Review: Justice Prevails (Sin City Uniforms #3) by Morticia Knight

Never judge a sexy man by his cover.

Detective Beau Williams is hardworking, dedicated and professional. He enjoys the finer things in life, but with his heavy caseload that includes what Beau suspects is a new serial killer, he has no time to enjoy much of anything. What the tall redhead needs is someone to shake him up a little.

Investigative Technician Austin Kent never met a snarky joke he didn’t like—or a set of stairs that couldn’t trip him up. One night after a devastating episode at work, Austin sees something else he likes—the handsome detective he’s seen around the station whom he’s always wondered about. But after he makes a drunken fool of himself in front of Detective Williams, he’s sure there’s no hope.

Beau and Austin’s worlds collide when Austin is sent to pick up some evidence at the station. Amidst a myriad of twists and turns in the troubling serial killer-style murders of Vegas conventioneers, Austin and Beau discover that there’s more to the other than they’d originally thought. There might even be more they’d like to give—unless the killer has the final say.

Sexy ginger with a beard? IN!

Beau wants someone in his life. He's looking for a mature and refined boyfriend (<- totally can't relate to this), but the more he hangs out with Austin, the more he thinks the snarky klutz is right for him.

So, I really wanted to really like both these guys. And I did, mostly. 

Beau. I don't understand why he's only looking for someone more refined. I get having a 'type', but waiting for exactly that type of guy to come along doesn't make sense to me. Expand your horizons, dude! Especially when there's Austin right in front of you. It was a little snobbish to me. Luckily, it didn't take him too long to wisen up. He did end up winning me over, though. Austin was pretty insecure and I liked how Beau handled this. He wouldn't stand for Austin to put himself down and tried to put some confidence in the guy. Also... Ginger's gotta diiiirrrrrrrrrty mouth on him. There's this shower scene and, yeah... he likes to tell his dirty boy to do some stuff. Some stuff that I like to read about.

Austin was super cute. I loved his snarky sense of humor and, even though he was insecure, he was fun to read about. Austin is obviously going through some tough heartache, but it was kind of thrown out there and then not really mentioned again. I wish there was more to this part of the story, I think it would have added more depth to Austin's character.

In this book the mystery/serial killer was more of a sub-plot. No matter how ridiculous it was, this was fine with me. It added a bit of suspense, but the case didn't overtake the romance, which is what I prefer.

I didn't like this one as much as the last two in the series, but it's still got me curious to know whose story is next!

A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Find out more info on Goodreads!

Review: Exodus (Valens Pack #2) by Bailey Bradford

Survival of the fittest? Not when chaos rules.

Rivvie does his best as beta, but he’s lonely and secretly nursing a broken heart. He fell for Matthew instantly, to no avail. Matt was too busy screwing every female in sight. He didn’t give one whit about Rivvie. Well, he told Rivvie he wasn’t interested. Rivvie just didn’t think he meant it.

Matt’s whole life has changed. He was the good son, the village hero, and the village stud. Now he’s just a man in a pack full of exceptional men. He’s a human—smaller, weaker and slower than the shifter males he lives with. External chaos has nothing on the internal crap he deals with every day.

When Rivvie and Matt are paired together for a task, sparks fly. It’s just possible that there’s more to sex—and more to Rivvie—than Matt ever suspected.

While Rivvie is dancing around an attraction to a certain human male, his brother, Valen is trying to lead his pack and take care of his own mate, Aaron. Just when he thinks he’s got everything under control, that very control is yanked from him by a powerful series of natural disasters, and soon Valen’s leading his pack on an exodus he’d never expected.

Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of BDSM, spanking, CBT and biting.

The reader advisory for this story called to me like a siren’s song.

I should start by saying I have not read the first in the series, Run with the Moon. That being said, I had no trouble following along with the overall story arc in Exodus. I’m not generally a big fan of diving into a series, mostly because I have the attention span of a hamster and by the time the next book comes out I’ve lost enough details in my brain to be thoroughly confuzzled as I try and keep up. But, Bailey Bradford is really good at keeping you locked in to one of her series’ which is probably why I stick with hers pretty faithfully. The next book will always give you just enough recap and detail without feeling like a regurgitation of the first story and it flows organically through the second (or third, or fourth) enough so that it becomes part of that story.

My only niggles I’m sure are because I didn’t read the first though, so I’m going to be shining those on somewhat. Valen and Aaron (the focus of Book 1) play a big part in Exodus, so I felt like I knew them pretty well. From what I can gather, Matt and Rivvie were pretty prominent in Book 1 as well so I’m definitely going back to read it to get their full character development. Either way, I really like the two of them together. Putting humans and shifters together in one pack has led to some interesting dynamics just by the nature of their species and the adjustment is hard on every one. Shifters are bigger, stronger, faster and usually nekkid. The humans don’t really know what to do with that. Just because Matt was top dog in the human village, doesn’t mean he quite measures up when they merge with the shifters and it makes him seriously pissy. But underneath, he’s just an insecure dude who’s kind of lost his way, reading about him finding and accepting himself was a great part of the story.

