Not Fade Away by SE Jakes

3.5 STARS

Hell or High Water - Book 3.5

Basically it's a series of hot sex scenes that serve to explore the growing trust between Tommy and Prophet. There is nothing wrong with this at all as SE writes wonderful sex scenes. And it's Tommy and Prophet. I love Proph.

A quick and steamy read. :) Good one!

Daylight Again by SE Jakes

4 STARS

Hell or High Water - Book 3

I love this series. Even the times I find myself confused and wondering if I missed something along the way, I still love this series. :)

In this installment of the adventures of Prophet and Tommy and their merry gang of tough nuts, we move ever closer to the ultimate showdown between Prophet and John, his onetime best friend and lover, although I tend to think that it's going to be more of showdown between John and Tommy. Both men, Proph and Tom, have continued to grow into their relationship, but it's by no means an easy fit a lot of the time.

I love Prophet to bits, with all his quirks and moodiness and prickliness and orneriness although I do wish that he'd be a wee bit more open with Tommy if ONLY so that I get a clue of what's going on sometimes. *LOL* I think there's a shorthand in this series that I'm not quite fluent in, but oddly enough it doesn't hamper my enjoyment. I have the trust that all will become clear at some point. My confusion is more about the missions and the backgrounds of the missions, I think, and I wonder if that's a result of there being a plot arc that spans all the books and maybe I'm not getting enough 'refresher' information in the current book to recall the details from books 1 or 2 or one of the novellas. That's the main reason that I didn't give this book an extra half star.

The sex is hot, the banter between the men is fun and the situations tense - all in all a very good read. I do find myself chuckling over the idea of the whole top-drawer team being comprised of gay members - and who are getting all partnered up - but hey, it's fiction. :)

Long Time Gone by S.E. Jakes

4.5 STARS

Hell or High Water - Book 2

You know a book is good when you get angry at yourself for not making more time to read it. I even went to bed early the night before because I was dying to read more about Prophet and Tommy.

A true adventure story, this one seems a little less grand than the tale that introduced us to Prophet and Tommy, To Catch a Ghost, the story a little more personal, probably because we're taken to the small Louisiana parish where Tommy grew up. We meet friends, family, enemies and find out some of what makes Tom, Tom, and we're treated to a mystery from the past that rears its ugly head in the present.

I love how S.E. writes her characters. These are guys and their conversation and banter is PERFECT for this type of buddy adventure story. I love both of them. And I truly love the way that they're falling in love with each other and are addicted physically to each other in the most SEXY of ways. And the conflict! Oh my Lord, these boys are not going into this relationship easily! And I love it!

One of my favourite shows these days is Strike Back and I find that same 'black ops' adventure flavour present in this "Hell or High Water" series as I do in the show.

I would highly, HIGHLY recommend both books (because you really need to read book #1 before reading this one) to anyone who enjoys buddy/adventure m/m type of tale. I can tell you that I'm going to add S.E. Jakes to my 'gotta read' list of authors and am kind of thrilled that she has a bit of a backlist for me to get through. :)

Catch a Ghost by SE Jakes

4 STARS

Hell or High Water - Book 1

I really enjoyed this! Talk about a couple of complicated and deep MCs! Prophet and Tommy are all that and a bag of chips in all the best of ways. And I'm still not quite sure exactly what happened between them! *LOL* To be honest, I think they're both still a little confused as well and I want to shake them both at times. :)

Catch a Ghost has a bit of a Tom Clancy/Larry Bond techno-thriller feel about it, with undercover operatives, missions, shadowy secondary characters - yes, Cillian, I'm looking at you - and guys so tough and stoic that they put Daniel Craig's James Bond to shame. Often, when the main characters are so wonderfully drawn, the secondary characters suffer, but not in this case. The afore-mentioned Cillian, Doc, Phil and even John are well fleshed out and different from each other.

The plot is good, it's intricate, it doesn't give anything away and there's a logical progression of events, something that many so-called romantic thrillers aren't so great about. There's humour, menace, violence (lots of violence), camaraderie and some very emotional moments. Really good stuff, a nice, juicy story. And the fight and torture scenes? Real and alive on the page. And the sex scenes? Hot, steamy and intense. Yes, there's romance, but it's sure not the hearts and flowers kind.

I screamed at the end of the book, well, quietly and under my breath. All I can say is thank God the sequel comes out in another two weeks! So many questions were answered, but so many not. This is the first in a series of adventures with Prophet and Tommy from what I understand and I am looking forward to reading them all. :)