Review by Taylor

Title: Sam and Aaron

Author: L.B. Gregg

Series:  Men of Smithfield #5

Pages: 126 pages

Publisher: Carina Press

Blurb:

A never-before-published Men of Smithfield book

With our family’s legacy, Meyers B&B, in the flailing hands of me, Sam Meyers, and my sister Wynne, we’re determined to revive the place. We’ve started a series of blind-date cooking classes, and taken on our first boarder. Granddad is even now rolling in his grave.

Signed up for the class is our new guest, Aaron Saunders, a Californian transplant who’s distractingly handsome and clearly up to no good. I can’t quite figure him out. He blew into town and has been relentless in his search for…something.

The sexy sneak is intriguing. And we’ve had a steamy moment. Or two. But now I can’t stop wondering why he’s searching in secret. From the library, to the historical society, to my own backyard, Aaron leaves no stone unturned or record book unopened. He’s definitely gotten my attention. But that might not be the only thing he’s after.

Review:

So for those that haven’t read this series, you definitely can read them as all standalones, however, the previous couples may make an appearance or two, or be mentioned in passing.  It’s never distracting, though.  So in this book we get normal, boring (in the author’s words), stuck in a rut Sam who lives in Smithfield running a Bed & Breakfast with his sister, Wynne.  He meets the other MC, Aaron, in an interesting enough fashion with his hand stuck in a library book drop as Aaron is dressed all in black seemingly having broken into the library after hours, and from there Sam is parts suspicious and parts lustful and intrigued by Aaron.

This book is fine.  As always, the author’s humor and dialogue are catchy enough to make me continue reading despite anything else going on that I might not like.  The sex and in particular the dirty talk were awesome, however, there really wasn’t much too it.  Aaron and Sam go back and forth with are we or aren’t we and instead of feeling a building tension, it just fell splat to me. And I had to think why because really the amount there is more than some I see, but it still felt…lacking.

That’s when I realized it’s more about the characters and the plot itself.  The author has a character that everyone is basically describing as nondescript and boring, and she’s successful in that, because I indeed found Sam boring.  Aaron had some fun parts, but I just never really felt a connection between the two.

While I thought the side characters added some fun humor from time to time, especially Tony in the church, I think overall they distracted the story from the budding romance between Sam and Aaron.  I get the ‘mystery’ sort of needed the majority of those characters there, but I really didn’t give one flying hoot about Cole and his brother, or Claire for that matter.

This was nice overall, but I just didn’t really feel I had enough relationship development between Sam and Aaron.

However, I really do like this series.  Mark and Tony (Men of Smithfield #1) or Max and Finn (Men of Smithfield #2) are my favorites and I’d definitely recommend both!

Rating:

Buy Links:

Amazon

Carina Press