Love in the Line of Fire

Jonah is head of a Secret Service detail protecting Dr. David Hammond, the husband of the President. Jonah’s life is his work, and his days are pretty much the same, one after the other – until the moment an attempt is made on Dr. Hammond’s life. This story started with a bang as, on the first few pages, there is a scene depicting an attempted assassination. My attention was definitely focused as the shooter was taken down by a student named Benji, and Benji was then taken down – in a matter of speaking – by Jonah. Jonah was hard for me to read throughout this story. He was pretty high-strung and defensive based on his first encounter with Benji, which was less than respectful. For someone who was supposed to be a composed, together SS agent, I had a bit of trouble with his disrespect of Benji. Yeah, he was shaken by the shooting and one of his agents being down, but still. Sure, Benji was a little bit cocky, but Jonah’s harsh treatment of him seemed way out of line to me. Benji is a combat vet, now out of the military and studying at Georgetown. He reacted instinctively to stop the shooter when he saw the man running away after making an attempt on Dr. Hammond’s life. Benji’s training kicked in but he didn’t get much for his efforts, other than Jonah’s ire. I had some issues believing this whole scenario. Benji was questioned on the scene and allowed to go home. After just stopping someone who had tried to kill the President’s husband and shot a SS agent? Okay. Moving on…. Jonah reconsiders his treatment of Benji and tracks him down to apologize. The two men realize they are a bit of kindred souls and start up a friendship, knowing there is a strong undercurrent of attraction as well. Their time getting to know one another involves coming to a mutual understanding of stressful jobs/situations, healing old hurts, and the effects such jobs and baggage can have on relationships. Neither of them had previously been involved in legitimate relationships, so they had that learning curve to deal with too. Both men had seen their share of carnage; Benji had lost soldiers under his command in Iraq and carried that guilt, combined with PTSD. On top of all this, Jonah was not out at work. Once they actually connected, both men were respectful of each other, were good together and actually rather sweet, as well as totally in sync in bed. The fact that they took some time to actually get to know one another before starting to have sex showed a nice maturity level. I liked them both at this point. Concern about Jonah’s dangerous job, and possibly losing him, do crop up in Benji’s mind. He was open about this to Jonah and they discussed it. Inwardly, Jonah starts second guessing the whole relationship. He doesn’t want to be unfair to Benji or to hurt him. This is what makes what happens next so inexplicable to me. The men had settled into a nice routine, they had known one another several months when a situation occurred, after which Jonah completely shut Benji out. I did not appreciate how Jonah dismissed Benji, nor did I find it plausible. They had been getting along so well, talking about anything and everything for hours, not just ending up in bed. So to stop talking and shut him out, I never got over that. Benji was frantic for Jonah, and now that the chips were down, he was obviously not turning away because of the danger. He also went through some rough treatment from Jonah’s peers, who had never heard him mention Benji. I was pretty steamed at this point. Eventually Jonah got his head out of his rear and began trying to repair things with Benji. I was very glad Benji did not give Jonah an easy pass. Just as reconciliation was happening, the book …ended. I have not read a previous book by this author, in which I assume the reader was given Dr. Hammond’s full story and character traits. In this book he struck me as a distant figure until over 2/3 in, when he suddenly took on the roles of Jonah’s conscience, mentor and relationship mender. Once I saw Hammond in action I liked him, but it would have been nice to have seen glimpses of his humanity much sooner, as an actual key individual in Jonah’s daily life. As I’ve relayed, I had some plausibility issues with this story. There were also some verbiage uses and some timeline skips which are the type of items that tend to grate on me. The dramatic scenes in the story are gripping. Jonah and Benji do have some wonderful conversations and moments of connection. I appreciated how once Jonah shut Benji out, Benji, being very hurt, was not quick to forgive. The book has a few tense scenes of action and suspense, yet overall this is a character driven story about two men finding one another, learning to see themselves through the other’s eyes, slipping up – then ultimately finding their way back.

