Zane because we travel first to West Virginia and a close look at the Grady clan and its convoluted dynamics and then to Texas for an entirely new perspective on the Garrett family and Zane’s  background.

Of course, I’m talking about…

???????????????????????????????????????Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run, #6).  We had the well deserved calm in their relationship before an emergency blows it all to hell.  We get a determined tiger on the run, a knife throwing game of oneupmanship and so much insight into both Ty and Zane that at times I felt like my heart was bleeding.  But no  that was still to come.  Quotes?  A gazillion of them here but I chose only a few:
Stars & Stripes Quotes:

“I love you,” Ty said out of the blue, his voice almost sing-song.
Zane laughed. “You’re drunk.”
“I loved you before I was drunk.”
― Abigail Roux, Stars & Stripes

“Had a gay bull I had to sell last year. That was a damn nuisance. Gay son? That don’t cost me nothing.”
― Abigail Roux, Stars & Stripes

“She told me to wait,that I was going to lose a finger.” Earl looked toward the kitchen and back at Ty and Duece. He snorted. “I asked her, did she think I was stupid? Then a couple of snips later, whack. Off went the finger. And you know what that woman said to me? I said ‘Mara you cut my finger off.’ And your mother said to me, ‘Well Earl who’s stupid now?”
― Abigail Roux, Stars & Stripes

Yes, I had to end on a laugh.  I love those Gradys no matter what, and that includes Chester and his shovel.

???????????????????????????????????????Touch & Geaux (Cut & Run, #7) brought the boys to New Orleans and confrontations with their past and each others part in it. Never before have I so wanted to hunt Abigail Roux into the ground.  This book just plain hurt.  I cried buckets of tears, wiped out several shelves of tissue boxes and still couldn’t let this story go.  The story was stunning, the reverberation deep, lethal, and perhaps unforgivable.  If this is not the finest story of the group, I don’t know what is.  The writing was remarkable but more indelibly was the impression it left on our hearts and Ty and Zane.

Just one quote because the tears will start flowing all over again.

Touch & Geaux Quote:

“You told me one time that . . . I was your compass. I gave you direction when you were lost,” Ty said, nearly choking on the words. He glanced up, eyes reflecting like liquid in the low light. “Well, you were my anchor. You were something solid for me to hold onto. I wanted you to remember that.”

 Just two more to go and we couldn’t believe that soon it would all be over.  How was Abigail Roux going to pull it all together? There was a mole at the FBI, Ty and Zane weren’t sure who they could trust, their relationship was getting deeper and decisions needed to be made. So of course, Deuce, Ty’s brother, decides to get married on an island off of mainland Scotland.  In a storm.  With murderers on the loose and the targets not defined.  The Sidewinders are present and the air ripe for physical violence, emotional trauma and unforgettable goings on.   It was a wedding, for cripes sake.  Didn’t they know better than to invite Ty and Zane?

???????????????????????????????????????Ball & Chain (Cut & Run, #8), as I said, takes place on a private island in Scotland where Deuce and his fiance, and their child, will be married.  Everyone is along for the celebration and ceremony, including many participants with their own agendas.  Here, a spectacular murder takes place, albeit one that I wished had happened much earlier.  Never liked that man.  Or trusted him.  Roux should have killed him twice.  Not all fans were as crazy about this book as they were others.  Too many  other relationships intruded into Ty and Zane’s in this, the penultimate story.  But really, I don’t see how Roux could have gotten around that factor.  She had one more book to bring it all to a head and other people and their relationships had to be included at this point to make sense of it all at the end.  This book gets much better when you have read Crash & Burn because it fits this story more easily into the whole then when read at first.

Ball & Chain Quotes (more of them because hey, its almost over):

“Zane hurried to catch up. “Wait, Ty, you want to do that with her with us?”

“She’s a year old. She won’t understand death and destruction for at least another year.”

“If we ever decide to adopt, you’re a mute in any interviews.”

“Understood.”
― Abigail Roux, Ball & Chain

“You’ve taken a lot of hits in the last few days, Ty. Let me take this last one for you.”

