Tal Bauer – A. L. Lester

Can I say first that I love all three books in this trilogy? This was the first one I read and it did stand alone; but obviously you’ll have more backstory if you start with Loose Cannon. This one is my favourite out of the three though. It’s about two misfits who are struggling to come to terms with themselves. Tobias is weighed down with his family obligations and has no head-space to work out what he really wants from life. Sullivan has shut down the part of his life that is open to relationships because he got burned really badly by someone who was frankly an arse to him about his kink. Combine the two likeable, well drawn characters with the realistic dom/sub relationship and a rollicking suspense plot and I couldn’t put the book down. The kink was really well done—on a par with Alexis Hall’s For Real. It’s a comfort re-read for me.

Box 1663 by Alex Sorel

This was rec’d me by a friend and I’m so pleased they did. It’s a WW2 gay romance set at Las Alamos, among the team building the nuclear bomb. A spy plot provides all the tension you could want. The romance is between an army photographer and a British scientist. The photographer, Nick, pursues Ian, the scientist. He’s lovely. He’s clearly head over heels in love with the man and Ian is carrying a whole load of angst and back-story that make it extremely hard for him to respond, even though he returns Nick’s feelings. I felt that the historical background was extremely well researched and I even went looking for photos of Oppenheimer and co so I could fill in the gaps in my internal narrative! I read the whole book in one sitting and I’ll definitely re-read.

Hell and Gone by Tal Bauer

Another reliably re-readable (is that too alliterative?) contemporary who-dunnit-with-romance from Tal Bauer. This time our hero is a stock detective—a career I didn’t know existed!—who is sent into the Crazy Mountains of Montana to track down the person rustling cattle and now, killing people. Everett is drawn to Lawrence, the ranch manager who has been pushing for an investigation. But there’s a thundercloud of questions hanging over Lawrence’s head—his past, his relationship with the dead man he found hanging on his property, and where he’s getting his extra money from. The tension is beautifully spun out both with the investigation and the development of the relationship. Definitely a re-read.

I’ve spent so much time buried in Torchwood fanfic over the last three weeks that I’ve almost convinced myself that I could go and stand in Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff and see a Pteranodon fly out of an invisible lift by the waterfall thing. Alas, that is not to be. It’s probably a good thing because they’re all always nearly dying, or, in fact, actually dying, and whatever is happening in our lives right now, I can guarantee that Daleks would be worse. I haven’t updated my reading for a while, because #Life, but I’ve also been buried in these various other brilliant stories:

The Hands We’re Given (Aces High, Jokers Wild #1) by O.E. Tearmann

Cover, The Hands We're Given by O. E. Tearman

This epic series is set in a near-future where corporate, right-wing America has become it’s own behemoth of a political entity that controls most of the resources, with oppression and discrimination as standard. The remains of the more liberal, democratic population live in the cracks, fighting a war without end. It’s a grim, dystopian vision of hopelessness and despair.

Obviously our heroes are fighting against the corporations. They are an engaging collection of misfits…found family, getting along for better or for worse, working and living together. There’s excellent Queer rep in both the main couple, who’s relationship growth is the central part of the books, and in secondary characters.

If you like sci-fi, cyberpunk, queer romance, tension and socking it to the bad guys, I think you’ll like this.

Tal Bauer is an auto-buy for me. Queer gritty law-enforcement romantic suspense is my not-so-secret catnip and if there is lots of angst, all the better. Both these hit the spot.

The Murder Between Us

The book starts with FBI Agent taking a risk, putting a toe out of the closet in a strange town where no-one knows him. But then he gets called to a case in the middle of nowhere and it turns out his hook-up is one of the local investigating officers. Shenanigans ensue. A reliably Tal Bauer Tal Bauer book with angst and relationship development playing out against a background of bodies piling up and killer to catch.

The Night Of

So, I stayed up all night reading this, which wasn’t wise, but I couldn’t put it down. There’s angst and mystery and Bad Guys doing Bad Things and although I worked out who the murderer was quite early on, the journey to get there was satisfying and well rounded. Yes, okay, you have to suspend your disbelief that the President of the USA is allowed to toddle around between the White House and his house a few minutes away with only one person on his security detail. It seems a little unrealistic, but it didn’t throw me out of the story. Five stars.

Penhallow Amid Passing Things by Iona Datt Sharma

Really delightful paranormal historical novella set in an alternative Cornwall. Smugglers, Revenue Officers, and a touch of political intrigue that was complex and felt like the tip of an enormous iceberg that left me wanting more–in a good way! The wlw love interest was part of a beautifully delicate dance between magic users and non-magic users and the Revenue and the Smugglers and the greater good and expediency. It was just wonderful.

If you try one new thing this year, let it be this.

Tag: Tal Bauer

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Hard Line by Sidney Bell