...but uneven in terms of character building. I like the characters, Jonah and Benji. I like their personalities and the way the issues between them arise and are resolved. I love that both men have their own challenges to face that pose a threat to the relationship that they must overcome if they're to be together. And although I found it sketchy the way they overcame the punch at the beginning to become friends and then lovers, I love the way they grow closer and fall in love, even if they don't ever say so to each other. I love the way the President's husband is given a role in the story beyond the surface one of protectee. What bothers me, in Jonah's character, is how a guy who is supposedly an alpha male too often is portrayed as acting like a teenager or inexperienced young adult. I get his not dating and being rusty. I don't get his tentative, sometimes indecisive behavior. Maybe I'm stereotyping, but it doesn't seem particularly 'alpha' to me, and certainly not what I expect a detail lead in the presidential household to be. And yet, there are times when he's just as I imagine he should be...take-charge, tough, poker-faced, focused, smart. I love the opposite side of him, the side that says the right thing, or brings flowers, just not when it seems out of sync with who he is. Benji, by contrast, is consistently himself...an intelligent, smart-mouthed tough guy with a tender heart, and a guy in need of some major TLC.

Not having read The President's Husband I was unfamiliar with a lot of the characters but it didn't detract from the story. Now I'm looking forward to reading the previous novel. Spoiler alert- Considering Jonah's line of work, I was baffled by some of his decisions. The alpha turned into a giant wuss until it was almost too late. I cheered when Benji finally lost his patience. This novel isn't as fast-paced as I expected but the writing was solid and the authors knowledge of Washington D. C. and the machinations of the secret service shine through. The plight of a closeted partner was painful to read but very realistic.

Wonderful tale of love, romance and ACTION between a SS agent and an ex-military man. Add in the gay president and his Husband and you have a real winner. Very enjoyable read. As far as I can tell this is not the same Benji from one of his other books.

This was a very disappointing read. After reading the President's Husband I was looking forward to another engaging and enjoyable read. Instead We read about the hunky but closeted lead secret service agent (Jonah Pratt) protecting the President's husband. Then a tired plot follows.

I love discovering new (to me) authors, especially ones who write suspense, so I jumped all over a book about a secret service agent and a former soldier turned college student. Jonah is leading his own detail protecting the President’s husband—and can I just say right here that I loved how the issue of a gay President was handled (as normal). He takes his job very seriously, as he should, and is terribly shaken when the situation veers out of his control. The loss of a fellow agent makes him feel like a failure and instead of thanking the man that came out of nowhere to save the day, he was … less than nice. Benji thought he left the battlefield behind, but when he sees a shooter on campus, those military instincts kick in. He also understands the loss Jonah is feeling, so he takes the hit he’s given and offers an olive branch in return. In my opinion, making him the better man. Throughout most of the book, Benji seemed to be the stronger character, though more than once they both refer to themselves as alpha males. Considering Jonah’s line of work, this should be apparent, but he often came off as timid and submissive. I was okay with that as I know a lot of people in stressful jobs seek out a partner who’s stronger to provide them someplace to let go. Where this book hit a snag for me was after Benji’s PTSD episode. We’re given the impression that it’s a continuously battle for him (which it really is) and that he’d only gone a few weeks since the previous incident, yet Benji changes drastically after this specific episode. He not only becomes fearful for Jonah, he puts Jonah’s job at risk (I needed more on that, BTW). Still, when the very worst thing that could happen does, Jonah’s response and treatment of Benji is beyond reprehensible. How they went from that to forgiveness left me unsatisfied. I needed more groveling and maybe that makes me petty, but knowing how fearful Benji was, to cut him off so completely and not even given him the courtesy of seeing for himself that Jonah was alive and recovering…as I said, Benji is the better man because he forgave and I’m not sure I would have. Overall, Michael Murphy made me feel – I laughed and cried, got angry and really tried hard to find forgiveness. Though I had some issues with things that felt important (to me) being glossed over, I will keep this author on my radar. 3.5 stars from me!