Ty stared at him, struck breathless, struck speechless. He snaked his arm around Zane’s neck and hugged him tight. He nodded, still unable to speak.”
― Abigail Roux, Ball & Chain

“Zane sighed. “I was so hoping this would be a normal vacation.”
Ty smacked him on the side of the head. “Don’t use bad words.”
― Abigail Roux, Ball & Chain

“You let me think I was being stalked by a ghost, you fuck nuts!”
― Abigail Roux, Ball & Chain

And here we are.  Book 9.  The official series finale, Crash & Burn.Crash & Burn cover  I sort of, really, absolutely hoped this day wouldn’t come but of course, it had to.    At some point Ty and Zane had to come to an ending, no matter how much we wished otherwise.  How was Abigail Roux to end the series?  Ty…oops tie  up all the loose ends?  And finally, make our guys and their relationship whole and as happy as it can get for these two.  And where are the kitties?  Ty needs his kitties.  Who didn’t cry with Smith & Wesson went home to Julian? Huh? Huh?  Nope, Ty needs a furball of his own because they don’t let people have tigers as pets in Baltimore.  I know this for a fact! So how did it all turn out?

Happily, wonderfully, totally satisfyingly kill those bad guys, kiss as though you will love each other forever again two thumbs up.  Or as much as it can be when I really don’t want to say goodbye.  So many people we have come to love over the nine books are present and accounted for. I will miss them too. We learn about the mole, (damn you!),  many  people die, some that you liked, Chester had a wild time with his shovel and, yes, there was another wedding much closer to home.  I wept more buckets, laughed a ton, and reminisced all the way through this story.  And I loved every word of it.

I know we reviewers try to remain objective but with Cut & Run, I just can’t. Ditto Crash & Burn.  Thank you, Abigail Roux for continuing on after Madeleine stopped writing and making Ty and Zane truly your own. For that’s how I think about them now. Thank you, Madeleine and Abigail, for two of the most loved characters out there. Ty and Zane?  What a great ride its been! It’s been eight wonderful, memorable years of love, sex, suspense and action.  What a saga and its one that will remain always high on my to be rec’d list and Best of Lists and Most Memorable Lists and whatever lists you can think of.  I’m betting its all that for you too.  The only thing I can hope for now?  Seeing them again in some of the other stories and hoping that all the books ended up published together in paperback so I can page through, over and over again and remember why I love them so.

So here it is.  The End.  And the final quotes, at least for this post.

Crash & Burn:
“You realize we’re looking at our future, right? Two of us in a retirement home, bitching about our catheters and heated blankets.”
― Abigail Roux, Crash & Burn

“Can I start calling you hubby?”
“Do it and die.”
“Snookums, then.”
― Abigail Roux, Crash & Burn

 and I’ll end it with this one, words that will send me running back to the very first story and start the ride all over again.

 
“- Some roads to love aren’t easy, and I’ve never been more thankful for being forced to fight for something. I started this journey with a partner I hated, and a man in the mirror I hated even more. The road took me from streets of New York to West Virginia, from the place I born to the place I found a home. It forced me to let go of my past and face my future. And I had to be made blind before I see. (…) I promise to love you until I die. (…) – I promise to never leave you alone in the dark, he whispered.”  
― Abigail Roux, Crash & Burn

Here are the books in the order they were written and should be read and their sales links:

A Sammy Review: A Way Home (Gay Amish Romance #3) by Keira Andrews

 Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Anna stepped back just as Eli appeared. She nodded to David and dashed back upstairs with an apologetic smile to Eli, who sighed.

“She reminds me of a horse I once had. Wouldn’t pull the plow no matter how much I coaxed or threatened.”

“What did you do with it in the end?”

Eli shrugged. “Let it run free. What else was there to do? Come now. I’ll take you where you want to go.”

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00067]In the third and final (for now) book of the series, tragedy forces David and Isaac to return to Zebulon, a place they’d left behind just months earlier.

The city has taken a toll on their relationship, but coming back to a place they once called home is even scarier than the chaotic streets of San Francisco. Here, they once again face their parents and loved ones, all who struggle to understand their decision to leave not only their family, but the Amish way, and in turn, lose their ticket to Heaven.

Between family pressure, repairing their relationship, and the threat of losing Nathan for good, this place in their journey is sure to be a difficult one.

He knew they had problems they needed to face, but there was a sense of certainty growing deep inside him that felt sturdy and right. A certainty that despite whatever mistakes they made, this thing between them was solid and sure, rooted deep into the earth like the roots of a tree. No matter what happened, they’d face it together.

