Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Shades

AUTHOR: Jaime Reese

PUBLISHER: Romandeavor

LENGTH: 344 Pages

RELEASE DATE: May 20, 2018

BLURB:

Life made him dangerous. Love made him lethal.

Killian Marks is a third-generation hitman. After hunting monsters for over twenty years, he lives under no illusions of happily ever afters and fairy tales. Until he meets a man who threatens to disarm him, by giving him hope for a future and showing him there’s more to life than just death.

For Nick, living in shadows is second nature. He’s all too familiar with the dark side of humanity and knows how delicate life can be. Each new day is a gift, even though it means doing it alone. But he’ll risk his survival for the one man who awakens something deep within and leaves him yearning for more.

Nick wants to solve the mystery behind the dark, brooding man, while Killian craves the life and light emanating from Nick. They soon discover they have more in common than either could have anticipated. With both their lives and hearts at stake, they must confront the ghost from Nick’s past intent on tying up a loose end. Only then will they truly find peace, and discover the shades of life in between.

———-

Shades is a stand-alone novel, gritty in parts and romantic in others. There’s an assassin with a moral code, a snarky sidekick, a hint of suspense, a bit of violence…and a few surprises. Behind it all, there’s a love story that will thaw a killer’s heart.

REVIEW:

I haven’t had great luck with book choices lately, and I was starting to think that maybe it was just me and nothing was going to satisfy. But you can always, always rely on Jaime Reese to deliver a book that grips your heart so freakin’ tightly you think you might die of happiness. Even in this book, with the hitmen, the mobsters, the violence and the many deaths, the intensity of the love between the main characters is so unbelievably powerful it infuses every single scene with heartrending emotion.

Being a hitman is all Killian knows. While he dreams of something more, he doesn’t really believe that that will ever happen for him. The only bright spot in his life of darkness and death is a man named Nick, a virtual stranger who waits tables at a restaurant that Killian finds himself frequenting more often than is probably wise. While everyone else is intimidated by the danger that radiates from the icy eyed hitman, Nick stands toe to toe with him and doesn’t back down. When Nick’s life is threatened, Killian doesn’t hesitate to protect the younger man. After all, taking on the bad guys with guns blazing is what Killian does best. Nick has secrets, and he’s witnessed some bad shit in his life. So putting his trust in a gun-toting customer he knows very little about was not as difficult as one would expect.

O.M.G. Killian Marks. Could the author have possibly delivered a more menacingly stunning specimen of a man? Killian is so damn complicated that as a reader you never know what is going to happen next. He has so many facets to his personality you never know how he might react. He’s the cold blooded killer who delivers justice to the worst humanity has to offer. He’s the unfathomable loner who allows no one to get close. He’s the forty five year old man whose greying hair has him teetering on the verge of a midlife crisis. He’s a savior, he’s confused, he’s lost, he’s methodical, he’s the very best but he’s losing his edge. He’s got a damn fine sense of style, but most importantly, he’s the man who falls in love with Nick and will set fire to the world in order to protect him.

I adored these two men together. Adored isn’t even strong enough a word. These men were just, argh! I loved the way they came together so easily despite their situations. You would assume that both men would be more hesitant than to fall so quickly into a relationship, but the author covers all of those bases perfectly. Nick’s life up until that point had been one explosion after another, some resulting in good and some leaving him in extremely bad situations. He’s a man who is use to dealing with whatever life hands him next, so when life handed him Killian, he didn’t need much deliberation before he decided they belonged together. Killian knew that his life needed to change, he was just marking time until he found what it was he was missing. As soon as Nick climbed into Killian’s car, Killian was never going to let him go. To be honest I just can’t describe their relationship. Jaime Reese can capture an intensity of love on the page like no other author I’ve read. There’re no simple words that I can use to depict just how powerful and all consuming their love for each other is. It is shown with looks and actions and words throughout the whole book and it makes you feel so much happiness you just want to scream because it’s so damn perfect.

Plot wise, this book was a new direction for this author. Fans of her Men of Halfway House series might recognize the oh-so-subtle inclusion of a familiar face during Killian and Nick’s swoon worthy date. (Yes, Ms. Reese, I found it.) But for new readers, this is a completely standalone story. This plot gives us a lot more action than the author’s other works but includes her usual attention to detail. Everything is so neatly tied together that you want to scoff in protest, but instead you embrace every twist and turn as it’s so rivetingly presented. You might think that you’re complacently reading along, knowing what’s going to happen next, but with this book you can never assume anything. But I promise, they’re not all bad surprises! In fact, the warm fuzzy surprises far out weigh any bad guy shocks. I’m pretty sure there were happy tears several times as the author tossed in one heart melting scene after another. There is so much to this complex plot that I’d love to share but, like I said, everything is interwoven and I don’t want to spoil the journey to Killian and Nick’s happily ever after.

I honestly can’t recommend this book enough. If you’ve yet to pick up a book by this author then this is a great place to start before embarking on a reading binge through her Halfway House series. If the blurb and that gorgeous cover shot of Killian didn’t sell you on this story, then I hope my review did.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

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