This review was originally posted at Wicked Lil Pixie
on April 8, 2013
I’m a HUGE fan of this series. I devoured the previous 6 books and Warrior’s Cross in less than a week and have been waiting for the latest installment, Touch & Geaux. I stayed up all night reading it, SHRIEKED at the ending, and I have no idea when book 8 is releasing. *sob*
Ty Grady and Zane Garrett are two FBI agents who are partners both professionally and romantically. While they’re “out” to their families, and to Ty’s former Force Recon team, they haven’t outed themselves professionally yet. This book starts with a typical day at the office for Ty and Zane. They’re getting called into the boss’s office. This time they’ve being “selected” to be part of a calendar put together by a first responder organization for charity. And like any good FBI agents who have often been deep undercover, they are thrilled! Seriously, there’s some serious pouting going on.
McCoy smiled, though he looked as if he was trying not to. “Am I to assume the two of you will agree to representing the Bureau in this?”“I think ‘agree’ is too strong a term,” Zane said. “This is a bad idea. Remember when we were on TV?”“Yes, Grady got fan mail for a month.”“I did?”“We burned it, as you should all evil things,” McCoy answered.
And off they go to the calendar shoot. From there things start moving at a breakneck pace. A party, a panicked phone call from a friend, a worried flight to New Orleans, a kidnapping, a murder, and that’s just the first three chapters!
Of all the books in this series, this one was the most heartbreaking. Ty and Zane have some issues that come up which causes MAJOR problems, both between the two of them, AND within the trouble in the book. However, if I try to review any of it, it’ll give too much away. I, personally, LOATHE spoilers, so I hate spoiling anything for anyone else. Just know that I spent a lot of this book sobbing. And the very end? The last two lines? Shrieked AND sobbed. I think I broke something. I KNOW I scared the cat.
All that said, the issue that comes up between the two seemed a little…forced. While my heart totally broke for these guys, in the back of my head I was thinking it was a little TOO left field. I don’t know that we’ve really seen the seeds of this sown throughout the rest of the books. I think if Ms. Roux had written one more book where she dropped a few more hints, it wouldn’t have seemed so sudden. Of course, the shock and suddenness are what makes this whole argument so heartbreaking, so you decide.
Also, Ty and Zane have dealt with Nick O’Flaherty before. He was Ty’s best friend and his “second” in Ty’s Force Recon team. Nick, we’ve learned from past books, was in love with Ty. In fact, last time we saw him was when Ty told his team about Ty and Zane. Nick took it so well he kissed Ty and begged Ty to leave Zane. Yet, in this book, there’s none of that tension between the three of them. Sure, we assume they’ve dealt with it, and there have been calls between Nick and Ty, and even Nick and Zane, but Zane is way too possessive of Ty to have let that go so soon, especially with all the tension in this book. And with the problems between Ty and Zane, even though Nick doesn’t do anything to drive a wedge between them, there should have been more insecurity on Zane’s part.
All in all, I loved this book. I think it’s one of the best of the series. Ms. Roux began these books co-writing with Madeleine Urban, and I think there was a period of adjustment where Ms. Roux needed to learn who Ms. Urban’s characters really were before Ms. Roux hit her stride. I think she’s found it. Ty and Zane are far less interchangeable for me than they were in previous books. Well done.
Rating: 4 Stars
Lynda the Guppy
aka Team Meow Mix
aka The Fish With Sticks