This book couldn’t have been more aptly named. It truly was a lot about finding a way home, but more than that, figuring out what home really meant to each of them.

I complained about a loss of something magic in the previous book, and this book gained some of that spark back for sure. There’s just something about the forbidden nature of love in Zebulon and how it all relates to their family that adds a dimension to it. The family, though we did see Aaron, was missing in the last book. Not here, though. They’re all back.

And speaking of family, I can honestly say one of my favorite aspects of this story was feeling like I got to know them a bit better, especially Isaac’s mother. My heart absolutely broke for her and that the author allowed us to see her struggle and be so emotionally raw was truly a gift. One particular scene between her and Isaac felt so incredibly genuine that I almost was afraid to read it, like I was invading a personal moment between them. I had a rough idea of her as a woman before, but now I feel like I know her so much more.

I also really enjoyed getting to see Aaron and Jen come into this world. Like with Isaac’s mother, I feel like I got to know Aaron so much more in this book. Hearing about the love he has for his family, even now, and seeing it, are two completely different things, and we definitely see it here.

And of course, Isaac and David – this wonderfully enticing pair that kept me coming back for more. Love conquers all is such a cheesy thing to say, but in their case, I’d say it’s true. Throw in a dash of patience and understanding, and they really have something beautiful. They grow both apart and together in this book, and it’s a great thing to see. Sometimes in a series, the characters become kind of stagnant. There’s just a new plot line with the same old person, but that’s not the case here. They evolve more with each page.

What keeps this from being a full five stars to me is the ending. While I was mostly satisfied, something still felt off to me. The epilogue just seemed to jump to a random point in the future and try to wrap things up so quickly. The books rolled out so slowly and evenly, and then it’s just thrown together at the end, and I think that’s what left me a bit off. I felt like they all deserved more of a full ending, but hopefully we get to see more of them in the future.

The cover art is very nice and flows well with the others in the book. The only thing I can pick at is that the guy on the left has this skin roll thing happening, which is completely shallow, but it simply sticks out to me in a not-so-great way. He’s attractive, it’s just the angle that’s causing the problem for me.

Sales Links:   All Romance (ARe)       Amazon      Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 240 pages
Expected publication: April 8th 2015 by KA Books
ISBN139780993859892
edition languageEnglish
seriesGay Amish Romance #3

 

Gay Amish Romance Trilogy:

Forbidden Rumspringa coverA Clean Break coverPageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00067]

 

A MelanieM Review: Red Dirt Heart Series by N. R. Walker

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 for the Series 

Red dirt Heart Cover

 

Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might.

And with those words, N. R. Walker introduces us to one of the most heartwarming, delightful, and throughly addicting series that is Red Dirt Heart!  Red Dirt Heart revolves around the complex and totally embraceable characters of Charlie Sutton of Sutton Station and Texan Travis Craig.   Per N. R. Walker:

Charlie Sutton runs Sutton Station the only way he knows how; the way his father did before him. Determined to keep his head down and his heart in check, Charlie swears the red dirt that surrounds him – isolates him – runs through his veins.

American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives at Sutton Station to see how farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth. But it’s not the barren, brutal and totally beautiful landscapes that capture him so completely, it’s the man with the red dirt heart.

But that brief synopsis doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of these stories. Through 4 books we trace Charlie and Travis’ journey towards love, relationship and a permanent home with each other.  Along the way we fall in love with not only Charlie and Travis but the red dirt desert of the Northern Territory that Charlie loves so much.  It doesn’t happen immediately but gradually in scene after scene as the stark, red hot environment claims the heart of Travis just as surely as Charley does.  And this is not a romanticized version of the red dirt country.  No, its comes complete with venomous snakes and spiders,  extreme temperatures that are lethal if caught unprepared or lost, and an almost alienness, a sense of solitude that can comfort or kill depending upon the circumstances.   And we learn to respect and love it for exactly what it is.

