Imperial Stout by Layla Reyne (Trouble Brewing #1)
Released: July 23, 2018
M/M Suspense
Carina Press

This is a spin-off series from Reyne’s Whiskey series and I saw some reviews that said it’s probably best if you read the Whiskey series before reading this. I did not and I was confused at the beginning of the book. There are a lot of characters besides our two leading men, and it was hard to keep track of names and who was bad or good or a double agent etc.. I did settle in after a while – but it was a rough start.

I’m going to include the blurb because it summarizes everything pretty well:

It’s a good thing assistant US attorney Dominic Price co-owns a brewery. He could use a cold one. Nic’s star witness has just been kidnapped, his joint operation with the FBI is in jeopardy, his father’s shady past is catching up with him and the hot new special agent in San Francisco is the kind of distraction best handled with a stiff drink.

Kidnap and rescue expert Cameron Byrne has his own ideas about how to handle Nic, but his skills are currently needed elsewhere. The by-the-book FBI agent goes deep undercover as a member of an infamous heist crew in order to save Nic’s witness, break up the crew and close the case before anyone else gets hurt. Nic in particular.

Things heat up when Cam falls for Nic, and the witness falls for Cam. As the crew’s suspicions grow, Cam must decide how far he’s willing to go—and how far into his own dark past he’s willing to dive—to get everyone out alive.

I really enjoyed Cam and Nic and I liked all of the suspense and action. It’s well written. Cam and Nic are two alpha men who shared one kiss previous to the book starting, and then have been avoiding the subject for the past few weeks. When they get involved in the same kidnapping operation, they eventually have to acknowledge their feelings for each other.

This book is very heavy on the suspense and kidnapping storyline and unfortunately, the romance takesa back seat. There is some good sexual tension and even some good physical romance scenes, but what is missing is the romance part. The part where these two fall for each other – court each other – have romance feelings. That isn’t really portrayed in the book at all. It’s more of a lustful, let’s have sex vibe. It didn’t’ feel genuine, I’m-falling-in-love feelings. Granted, this is book one in a series and these two will continue to star in future books. But I  missed the romance.

Grade: C+

How to Train Your Baron by Diana Lloyd
Released: July 23, 2018
Historical Romance
Entangled

Elsinore knows her father is very close to arranging a marriage for her and the idea of her not having a choice in husband and many other things, irritates her greatly. In search of someone at a house party, she finds a small guillotine on a desk, and puts her wrist in it – which then becomes stuck. With no luck getting it off on her own, a man walks in the room and she begs for help. This man is the hero, Quin, a Scottish baron. After a series of events, they get her wrist out, both fall over and are discovered with Elsinore on top of Quin. The only thing Quin can do is marry her. Of course, this is not what Elsinore wants. She wants options in life and being forced to marry a stranger is not an option.

She wants a husband that will treat her with respect and allow her to make decisions on her own – so she decides to use a book she recently read on how to train dogs, to train her future husband.

This – was a bit much for me. The obedience or the reward system you would use for a dog, she is now trying out on Quin. I didn’t like it. She also starts to trick him – she tells him her wrong name. She conspires to make his life harder than it has to be. I just didn’t like this tactic. I understand her frustration at life’s circumstances…but I didn’t find her antics amusing.

Grade: DNF