Son of a Gun

First thing, that is such a terrible cover, I don't know what they were thinking!

actually this was a good book, I liked Stephan Sanchez who is a genuinely complex character, haunted by both his father's crime and his own desires. I liked the small town feel, I loved the Chet, the conflicted cop. It had a playful noirish quality, dark but not bleak. Things were alluded to and not always followed up, but the main relationships fell into place by the end of the book and the mystery was solved. I would read more about Stephan and more by AM Riley

Once again A.M.Riley has delivered a book which is not your standard m/m romance.
All the comments I made on "Elegant Corpse" hold true.
For a start her characters are not always black and white. In many writer's hands, the ex-boyfriend would have been a two-dimensional character but in A.M.Riley's hands you were never sure which way things would go.
If I have one tiny criticism it is that I never really got a handle on Evans and Agnes's relationship/connection. It came out of the blue and not developed enough in my humble opinion. In fact, the whole arc between Stefan and Agnes could have been expanded more.
Other than that the book was great.
Once again there was sex but sex with a purpose, not just to titillate the reader.
Stefan, the main show more character, is an author of children's adventure books. The little asides about editor's comments to what he had written and what the publisher expected made an amusing side-dish to the main story. Again you had to have your wits about you as you read as at times Stefan's WIP became part of the story, sometimes reflecting back on the past and sometimes a reflection of what was happening in the present. show less

Stefan is a children books author living in Los Angeles an apparently comfortable, and successful life; he is gay, and handsome, and so he has no problem to find a body when he wants, but he is not interested in the heart inside that body. Stefan is a bitter man whose only good feelings are in what he writes, not in his real life.

When the story starts, Stefan is coming back home in Texas for the funeral of his best friend Tommy; even if he left his hometown and all his friends years ago, Tommy was still his best friends, and the stories Stefan writes about two boys are the fictional translation of their own boyhood adventures. Even if he was miles distant from Tommy and his family, the same family who welcomed Stefan when he was a show more orphan boy, Tommy was always with him, in his books, and Stefan had at least the hope that adult Tommy was happy, married to his childhood sweetheart Samantha, and living in the paradise small town where Stefan was not able to live, since he was in love with Chet, and Chet was instead ashamed of Stefan.

When Stefan comes back, apparently everything is the same, but nothing is the same; Tommy is not there, Samantha is disappeared, and strange men, supposedly secret agents, are invading Tommy’s paternal home, the same mansion where Stefan is welcomed again as he was so many years ago. In the house there is agent Evans, big, bold and silent, the epitome of dangerous man, and an irresistible temptation for Stefan. But also Chet is there again, and he is still asking Stefan to be his little dirty secret, and Stefan is unable to resist, above all since it was not him that break up years ago, but it was Chet. And maybe, adult Stefan thinks but with the mind, and heart, of young Stefan, if he is good enough, if he always says yes, maybe Chet will change idea, maybe there is an happily ever after for them.

What apparently is preparing to be a good love story, with Stefan dribbling between Chet and Evans, one step here, one step there, is soon overwhelmed by the dangerous/adventurous plot: someone is out there and he wants Stefan out of town, in the best of cases, and death in the worst. When sex arrives it’s fast but good, and I will not say with whom.

I had my idea on Evans, he is a man you can trust and depend on, he is strong and safe, like an haven, and in his embrace Stefan will never be scared; but he is not Stefan’s first love, not the one Stefan has to come to pact with. Chet is still in Stefan’s heart, and I’m happy to say that I changed my idea on him: I was ready to dislike him, and to think the worst, but in the end Chet is a positive character, maybe even truer and realistic than Evans or Stefan. It will be hard for Stefan to choose (no pun intended), but in any case, it will be a good choice.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608201171/?tag=elimyrevandra-20 show less

Er... *searches for a sequel* Is that it?

It was a decent 4 star read until the end or should I say until the author stopped writing because that's what it felt like happened here.

Er... *searches for a sequel* Is that it?

It was a decent 4 star read until the end or should I say until the author stopped writing because that's what it felt like happened here.