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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
3.5 Stars
While I liked Love & Loyalty, I had a more difficult time connecting with the characters than I did in the first book. I wasn't nearly as invested in their outcome. I enjoyed the story, itself, quite a lot, though, so I rounded to 4 stars.
While I liked Love & Loyalty, I had a more difficult time connecting with the characters than I did in the first book. I wasn't nearly as invested in their outcome. I enjoyed the story, itself, quite a lot, though, so I rounded to 4 stars.
The Jim Shea we meet in Faith & Fidelity bears little resemblance to the Jim Shea in this book. This is a good thing as this Jim is much more likeable and relatable.
I enjoyed the romance between Jim and Griffin. There was no overly dramatic moments intended to create tension, eventhough I was braced for it. Instead, I got a beautiful, comfortable relationship that grows from love and trust. It was a joy to read.
I felt the situation with Daisy was underutilised. Towards the end, that aspect of Griffin's life seemed to have been suddenly brushed aside without any warning and felt unresolved. I felt that was a shame.
Overall a good read.
I enjoyed the romance between Jim and Griffin. There was no overly dramatic moments intended to create tension, eventhough I was braced for it. Instead, I got a beautiful, comfortable relationship that grows from love and trust. It was a joy to read.
I felt the situation with Daisy was underutilised. Towards the end, that aspect of Griffin's life seemed to have been suddenly brushed aside without any warning and felt unresolved. I felt that was a shame.
Overall a good read.
I really loved this book. not as much as the first one.....but I liked it. I could have used more about the case.....but I understand that the story is about relationships....not cases. I really enjoyed Griffin and James (Jim). I thought that they were so sweet together, BUT I am really interested in seeing what happens in book three when everybody gets together again. I kinda want to see the tention between Matt and James.
ANYWAY......I digress. The story was lovely. I wanted the boys to get together. ANd they did. :o) Def worth a read.
ANYWAY......I digress. The story was lovely. I wanted the boys to get together. ANd they did. :o) Def worth a read.
Insert sentence about how much I hate series here. I laughed my way through most of this book. In a good way. I love the first book in this series and have read it twice in as many months so I thought I would continue on to Jim’s story since I really did like his character in the first book. By the way, you do not have to read the first book to enjoy this one.
Detective Jim Shea’s life is not really any less dark and gloomy than Evan or Matt but enter screenwriter Griffin Drake. Before Jim meets Griffin, he has become very personally involved in a homicide case and the acquittal of the guilty party hits Jim, his colleagues and the victim’s family very hard. Famous Hollywood actress Daisy Mae wants to make a serious a la Sundance movie about the grisly case and brings along her best gay buddy, Griffin to write the screenplay.
Griffin fills his days in sunny LA writing screenplays and taking whatever Daisy dishes out to him whether that consists of an ‘I told you so’ when he gets his heart stomped on or a rant about the latest mistress her Hollywood producer husband is flaunting in her face. I was not a fan. So the guy owns your career, why let him dictate your entire life? Hollywood types. That’s really the only critique I had of the novel. I could do without them.
When Griffin sits down to write the screenplay for the Kelly case, he comes up with a big fat blank page. The only time his writer’s block seems to lift is when he has interaction with Jim so he travels to Seattle to take Jim to dinner and it turns into a very, very long involved date. Hey, whatever gets his screenplay written, right?
Jim finds himself enjoying coming home to the domestic touches that Griffin has brought to his life. The man actually did his laundry and Jim realizes exactly how lonely and solitary his life has become, so much so that this workaholic now cannot seem to wait to leave work at quitting time to come home to Griffin and his light-hearted repartee.
“Anything else I should know…”
“I’m not usually that phenomenal in bed?”
“I don’t believe that for a second…How good are you in the shower?”
“Blurry, because I can’t wear my glasses or my contacts-but I’m pretty sure I can find your dick without much problem.”
“That’s all I need to know.”