Love in the Line of Fire by Michael Murphy 4 stars M/M Romance Triggers: PTSD, shooting I was given this book for an honest review by Wicked Reads. Benji is a later in life student. After doing several tours, as a soldier, he's come home to learn how to be a civilian again. That's not exactly easy when you're plagued with PTSD symptoms and when you interject yourself in an attempted assassination. Not only does he jump right in to the fray, he does so without thinking. It's an instinct. Jonah is a secret service agent in charge of watching over the President's husband. He loves his job and has sacrificed a lot to get where he is. One of those sacrifices is compartmentalizing his personal and professional life. When he is confronted with losing his best friend due to the attempted assassination on his charge, he lashes out - he punches the guy who kind of saved the day. Losing a friend and co-worker is something that Jonah does not handle so well. Not only does he punch Benji, but he also leaves Benji hanging for several weeks, even after Benji talks him down and through his normal grief process. Benji sees those signs and gives Jonah a wide range of latitude, he understands where Jonah is coming from. Their relationship is fairly organic - acquaintances, friends, lovers. When the relationship becomes more apparent, both are struggling because this is uncharted territory for both. Benji realizes that being with someone who is constantly in danger for their job is much more stressful than being the one in danger. When he was a solider, he didn't really think about it, but being on the other side is both stressful and painful. Jonah realizes that he is falling in love with Benji but takes what Benji is feeling to heart. There is some extreme emotions evoked, at least there was for me. Anger, sadness, guilt. I wish that we could have seen more of the relationship towards the end, but understand that we are left to know that they will work on things.

When I read the blurb for this book I had to have it. A secret service agent and a military guy? Where do I sign up. In my mind I thought it was going to be a big action suspense sort of thing with a romance weaved in. It wasn't exactly that. Love in the Line of Fire was much more emotional than I thought it would be. It didn't really focus so much on what Jonah and Benji do. It was more about who they are and how they make a relationship work. The opening of this book was very suspenseful and then sad. When a lone gunman shoots at the President's husband and takes out one of Jonah's men it really tore at my heart. More so when we realize how close he and Jonah were. Of course this was the same moment we met Benji. His entrance is one for the grandkids. It's how these two meet and how their story begins. I adored Benji throughout this entire book. He helped Jonah cope with the loss of his friend, he guided him through dating and romance, he rubs his aches and pains from him. He is just an amazing person. He suffers from PTSD and at one point it affects Jonah and his relationship horribly. Now, I didn't hate Jonah. I found his shyness toward Benji in the beginning to be refreshing. As the head of security for the President's husband he doesn't have a lot of times where he doesn't have to make choices. When Benji takes the reins it's a beautiful thing. Jonah isn't horrible to Benji but I did find him undeserving of his love. Especially when Benji reacts out of fear, slight paranoia, and love. This also affects Jonah's job and it was how Jonah treated Benji after that that really bothered me. I didn't feel the forgiveness. It just didn't come across like I think it should have. I would have made Jonah grovel until his knees bled. Other than that it's a love story about two alpha guys with a lot of busy in their lives. They need each other and they need a lot better communication. It's not high on the action and suspense but it is very high on the emotion and medium on the angst.

This book is incredibly sweet......surprisingly so, although not an unpleasant surprise! The story begins pretty dramatically, with an event seriously affecting Jonah, who I found to be a very appealing character from the word go. The upside to the trauma comes in the form of Benji! Sweet, funny, compassionate Benji, battling his own demons whilst providing Jonah with a friend, a shoulder, an understanding ear. The relationship that develops between these two is nothing short of adorable....a little at odds maybe with what you would expect from the Secret Service and the military, but a lovely example of why you should never judge a book by its cover! A fairly slow build, with lots of incredible sexy talk, eventually leads to some wonderful, hot, steamy scenes. Lots of steamy scenes, that whilst incredibly well done, came a little too thick and fast for my personal taste at times. This story isn't without its drama and angst......infuriating, maddening fear and misunderstandings that had me longing to yell at the boys. Of course they didn't need me, they got there by themselves, but the journey was beautifully done, engaging, flowing writing that kept me turning pages. A quite different tone to the story than I was expecting, having read The President's Husband, but nevertheless an entertaining, enjoyable read. Reviewed for divinemagazine.biz