The same truth can be said about Charley…complex, abandoned, self-doubting Charley.  So easy to connect with and understand, Charley is a character as layered as the desert, full of extreme swings in his decision making, as durable and elemental as the red dirt he loves so deeply.  The Sutton Station is a part of Charlie, although he has yet to learn exactly how much and what large boundaries that station family includes.  For the Sutton Station comes with Ma and George, farm employees who are more mom and dad to Charley than his own. There’s Billy (an Aboriginal), and  several other workers that over the course of the stories form a close knit family to Charley and Travis.  But it’s not Charley that is the impetus for this shaping of people and events, no, its the arrival of Travis Craig that throws Charley and the status quo into shambles.  Delightfully so.

When Travis arrives, he meets a closeted, closed off Charley just waiting for a love he’s sure he doesn’t deserve.  And one of the things that makes this beginning of their journey so compelling is that the readers live inside Charley’s  head, an element that brings us so close to this bruised man that we love him immediately.  Books 1 through 3 are all told from Charley’s point of view.  In a neat feat of writing, N. R. Walker gives us the ability to see through the haze of Charley’s confusion, self doubt, and desire to realize that Travis is falling deeply in love with Charley even if Charley can’t see it.  Even as Charley is internally arguing with himself, busy throwing obstacles in their path to happiness because of his fear and uncertainty, we see Travis always in Charlie’s orbit, watching and urging Charlie forward.  What an addicting, captivating and yes, throughly charming pair and instantly we are invested in their happiness and future together.

What a troublesome road it is for Charley and Travis.  Outside of Charlie’s two step relationship dance, there’s immigration laws and visas, and the reality that Travis is an American citizen whose family (who loves him dearly) lives in Texas.  There complications that abound with Ma and George, orphaned animals that quickly grab onto your heart as much as the rest of the Sutton Station crazy, warmhearted group of individuals.  We get lessons in the mineral layers of dirt, learn what a bore is (no it has nothing to do with a person), and in general, see what it takes to run a station as large as Charley’s.  Those of us readers not from Down Under learn bits of Australian english and phrases, enough to instill the urge to travel and see it for ourselves.    As I say in my review for Red Dirt Heart 4, this series is as much a love letter from N. R. Walker to her country as it is about a deeply abiding love between Charley and Travis.

Along with way, there are some heartstopping moments so painful that tissues will be needed, white knuckle events that will make you feel suspended, frozen, until you (and the characters) are able to move forward and past them once more.  Those will be balanced with scenes of joy, laughter, and romance, such as Charlie understands it!  I laughed, cried, and laughed again through all the highs and lows, and even quiet moments of reflection and contentment that flow from these stories and the series as a whole.

Just a memory of a dialog or scene can send me running back to grab up that book, and before I realize it I’m lost once more in Red Dirt Heart romance and setting of Sutton Station and Charley Sutton.

Now the series is ending with Red Dirt Heart 4.  I’ve read the story, wept a little (ok ,more than a little. a lot) and said my happy goodbyes.  Told this time from Travis’ point of view, it’s a wholly satisfying, totally engaging series finale and gives us and Travis and Charley a glorious happily ever after.  It ends just where it should, no more, no less.   The Red Dirt Heart saga quickly became and still is one of my all time favorite series. It will be among the top on my rec lists as well as Best of.  N. R. Walker’s writing was vivid, at times lyrical in her love for her country and the Northern Territory, and full of the human spirit and endurance it takes to not only live life on the desert but to embrace it with all that you are.

But don’t take my word for it,  pick it up and start your journey into red dirt territory and the hearts and minds of Charley Sutton and Travis Craig.  It’s easy to read them in order as they are titled Red Dirt Heart 1 thru 4!  Elegant and simple.  Just don’t expect the same simplicity inside.  Be prepared to fall madly and completely in love with Charlie, Travis, Sutton Station and yes, the red dirt of  Australia’s Northern Territory.  What an amazing trip it is!  A real journey of their lifetimes! Begin it today.

All covers are the creation of Sara York.  I loved them.  They brand the series as a whole while each cover has elements important to that story.  Great job.

Sales links can be found on each individual review page listed below:

Red dirt Heart CoverRed Dirt Heart 2Red Dirt Heart3Red Dirt Heart 4 cover

Review: Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4) by Laura Harner

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

PrevailingWinds8x12“Please don’t go.”