Detective Jim Shea’s life is not really any less dark and gloomy than Evan or Matt but enter screenwriter Griffin Drake. Before Jim meets Griffin, he has become very personally involved in a homicide case and the acquittal of the guilty party hits Jim, his colleagues and the victim’s family very hard. Famous Hollywood actress Daisy Mae wants to make a serious a la Sundance movie about the grisly case and brings along her best gay buddy, Griffin to write the screenplay.
Griffin fills his days in sunny LA writing screenplays and taking whatever Daisy dishes out to him whether that consists of an ‘I told you so’ when he gets his heart stomped on or a rant about the latest mistress her Hollywood producer husband is flaunting in her face. I was not a fan. So the guy owns your career, why let him dictate your entire life? Hollywood types. That’s really the only critique I had of the novel. I could do without them.
When Griffin sits down to write the screenplay for the Kelly case, he comes up with a big fat blank page. The only time his writer’s block seems to lift is when he has interaction with Jim so he travels to Seattle to take Jim to dinner and it turns into a very, very long involved date. Hey, whatever gets his screenplay written, right?
Jim finds himself enjoying coming home to the domestic touches that Griffin has brought to his life. The man actually did his laundry and Jim realizes exactly how lonely and solitary his life has become, so much so that this workaholic now cannot seem to wait to leave work at quitting time to come home to Griffin and his light-hearted repartee.
“Anything else I should know…”
“I’m not usually that phenomenal in bed?”
“I don’t believe that for a second…How good are you in the shower?”
“Blurry, because I can’t wear my glasses or my contacts-but I’m pretty sure I can find your dick without much problem.”
“That’s all I need to know.”
This book kinda feels like it’s only vaguely tied in with the first book in the series. It really could be a stand alone. Other than one phone call back to Mark, this book takes place in a whole ‘nother city with a completely different cast of characters. Plus it really didn’t feel like the same Jim we met in NY running away from his best friend, and the man he’s in love with, getting married. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, I did, it just wasn’t anything I expected based off of our introduction to Jim in Faith & Fidelity.
Detective James “Jim” Shea is a devoted Seattle homicide detective. He is the job, he’s rarely home and when he is it’s to hopefully sleep. He does the work and rarely does a case get under his skin. This one though, this one did. They knew they had the bastard dead to rights for strangling the girl, but because of his golden boy status and the fact that she was a runaway turning tricks justice was not served. Losing the case ended up killing her mother and Jim’s done his best to be there for the victim’s father, Ed, since. Everyone familiar with the case knows how much of a gross miscarriage of justice it was, there’s just nothing they can do about it. Jim’s lost himself in even more work and his friends, the Heterosexual Cabal are determined to break him out of it some how. They all wish they could do something to hook him up with someone, give him something else in his life.
Griffin Drake is a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He’s made a name for himself penning action packed summer blockbusters. But he wants more out of his writing. This new plan is the perfect opportunity to get both himself and his best girlfriend out from under the studio boss’ thumb. Griffin is familiar with the tragic case and is going to do his best to win over everyone involved to finally let someone tell their side of the story. But first he has to also convince Jim who was lead detective on the case and become Ed’s close friend. Ed’s has asked Jim to be involved in making it all happen. Not usually lucky in love himself Griffin ends up surprised at how easy it is to get along with the man and sparks my just fly.
So I really liked Griffin and Jim together. They’re cute in their own awkward meets surly way. I liked how Griffin’s energy gets Jim to open up a bit and how Griffin finds the strength to take charge and give Jim a little bit of relief from always being the leader. This is one of those super sweet romances without any real rough edges. The two just blend together and find a natural harmony with each other. The support is there and I never really questioned that everything would work out for them.
All the drama happens in Griffin and Daisy’s relationship. Talk about screwed up! Living in LA myself there were parts of this that rung true and other parts that were a little “stereotypical” Hollywood without really being the reality of the way it works. For a fiction story they were fine and enjoyable in that they added tension to this otherwise sweet romance. I enjoyed Griffin waking up to the reality of his friendship and realizing he needed to move on no matter how painful it was. There was a lot of growth for Griffin in that moment.