...guys, or me, here. As an intro to this author, I couldn't have asked for more. I got great writing, one of the best-done of this type of storyline, which has popped up a few times recently, a couple of great leads, some of the most realistic and yet connecting and sexy sex scenes ever, a connection between the guys that I believed in from the get-go, a bit of 'kind of beautiful' heartache (sorry!), a couple of great side characters, ending in what I thought would be a glimpse into the leads' HEA. Because I got all but the latter, this is a 4* read for me - I went to turn the Kindle page expecting to see some get-back-together lovemaking (not sex, as it hadn't been about just sex between the guys for ages) and a bit about the leads' future plans and life, but the author ended it on them in the early days of getting back together again, cuddling on the sofa???? Why??? I don't mean this rudely, simply as a stunned reader who wanted more, more, more. This tale was on track to be a 5* read, but it ended so, so un-satisfyingly for me as a romantic and a reader of romance. Not unsatisfactorily, as the implication was that the guys were it for each other and would be having a HEA, but for what they'd just been through, they needed more. I, as a reader vested in them, needed more. The tale was brilliant and I can't fault the quality or believability, and I loved how the leads' relationship developed, how they learned to trust each other and be there for each other. I loved seeing how accepting and protective Jonah became when Benji's secret came out, and how patient he was with the latter's fears. His subsequent actions were out of love and out of a sense of duty, but they really hurt Benji and I was so, so pleased when they seemed to be getting back on track. But, Benji needed more, as he'd been the one hurt the most emotionally, and had made the first move more than once. I still would have given this a 5* rating up until this point, as the author made me love the tale and feel for the guys. It's not put me off reading more of MM's books, but I might read reviews first! ARC courtesy of Dreamspinner Press and Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure.

Jonah is head of a Secret Service detail protecting Dr. David Hammond, the husband of the President. Jonah’s life is his work, and his days are pretty much the same, one after the other – until the moment an attempt is made on Dr. Hammond’s life. This story started with a bang as, on the first few pages, there is a scene depicting an attempted assassination. My attention was definitely focused as the shooter was taken down by a student named Benji, and Benji was then taken down – in a matter of speaking – by Jonah. Jonah was hard for me to read throughout this story. He was pretty high-strung and defensive based on his first encounter with Benji, which was less than respectful. For someone who was supposed to be a composed, together SS agent, I had a bit of trouble with his disrespect of Benji. Yeah, he was shaken by the shooting and one of his agents being down, but still. Sure, Benji was a little bit cocky, but Jonah’s harsh treatment of him seemed way out of line to me. Benji is a combat vet, now out of the military and studying at Georgetown. He reacted instinctively to stop the shooter when he saw the man running away after making an attempt on Dr. Hammond’s life. Benji’s training kicked in but he didn’t get much for his efforts, other than Jonah’s ire. I had some issues believing this whole scenario. Benji was questioned on the scene and allowed to go home. After just stopping someone who had tried to kill the President’s husband and shot a SS agent? Okay. Moving on…. Jonah reconsiders his treatment of Benji and tracks him down to apologize. The two men realize they are a bit of kindred souls and start up a friendship, knowing there is a strong undercurrent of attraction as well. Their time getting to know one another involves coming to a mutual understanding of stressful jobs/situations, healing old hurts, and the effects such jobs and baggage can have on relationships. Neither of them had previously been involved in legitimate relationships, so they had that learning curve to deal with too. Both men had seen their share of carnage; Benji had lost soldiers under his command in Iraq and carried that guilt, combined with PTSD. On top of all this, Jonah was not out at work. Once they actually connected, both men were respectful of each other, were good together and actually rather sweet, as well as totally in sync in bed. The fact that they took some time to actually get to know one another before starting to have sex showed a nice maturity level. I liked them both at this point. Concern about Jonah’s dangerous job, and possibly losing him, do crop up in Benji’s mind. He was open about this to Jonah and they discussed it. Inwardly, Jonah starts second guessing the whole relationship. He doesn’t want to be unfair to Benji or to hurt him. This is what makes what happens next so inexplicable to me. The men had settled into a nice routine, they had known one another several months when a situation occurred, after which Jonah completely shut Benji out. I did not appreciate how Jonah dismissed Benji, nor did I find it plausible. They had been getting along so well, talking about anything and everything for hours, not just ending up in bed. So to stop talking and shut him out, I never got over that. Benji was frantic for Jonah, and now that the chips were down, he was obviously not turning away because of the danger. He also went through some rough treatment from Jonah’s peers, who had never heard him mention Benji. I was pretty steamed at this point. Eventually Jonah got his head out of his rear and began trying to repair things with Benji. I was very glad Benji did not give Jonah an easy pass. Just as reconciliation was happening, the book …ended. I have not read a previous book by this author, in which I assume the reader was given Dr. Hammond’s full story and character traits. In this book he struck me as a distant figure until over 2/3 in, when he suddenly took on the roles of Jonah’s conscience, mentor and relationship mender. Once I saw Hammond in action I liked him, but it would have been nice to have seen glimpses of his humanity much sooner, as an actual key individual in Jonah’s daily life. As I’ve relayed, I had some plausibility issues with this story. There were also some verbiage uses and some timeline skips which are the type of items that tend to grate on me. The dramatic scenes in the story are gripping. Jonah and Benji do have some wonderful conversations and moments of connection. I appreciated how once Jonah shut Benji out, Benji, being very hurt, was not quick to forgive. The book has a few tense scenes of action and suspense, yet overall this is a character driven story about two men finding one another, learning to see themselves through the other’s eyes, slipping up – then ultimately finding their way back.

