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A review by divapitbull
Cask Strength by Layla Reyne
3.0
Cask Strength picks up exactly where Single Malt left off. Aiden and Jamie are continuing to investigate -on the down low – Renaud; the terrorist who’s tied to the suspected murders of Aiden’s husband and his former partner Tom. Jamie- unbeknownst to Aiden is doing more undercover investigating at the behest of Special Agent in Charge Cruz – Aiden’s sister in law – who isn’t sure Aiden is ready to handle the information that her brother – his deceased husband, had ties to Renaud and may have set into motion the chain of events that resulted in his and Tom’s deaths. Gonna be ugly when he finds out…. except that I’m not entirely sure that Aiden’s going to have the right to play the betrayal card.
Once again, I have an Aiden issue. He’s accepted that he feels something for Jaime that he isn’t willing to give up and has come to terms with the loss of his husband…. but now he’s determined to “keep it casual”. Not in a grown up “let’s take it slow” way; but in a douche-nozzle “I’m going to let you think I’ve reverted back to my old tom-catting ways and throw all my dates in your face” way. I wanted to gut him with a dull steak knife. He was a selfish, self-absorbed coward. Willing to hurt the person he claims to have feelings for, maybe even loves because he’s too scared to live and risk loss. The only thing that saved him was that when he finally got his shit together and came clean – he pretty much said exactly that.
It’s a shame that his douche-nozzleness almost ruined for me his undercover transformation. Aiden and Jamie are getting too close to Renaud and SAC Cruz suggests an out of town case to make it look like they’re barking up a different tree. Jaime is going back to his roots – undercover as himself, a former FBI agent and now a Charlotte University Assistant Basketball coach - to investigate online sports betting used as a means of identity theft. Aiden is going along as Ian Daley his sports agent. Aiden loses the 3-piece suits in favor of jeans and leather, gives up the blond dye job in favor of his natural red and gives free reign to his Irish brogue. I was picturing a young Micky Rourke circa A Prayer for the Dying – which would have been nice except that his douche-nozzleness put a damper on things.
The sports betting story was reasonably interesting. The relationship was “meh” courtesy of douche-nozzle – apparently, I don’t get over things as easily as Jamie. Danny - Aiden’s brother and SAC Cruz (Mel to her friends) are back as likable secondary characters. The Renaud story heats up and it looks like there’s going to be betrayals all over the place…. or at least as far as the (SPOILER ALERT) histrionic Talley men are concerned…but that’s a story for the final installment.
Once again, I have an Aiden issue. He’s accepted that he feels something for Jaime that he isn’t willing to give up and has come to terms with the loss of his husband…. but now he’s determined to “keep it casual”. Not in a grown up “let’s take it slow” way; but in a douche-nozzle “I’m going to let you think I’ve reverted back to my old tom-catting ways and throw all my dates in your face” way. I wanted to gut him with a dull steak knife. He was a selfish, self-absorbed coward. Willing to hurt the person he claims to have feelings for, maybe even loves because he’s too scared to live and risk loss. The only thing that saved him was that when he finally got his shit together and came clean – he pretty much said exactly that.
It’s a shame that his douche-nozzleness almost ruined for me his undercover transformation. Aiden and Jamie are getting too close to Renaud and SAC Cruz suggests an out of town case to make it look like they’re barking up a different tree. Jaime is going back to his roots – undercover as himself, a former FBI agent and now a Charlotte University Assistant Basketball coach - to investigate online sports betting used as a means of identity theft. Aiden is going along as Ian Daley his sports agent. Aiden loses the 3-piece suits in favor of jeans and leather, gives up the blond dye job in favor of his natural red and gives free reign to his Irish brogue. I was picturing a young Micky Rourke circa A Prayer for the Dying – which would have been nice except that his douche-nozzleness put a damper on things.
The sports betting story was reasonably interesting. The relationship was “meh” courtesy of douche-nozzle – apparently, I don’t get over things as easily as Jamie. Danny - Aiden’s brother and SAC Cruz (Mel to her friends) are back as likable secondary characters. The Renaud story heats up and it looks like there’s going to be betrayals all over the place…. or at least as far as the (SPOILER ALERT) histrionic Talley men are concerned…but that’s a story for the final installment.