Long Time Gone (Hell or High Water, #2)

Title: Long Time Gone
Series: Hell or High Water, Book 2
Author: S.E. Jakes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: October 28th, 2013 (eBook)
Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
Narrator: Adam North
Genre(s): m/m- Military/Police Romance
Page Count: 270 Pages
Reviewed by: Jaime
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Soldier of fortune Prophet Drews always worked alone — until Tom Boudreaux became his partner. But when Tom walked away three months ago, ostensibly to keep Prophet safe, Prophet learned the true meaning of being alone. Everyone knows that Prophet, a Navy SEAL turned CIA spook turned mercenary, can look after himself. Which means he must’ve driven his lover away.

Even with half a world between them, Prophet can’t get the man out of his head. Maybe that’s why he’s in New Orleans in the middle of a hurricane, protecting Tom’s aunt. But the only looter around is Tom, bursting back into Prophet’s life. It turns out that Prophet’s been stuck in Tom’s head — and heart — too.

Their explosive reunion gets even hotter when Tom is arrested for murder. As they fight to clear his name, they delve deep into his past, finding enemies among everyone they meet. Staying alive in such a dangerous world is hard enough, but they soon discover that fighting to stay together is the most difficult thing they’ve ever done.

This is book two in the Hell or High Water series and I enjoyed it a lot more than book one! This book picks up with Prophet doing his secret black ops mission and Tom learning to work with his new partner. Both of our MC are so torn in different directions that they are not sure what they want to do, what they should do, or what they are going to do.. it’s a very bumpy ride. As the past continues to come back to haunt them both our guys have to decide if they want to face it alone or maybe take a chance and see if they can face each others past together. When a hurricane comes barreling through Louisiana – right where Toms Aunt lives, Prophet makes a choice to go help. S.E. Jakes does a wonderful job of building the tension, the anticipation, the setting of this story that you actually feel like you are experiencing it along with the guys, way to go! So it happens in the middle of a storm, Tom and Prophet continue to let each other in, walls come crumbling down around their guarded hearts and the sex between the two is off the charts H.O.T. — “The other thing he knew for sure was that sex gave them a way to tell each other all the things they couldn’t bring themselves to say out loud.” Is there enough between the two for them to build a relationship or are they forever going to be haunted and too far gone? I really enjoyed this story much more than book one – but I have the same issue with the narrator. Adam North just doesn’t have the “ummphh” needed to narrate some of these scenes – he sounds too detached which takes away from the enjoyment of an audio book. When I listen to a book I want the narrator to be involved in the story and become part of the story — not simply read a book to me, for that I could do the text-to-speech option on my kindle. Overall, 4 Stars for the Combo story with narration.