I have to admit I adore the Heterosexual Cabal. I know we don’t spend a lot of time with them or anything, but they all so clearly care about Jim and it’s just such a funny name for a group of friends. I think a large part of my enjoyment comes out of the way Jim thinks about them in his head. There’s this exasperated fondness for them all as if he can’t quite wrap his head around the way they all think en-mass. It’s was cute and funny and made me giggle all the time.
This is a light sweet read that I enjoyed despite it not quite fitting in with the Jim I had in my head after book one of the series. I mean Jim certainly got over his obsessed love feelings for Ben pretty dang quick and with little angst at all. There really wasn’t a lot of pining or questioning his relationship with Griffin based on those past emotions. It was more a convenient plot device to get Jim to NY for book one and then became obsolete in its’ need in book two. I don’t mind too much since I liked these guys, but everything came together so smoothly and easily for them it felt a little odd to have Jim never really address it.
Still I enjoyed the book and am curious to see what happens with our couple from book one in book three. I will be continuing on in the series of course. They writing is very enjoyable and is a wonderful escape from reality when you need it.
Detective James “Jim” Shea is a devoted Seattle homicide detective. He is the job, he’s rarely home and when he is it’s to hopefully sleep. He does the work and rarely does a case get under his skin. This one though, this one did. They knew they had the bastard dead to rights for strangling the girl, but because of his golden boy status and the fact that she was a runaway turning tricks justice was not served. Losing the case ended up killing her mother and Jim’s done his best to be there for the victim’s father, Ed, since. Everyone familiar with the case knows how much of a gross miscarriage of justice it was, there’s just nothing they can do about it. Jim’s lost himself in even more work and his friends, the Heterosexual Cabal are determined to break him out of it some how. They all wish they could do something to hook him up with someone, give him something else in his life.
Griffin Drake is a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He’s made a name for himself penning action packed summer blockbusters. But he wants more out of his writing. This new plan is the perfect opportunity to get both himself and his best girlfriend out from under the studio boss’ thumb. Griffin is familiar with the tragic case and is going to do his best to win over everyone involved to finally let someone tell their side of the story. But first he has to also convince Jim who was lead detective on the case and become Ed’s close friend. Ed’s has asked Jim to be involved in making it all happen. Not usually lucky in love himself Griffin ends up surprised at how easy it is to get along with the man and sparks my just fly.
So I really liked Griffin and Jim together. They’re cute in their own awkward meets surly way. I liked how Griffin’s energy gets Jim to open up a bit and how Griffin finds the strength to take charge and give Jim a little bit of relief from always being the leader. This is one of those super sweet romances without any real rough edges. The two just blend together and find a natural harmony with each other. The support is there and I never really questioned that everything would work out for them.
All the drama happens in Griffin and Daisy’s relationship. Talk about screwed up! Living in LA myself there were parts of this that rung true and other parts that were a little “stereotypical” Hollywood without really being the reality of the way it works. For a fiction story they were fine and enjoyable in that they added tension to this otherwise sweet romance. I enjoyed Griffin waking up to the reality of his friendship and realizing he needed to move on no matter how painful it was. There was a lot of growth for Griffin in that moment.
I have to admit I adore the Heterosexual Cabal. I know we don’t spend a lot of time with them or anything, but they all so clearly care about Jim and it’s just such a funny name for a group of friends. I think a large part of my enjoyment comes out of the way Jim thinks about them in his head. There’s this exasperated fondness for them all as if he can’t quite wrap his head around the way they all think en-mass. It’s was cute and funny and made me giggle all the time.
This is a light sweet read that I enjoyed despite it not quite fitting in with the Jim I had in my head after book one of the series. I mean Jim certainly got over his obsessed love feelings for Ben pretty dang quick and with little angst at all. There really wasn’t a lot of pining or questioning his relationship with Griffin based on those past emotions. It was more a convenient plot device to get Jim to NY for book one and then became obsolete in its’ need in book two. I don’t mind too much since I liked these guys, but everything came together so smoothly and easily for them it felt a little odd to have Jim never really address it.