Words that would haunt Lord Jamie Mainwaring long after he boarded the plane departing Phoenix, Arizona.  After the deaths and destruction of the past events, Jamie feels that leaving is his only recourse, even if it means leaving once more the man he loves, Det. Remy Remington.  Jamie watched Remy’s mouth form those words at the airport as he went through the doors to get on the plane.  But it  was too late for them  and for the love that had followed them across oceans and continents for the last two years.

Brokenhearted and grieving, Remy watches Jamie leave him once more.  But returning home, he finds that Jamie isn’t the only person leaving him.  Toby is confused, shattered and angry…at Remy and the world.  Toby flees his home and safety looking for answers to his past.  What Toby finds in Las Vegas is nothing but trouble,

Fate has a way of pulling Jamie and Remy back together.  Jamie’s is asked to get involved in one more case for the British special agency he used to work for.  Remy leaves home looking for Toby and both paths intersect in Las Vegas where a corrupt prince, the lost boys from London, and Toby are intertwined in a mess of abuse, pain and potential death.   Jamie and Remy must put all their past issues aside and come together to find and rescue Toby before the prince can destroy them all.  Will Remy and Jamie finally prevail and find a future together for them as a family?  Or will the coming storm destroy them once and for all?

Prevailing Winds, the Separate Ways series finale, is that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the icing on the cake and the cherries on top of the sundae!  This is the story that is the salve for the wounds left behind by the tumultuous events and anguish of the last three books and I couldn’t be happier.   For three bloody, suspense filled, painfully frustrating stories, Laura Harner has been developing her rollercoaster ride of a relationship between Lord Jamie Mainwaring and Det. Remy Remington.

From the moment they connected in London over missing boys, to the betrayals on the ocean cruise and the devastation of the events in Phoenix, the relationship dynamics between these two has been fascinating to watch as the men connected, fled, reconnected, and separated again and again.  What has made it so endlessly addicting is that we understood why the separations had to happen, the mental and emotional changes each character had to undergo in order to make a relationship (any relationship) work, and all the obstacles that life and their jobs as well as nationalities placed in their paths.  It wasn’t just one thing that kept them apart….but a boatload.  Harner carefully built up wall after wall between these two wonderful characters. Walls made up of Remy and Jamie’s childhood issues and abuse, requirements of their individual jobs, and even personal outlook on long term relationships and ties.  Throughout each story we waited for the barriers to start to fall.  And they would start breaking down, a few bricks here and there.  Only for us to watch the walls firm up again at the end of each story.  Frustrating, authentic, and it made great reading.

And as skillfully as Harner built up those barriers, then she had to slowly and realistically break them down.  And that took time.  And three, no four books to accomplish that because Remy and Jamie are still working on their problems and expectations for each other and a long term partnership well into Prevailing Winds.   This time, its Toby on the run and Remy following in his wake.  And their paths intersect with Jamie on a mission in Las Vegas.

The point of view flows back and forth between Toby and Remy and Jamie.  Toby’s scary predicament is heightened by this format as the danger increases the deeper the investigation goes and the closer the men get to finding Toby.  Gut wrenching at times, the anticipation is overwhelming towards the end as we rush towards the denouement!  Plus there’s not just one, but several here. Loved this part of the story.  In fact, loved it all!  So will you.

The writing is taut, smooth and fluid. The plot’s mechanisms are lovingly orchestrated for maximum excitement and anticipation.  Oh, and for our total satisfaction as well.  But you must read these stories in the order they were written, in order for the character development and situations to make sense.

This is one heck of a series and a great way to end it!  Love the book, love the characters, and Las Vegas was the perfect place to bring it all to a head!

I highly recommend this story and series to all lovers of action, adventure and a long denied romance that finds it’s happily ever after!

 

Buy Links:              All Romance eBooks (ARe)            Amazon    Prevailing Winds 

Cover Art by Laura Harner. This cover is very different in design from the other three but it works great for the story.

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 198 pages
Published July 23rd 2014 by Hot Corner Press
ASINB00M3AV0YA
edition language English
url http://lauraharner.com/series/separate_ways_series/
seriesSeparate Ways #4

Separate Ways Series in the order they were written and should be read:

Continental Divide by Laura Harner and Lisa Worrell
Oceans Apart (Separate Ways #2) by Laura Harner
Moving Mountains (Separate Ways #3) by Laura Harner
Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4) by Laura Harner