Title: Promises (Bounty Hunters #1)
Author: A.E. Via
Publisher: Via Star Wings Publishing
Release Date: October 16, 2015
Genre(s): Contemporary
Page Count: 260
Reviewed by: Vallie
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Blurb:
Duke Morgan owns and operates one of the largest bail bond companies in Atlanta. Not only does he bond criminals out of jail, he and his notorious group of bounty hunters will also track them down and ensure they show up for court.
Roman ‘Quick’ Webb is Duke’s business partner and best friend. Both men are in their forties and have given up on the happily ever after with the ranch-style home, and white picket fence. They’d both tried it and failed miserably. But they have their friendship and they have the business.
When Quick’s son, Vaughan Webb returns – after seven years – from studying abroad with his law degree in hand, he’s back to claim what he’s always wanted…his fathers’ best friend… Duke Morgan. Vaughan has always claimed to be a classic gentleman with an old soul. He didn’t party and screw up in school like his buddies. He was focused and dedicated to becoming the man worthy of Duke’s love.
It’s a complex and messy situation as Duke and Quick figure out how to still be best friends when one of them is sleeping with his friend’s one and only son. But when Duke is hurt on the job, all the unimportant trivialities fall to the wayside and Vaughan and Quick put their heads together to save Duke.
Part I of the Promises story is about Duke and Vaughan. Part II will be about Quick and his realization that it’s not too late for any of them to find love.
I am a fan of the author and the Nothing Special series, so when I found out that Duke would star in his own book in a new spin-off series, I was super excited. Unfortunately, the story did not deliver what I was hoping from the blurb and from the author’s previous works.
Vaughan had this crush on his dad’s best friend, Duke since was a teen. He lived abroad, finished his education, and stayed determined to come back and convince Duke to be with him. The way he went about it wasn’t very convincing for me. He set out to seduce Duke and came off all confident and possessive and all the things that I usually love in a story, and then…nothing. Duke accepted. They started fooling around. The end. No tension, no build-up, nothing. Duke of course had a few hang-ups because of the age difference and because Vaughan was Quick’s son, but other than that, everything was streamlined and ready to go very quickly for my liking.
I liked the fact that Duke was very sweet and sensitive, waiting for a man to court him and romance him. He was not the stereotypical tattooed badass. He in fact invited Vaughn to be the dominant in the relationship and was willing to let him pick up the reins. And then, when the plot involved a medical emergency, the melodrama was a bit over the top for my taste and frankly a bit unbelievable. I enjoy medical emergency type of drama in my romance and I was hoping that what Vaughn did would create some delicious tension and confrontation later on. Nope. They managed to solve everything between them and get on with it. I mean, I like it when characters communicate but come on! Can we get just a bit of a fight? Some separation even for a few hours? Something to make me crave them getting back together?
And then, we started getting Quick’s and the Doc’s POVs here and there, very obviously setting up book 2 of the series. I am not sure I will be picking up the second book to be honest. This was a little too cheesy, a little too easy, and left me wanting more. There was some tension with the dangers of bounty hunting but it wasn’t enough. It was an okay read but not one I will revisit soon.
PS. A word about the editing. I don’t know how many reviews I’ve read that point out the horrible editing in this author’s books. Please author, you are not doing your books any favours. There is some good writing buried under tupos, missing words, fragmented sentences, and wrong grammar. I made a note of 35 of those while reading and then just stopped counting. The editing seriously hampered my enjoyment of this book.
Recent Comments