Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Sight and Sinners
SERIES: Men of London #2
AUTHOR: Susan Mac Nicol
PUBLISHER: Boroughs Publishing
LENGTH: 200 Pages
BLURB:
THE MEN OF LONDON
From Charing Cross to Waterloo, there’s no escaping love.
SEEING THROUGH…
28-year-old Draven Samuels has a tragic past, but as an investigator with a high-profile London company he now gets what he wants. Tough, sarcastic, and sceptical, he has no patience for lies and even less for people who waste his time. Even if they’re as beautiful as the wild and dark-haired Taylor Abelard. Especially when they’re talking over the body of a murder victim.
THE DARKNESS
Psychic Taylor Abelard is used to people calling him a freak. He can see past events and feel the ghostly vibrations of people close to him who’ve passed on. It’s why he doesn’t get too close to the living. But this time, against his better judgment, despite Draven’s mocking rejoinders, Taylor will get closer than ever before. The mystery surrounding a dead friend will lead the two men down a dark and seedy trail of blackmail and lies. Add in the heartbreak of a family tragedy, and events lead them straight into each other’s arms. By the end of this night, all their demons will have risen—and been banished with the dawn.
REVIEW:
You may need a box of Kleenex handy when you read this one, because to say it’s a bit sad is a gross understatement.
We met Taylor Abelard in the first book of this series. At the time he was sharing a house with his two best friends, Eddie and Leslie, but since then Eddie has moved out to be with his boyfriend, leaving Leslie to deal with Taylor’s scream inducing dreams. Lately the dreams have playing out every night, which can only mean one thing. One of Taylor’s friends or acquaintances, someone he’s relatively close to, is in trouble and Taylor is powerless to help, as he has no idea who it might be. When he sees a death notice for one of his regular hookups, a married man that he was rather fond of, he feels that the right thing to do is to attend the funeral and pay his respects. At the funeral Taylor discovers that Draven Samuels, somebody he never wanted to see again, was a friend of the deceased and the two men, far from being enemies, can’t keep their hands off each other. But before they can settle into any semblance of a relationship, if they even make it that far without killing each other, they need to solve the mystery surrounding Drew’s suicide, convince Taylor’s friends they’re serious about each other and deal with a heartrending family situation that may be one of the hardest things any person could ever face.
The only reason I didn’t rate this book higher was because I couldn’t like Draven, and I really, really tried. I know that not liking a character is not a good reason to complain about a book but when it’s one of the main characters it’s kind of hard to be rooting for their HEA when you think he’s an ass. The amount of times he pushed Taylor away or treated him badly grated on my nerves, and while I tried to justify his behavior by looking at all the stress he was under, I can’t say it helped all that much. The thing is, Draven is not a bad guy. But it just felt like he used all his kinder emotions up on Jude and there was not enough left for Taylor.
On the subject of Jude, just wow. That was some brilliant and heartbreaking writing. I don’t really want to say what happens, though to be honest you can pretty much tell from the start where that part of the story is headed, but that final scene with Jude just felt so real and, well, how many ways can I say heartbreaking? As upsetting as it was, it was absolutely my favourite part of the story. In fact, the last scene with Taylor, Draven and Jude, that deserves five stars.
The whole infidelity thing? Well, I’m never a fan of cheaters but I have to admit that I liked the way the author handled it. In the beginning the fact that Drew had a wife and children was of little concern to Taylor. He knew that if it wasn’t with him then Drew would just be having sex with someone else. So why should he feel bad about it? But at the funeral he sees Drew’s grieving widow and suddenly she’s a real person to him. I just felt that the guilt he found himself having to deal with came across as realistic. It was as though he was surprised to discover he should feel bad. Then, he was willing to own the guilt but knew it was too late to fix it. I think I just appreciated the fact that it wasn’t excused in anyway. It wasn’t made out to be the wife’s fault and Taylor wasn’t cast as the unaware chump.
I have read the first book in the series but I’m fairly certain this could be read as a standalone. Although, all it will take is one scene with Eddie and you’ll want to read that first book. Speaking of secondary characters, I’m assuming Leslie is up next. From the start he’s been my favourite character. I can’t wait to see where this series takes us with the third book.
RATING: 
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