...but uneven in terms of character building. I like the characters, Jonah and Benji. I like their personalities and the way the issues between them arise and are resolved. I love that both men have their own challenges to face that pose a threat to the relationship that they must overcome if they're to be together. And although I found it sketchy the way they overcame the punch at the beginning to become friends and then lovers, I love the way they grow closer and fall in love, even if they don't ever say so to each other. I love the way the President's husband is given a role in the story beyond the surface one of protectee. What bothers me, in Jonah's character, is how a guy who is supposedly an alpha male too often is portrayed as acting like a teenager or inexperienced young adult. I get his not dating and being rusty. I don't get his tentative, sometimes indecisive behavior. Maybe I'm stereotyping, but it doesn't seem particularly 'alpha' to me, and certainly not what I expect a detail lead in the presidential household to be. And yet, there are times when he's just as I imagine he should be...take-charge, tough, poker-faced, focused, smart. I love the opposite side of him, the side that says the right thing, or brings flowers, just not when it seems out of sync with who he is. Benji, by contrast, is consistently himself...an intelligent, smart-mouthed tough guy with a tender heart, and a guy in need of some major TLC.

Not having read The President's Husband I was unfamiliar with a lot of the characters but it didn't detract from the story. Now I'm looking forward to reading the previous novel. Spoiler alert- Considering Jonah's line of work, I was baffled by some of his decisions. The alpha turned into a giant wuss until it was almost too late. I cheered when Benji finally lost his patience. This novel isn't as fast-paced as I expected but the writing was solid and the authors knowledge of Washington D. C. and the machinations of the secret service shine through. The plight of a closeted partner was painful to read but very realistic.

Wonderful tale of love, romance and ACTION between a SS agent and an ex-military man. Add in the gay president and his Husband and you have a real winner. Very enjoyable read. As far as I can tell this is not the same Benji from one of his other books.

This was a very disappointing read. After reading the President's Husband I was looking forward to another engaging and enjoyable read. Instead We read about the hunky but closeted lead secret service agent (Jonah Pratt) protecting the President's husband. Then a tired plot follows.