Still I enjoyed the book and am curious to see what happens with our couple from book one in book three. I will be continuing on in the series of course. They writing is very enjoyable and is a wonderful escape from reality when you need it.
This review can also be found on my blog: A Match Made in Heaven
Going into this, I was looking forward to reading James story. I wanted to read about Matt and Evan, but I treated it as if it were a separate series. I already knew James a little bit and I liked him. Griffin took a bit longer to get to know, but I ended up loving him even more. He was a lot of fun.
But even with the open mind, I still ended up being somewhat disappointed by this. Griffin and Jim got along great and their relationship reminded me of what Matt and Evan's was like in the beginning. But with the added benefit of sex. Seeing as Jim and Griffin were not new to this, it makes sense that they got to the sex a lot faster. But I didnt feel that they got past the buddy-pals stage. The story went by pretty quickly and when Jim first told Griffin that he loved him I was so shocked. I thought, "Already?" But then I looked at my progress and realized I was about 3/4 done the book. I was still waiting for the story to get started, but it was actually winding down. It just felt so short and insubstantial.
I feel like this could have been great with more time and more development of Jim and Griffin's relationship. They never really had any tender moments. They had a lot of great moments, but nothing really displaying a deeper love. It felt rushed, but I still enjoyed it. They were greater characters and I enjoyed the side-stories. I really look forward to getting back to Matt and Evan though.
Going into this, I was looking forward to reading James story. I wanted to read about Matt and Evan, but I treated it as if it were a separate series. I already knew James a little bit and I liked him. Griffin took a bit longer to get to know, but I ended up loving him even more. He was a lot of fun.
But even with the open mind, I still ended up being somewhat disappointed by this. Griffin and Jim got along great and their relationship reminded me of what Matt and Evan's was like in the beginning. But with the added benefit of sex. Seeing as Jim and Griffin were not new to this, it makes sense that they got to the sex a lot faster. But I didnt feel that they got past the buddy-pals stage. The story went by pretty quickly and when Jim first told Griffin that he loved him I was so shocked. I thought, "Already?" But then I looked at my progress and realized I was about 3/4 done the book. I was still waiting for the story to get started, but it was actually winding down. It just felt so short and insubstantial.
I feel like this could have been great with more time and more development of Jim and Griffin's relationship. They never really had any tender moments. They had a lot of great moments, but nothing really displaying a deeper love. It felt rushed, but I still enjoyed it. They were greater characters and I enjoyed the side-stories. I really look forward to getting back to Matt and Evan though.
Maybe it's just me but stoic hard ass with soft creamy center is so sweet. =) Loved Jim.
Another excellent book. My only niggles are that I couldn't always tell who was talking; some of the dialogue was floating in space. i also think the ending was rather abrupt. I was left with questions concerning the pending court case. But, otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the fact that the men grew to love each other without any angst.
*rating: 3.5*
Kind of disappointed about this book. It wasn’t as good as the first book but naah it was still enjoyable.
Kind of disappointed about this book. It wasn’t as good as the first book but naah it was still enjoyable.
I really liked this book. I felt the author went a little too far out in some places with extraneous details, but it was easy to skip over those parts and still maintain the story-line and plot.
I just LOVED Griffin and Jim. What a fun pair, and what an odd pair, but they matched up very nicely. I just loved the dialogue between them. Very witty and unique, and that had me laughing and smiling. Well done.
I also loved the Power Cabal! LOL. That was unique, and there too, was some great dialogue and interactions between Terry and Jim. Again, well done.
Looking forward to reading the last two books in this series.
I just LOVED Griffin and Jim. What a fun pair, and what an odd pair, but they matched up very nicely. I just loved the dialogue between them. Very witty and unique, and that had me laughing and smiling. Well done.
I also loved the Power Cabal! LOL. That was unique, and there too, was some great dialogue and interactions between Terry and Jim. Again, well done.
Looking forward to reading the last two books in this series.