Rivvie is just plain awesome. He’s smarter than he gives himself credit for and so he’s got his own insecurities to deal with. Valen has the idea to pair up one shifter with one human to complete tasks around the village and to try and develop some cohesiveness with the two species. Guess who gets to work together? Yep, it’s Rivvie and Matt and the two of them are constantly on the edge of either fucking or fighting. It becomes a big part of their acceptance of themselves and each other and shows what a smart alpha Valen really is.

I’m really loving the world building and overall story with this series already. There is an illness spreading through the remainder of the human population and no one knows what it really is, how contagious it is or how to prevent it. It’s basically a death sentence for anyone who contracts it (a really ugly and awful death sentence) and for all they know all the humans in their pack may already have the disease, it just hasn’t presented itself in them yet. So, not only are they trying to survive the new landscape and the pack dynamics, they have this pall hanging over them with no real answers.

Now, as far as Rivvie and Matt together and the aforementioned reader advisory. I love nothing more than when two characters have a bit of a kink and then find each other. Both these cats love that extra little bite of pain where too much is just enough and they’ve both hidden it away forever. So, thank the gods and goddesses they’ve found each other, because damn do these boys fit one another. It’s nothing too terribly extreme or squinch-worthy, in fact it kind of felt like just the beginning of their kink adventure. I hope they get to explore more in book 3.

The intro of characters at the end of this one has me completely hooked on the series. I’m not even going to say what happened because you’ve got to check it out for yourself, but if that doesn’t hook you nothing will. So, I’m off to read the first one because I want all the details and am anxiously awaiting the third installment.

For more info on Exodus, Valens Pack #2, check it out over at Goodreads.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: Nowhere Ranch by Heidi Cullinan

Love will grow through the cracks you leave open.

Ranch hand Roe Davis absolutely never mixes business with pleasure—until he runs into his boss, Travis Loving, at the only gay bar within two hundred miles.

Getting involved with the ranch owner is a bad idea, but Roe’s and Travis’s bedroom kinks line up against one another like a pair of custom-cut rails. As long as they’re both clear this is sex on the side, no relationship, no interfering with the job, they could make it work.

Shut out by his family years ago, Roe survived by steadfastly refusing to settle into so much as a post office box. As his affair with Travis grows into more than just sex, Roe’s past catches up with him, threatening the thin ray of happiness he’s found, reminding him it’s well past time he went on his way.

But even a loner gets lonely, and at this point, there’s nowhere left to run. The shame and sorrow of what he’s lost will stay with Roe wherever he goes—until he’s ready to let love lead him home. 

Y'know I still feel like my initial review is spot on. It's not exactly "professional" but it's from the heart. The second time around was just as touching and raunchy and delicious and full of feels as the first. I felt like I was coming home to ole Nowhere. Really, it's one of my all time favorite books and I cowboys aren't even my thing!

With that in mind, I questioned myself constantly this time around to get to the bottom of why I love this book so much and one thing kept rising to the top-I love Roe's voice. He strikes a chord in me, but I do love a damaged character. He comes across achingly authentic. He breaks my heart and makes me laugh. He has simple tastes but's far from simple. He uses the word 'fussy' and he loves to cook especially for people he cares about. I found myself wishing he were a real person because I'd like to be friends and I think we'd make a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner. That alone speaks to HC's level of talent to make me long for a fictional character.

"I want you to work for me and cook for me and talk with me. And then I want to fuck you, Roe. I want to fuck you so good I ruin you for anybody else. I want to make you mine. Mine. I want to brand you like the cattle. Not because I'm in love with you. Because I want you, and because I don't want anyone else to have you."

None of that means I loved Travis or Haley any less. The nuances of Travis I didn't completely recognize the first time especially how well Travis read Roe. He sort of snuck in the back door with him. Have you ever seen that movie The Horse Whisperer? Remember how Tom waited out Pilgrim? He was patient and kind but stern and forceful when it was called for. Travis is Roe's whisperer. And Haley is a force to be reckoned with, one that won't be denied no matter how much Roe may want to. Roe needs them both and the different ways they love and accept him. That's what holds Nowhere Ranch together-the building of a family that's not bound to you by blood. HC does this exceptionally well.

I wasn't sorry. I felt like that crazy sea inside me was settling into a calm. He had drawn it out of the bottle I kept it in, but when I looked up at him, it eased, because if my wild insides were a sea, his gray eyes were the world's biggest fucking bowl, and they held me. Caught and held me and bore me up.

I'm not great at memorizing books but I feel like the changes were mostly subtle e.g. fleshing out Roe's inner turmoil, his constant second guessing and pervasively low self-esteem, some of the descriptions of the landscapes, fine tuning sentences, things of that ilk; but, I do think the Grace plot point was strengthened. I've already prostrated myself on the HC alter (several times), so I'll refrain. In a nutshell, if you like HC, especially if you like kinky HC, Nowhere Ranch is a must read. Period.

As a parting comment, I'm pretty sure the kinky bits/raunchy language got a boost. *eyebrow waggle* That pony scene... I have no words but I do have a plethora of incoherent noises.

A review copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Find out more on Goodreads.