I love discovering new (to me) authors, especially ones who write suspense, so I jumped all over a book about a secret service agent and a former soldier turned college student. Jonah is leading his own detail protecting the President’s husband—and can I just say right here that I loved how the issue of a gay President was handled (as normal). He takes his job very seriously, as he should, and is terribly shaken when the situation veers out of his control. The loss of a fellow agent makes him feel like a failure and instead of thanking the man that came out of nowhere to save the day, he was … less than nice. Benji thought he left the battlefield behind, but when he sees a shooter on campus, those military instincts kick in. He also understands the loss Jonah is feeling, so he takes the hit he’s given and offers an olive branch in return. In my opinion, making him the better man. Throughout most of the book, Benji seemed to be the stronger character, though more than once they both refer to themselves as alpha males. Considering Jonah’s line of work, this should be apparent, but he often came off as timid and submissive. I was okay with that as I know a lot of people in stressful jobs seek out a partner who’s stronger to provide them someplace to let go. Where this book hit a snag for me was after Benji’s PTSD episode. We’re given the impression that it’s a continuously battle for him (which it really is) and that he’d only gone a few weeks since the previous incident, yet Benji changes drastically after this specific episode. He not only becomes fearful for Jonah, he puts Jonah’s job at risk (I needed more on that, BTW). Still, when the very worst thing that could happen does, Jonah’s response and treatment of Benji is beyond reprehensible. How they went from that to forgiveness left me unsatisfied. I needed more groveling and maybe that makes me petty, but knowing how fearful Benji was, to cut him off so completely and not even given him the courtesy of seeing for himself that Jonah was alive and recovering…as I said, Benji is the better man because he forgave and I’m not sure I would have. Overall, Michael Murphy made me feel – I laughed and cried, got angry and really tried hard to find forgiveness. Though I had some issues with things that felt important (to me) being glossed over, I will keep this author on my radar. 3.5 stars from me!

Love in the Line of Fire by Michael Murphy 4 stars M/M Romance Triggers: PTSD, shooting I was given this book for an honest review by Wicked Reads. Benji is a later in life student. After doing several tours, as a soldier, he's come home to learn how to be a civilian again. That's not exactly easy when you're plagued with PTSD symptoms and when you interject yourself in an attempted assassination. Not only does he jump right in to the fray, he does so without thinking. It's an instinct. Jonah is a secret service agent in charge of watching over the President's husband. He loves his job and has sacrificed a lot to get where he is. One of those sacrifices is compartmentalizing his personal and professional life. When he is confronted with losing his best friend due to the attempted assassination on his charge, he lashes out - he punches the guy who kind of saved the day. Losing a friend and co-worker is something that Jonah does not handle so well. Not only does he punch Benji, but he also leaves Benji hanging for several weeks, even after Benji talks him down and through his normal grief process. Benji sees those signs and gives Jonah a wide range of latitude, he understands where Jonah is coming from. Their relationship is fairly organic - acquaintances, friends, lovers. When the relationship becomes more apparent, both are struggling because this is uncharted territory for both. Benji realizes that being with someone who is constantly in danger for their job is much more stressful than being the one in danger. When he was a solider, he didn't really think about it, but being on the other side is both stressful and painful. Jonah realizes that he is falling in love with Benji but takes what Benji is feeling to heart. There is some extreme emotions evoked, at least there was for me. Anger, sadness, guilt. I wish that we could have seen more of the relationship towards the end, but understand that we are left to know that they will work on things.

When I read the blurb for this book I had to have it. A secret service agent and a military guy? Where do I sign up. In my mind I thought it was going to be a big action suspense sort of thing with a romance weaved in. It wasn't exactly that. Love in the Line of Fire was much more emotional than I thought it would be. It didn't really focus so much on what Jonah and Benji do. It was more about who they are and how they make a relationship work. The opening of this book was very suspenseful and then sad. When a lone gunman shoots at the President's husband and takes out one of Jonah's men it really tore at my heart. More so when we realize how close he and Jonah were. Of course this was the same moment we met Benji. His entrance is one for the grandkids. It's how these two meet and how their story begins. I adored Benji throughout this entire book. He helped Jonah cope with the loss of his friend, he guided him through dating and romance, he rubs his aches and pains from him. He is just an amazing person. He suffers from PTSD and at one point it affects Jonah and his relationship horribly. Now, I didn't hate Jonah. I found his shyness toward Benji in the beginning to be refreshing. As the head of security for the President's husband he doesn't have a lot of times where he doesn't have to make choices. When Benji takes the reins it's a beautiful thing. Jonah isn't horrible to Benji but I did find him undeserving of his love. Especially when Benji reacts out of fear, slight paranoia, and love. This also affects Jonah's job and it was how Jonah treated Benji after that that really bothered me. I didn't feel the forgiveness. It just didn't come across like I think it should have. I would have made Jonah grovel until his knees bled. Other than that it's a love story about two alpha guys with a lot of busy in their lives. They need each other and they need a lot better communication. It's not high on the action and suspense but it is very high on the emotion and medium on the angst.

This book is incredibly sweet......surprisingly so, although not an unpleasant surprise! The story begins pretty dramatically, with an event seriously affecting Jonah, who I found to be a very appealing character from the word go. The upside to the trauma comes in the form of Benji! Sweet, funny, compassionate Benji, battling his own demons whilst providing Jonah with a friend, a shoulder, an understanding ear. The relationship that develops between these two is nothing short of adorable....a little at odds maybe with what you would expect from the Secret Service and the military, but a lovely example of why you should never judge a book by its cover! A fairly slow build, with lots of incredible sexy talk, eventually leads to some wonderful, hot, steamy scenes. Lots of steamy scenes, that whilst incredibly well done, came a little too thick and fast for my personal taste at times. This story isn't without its drama and angst......infuriating, maddening fear and misunderstandings that had me longing to yell at the boys. Of course they didn't need me, they got there by themselves, but the journey was beautifully done, engaging, flowing writing that kept me turning pages. A quite different tone to the story than I was expecting, having read The President's Husband, but nevertheless an entertaining, enjoyable read. Reviewed for divinemagazine.biz

...guys, or me, here. As an intro to this author, I couldn't have asked for more. I got great writing, one of the best-done of this type of storyline, which has popped up a few times recently, a couple of great leads, some of the most realistic and yet connecting and sexy sex scenes ever, a connection between the guys that I believed in from the get-go, a bit of 'kind of beautiful' heartache (sorry!), a couple of great side characters, ending in what I thought would be a glimpse into the leads' HEA. Because I got all but the latter, this is a 4* read for me - I went to turn the Kindle page expecting to see some get-back-together lovemaking (not sex, as it hadn't been about just sex between the guys for ages) and a bit about the leads' future plans and life, but the author ended it on them in the early days of getting back together again, cuddling on the sofa???? Why??? I don't mean this rudely, simply as a stunned reader who wanted more, more, more. This tale was on track to be a 5* read, but it ended so, so un-satisfyingly for me as a romantic and a reader of romance. Not unsatisfactorily, as the implication was that the guys were it for each other and would be having a HEA, but for what they'd just been through, they needed more. I, as a reader vested in them, needed more. The tale was brilliant and I can't fault the quality or believability, and I loved how the leads' relationship developed, how they learned to trust each other and be there for each other. I loved seeing how accepting and protective Jonah became when Benji's secret came out, and how patient he was with the latter's fears. His subsequent actions were out of love and out of a sense of duty, but they really hurt Benji and I was so, so pleased when they seemed to be getting back on track. But, Benji needed more, as he'd been the one hurt the most emotionally, and had made the first move more than once. I still would have given this a 5* rating up until this point, as the author made me love the tale and feel for the guys. It's not put me off reading more of MM's books, but I might read reviews first! ARC courtesy of Dreamspinner Press and Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure.