Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: Stranded
AUTHOR: HelenKay Dimon
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 155 pages
BLURB:
Cabe got out of the gun-for-hire business the hard way—by nearly dying. Except then his former boss calls in one last favor for one final job. The mission should be simple: get a message to a retired operative in Alaska. But it puts Cabe face-to-face with the one man he doesn’t want to see and can never forget. Not after all the secrets and lies. Not after Brax almost killed him.
Brax Hughes lived hard and retired young to a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Well, that was the plan, but before he can hang up his sniper rifle, he has one last mission: win back Kyle Cabe. Brax wants another chance, wants to come clean, but after months of lying to Cabe, he knows he could face a bullet—or worse—when they meet again. And they will meet. Brax made sure of that.
With a storm moving in and someone lurking outside the cabin, time is running out. Brax needs to talk fast and keep his weapons ready. And his best weapon is the truth.
REVIEW:
This is another one of those I didn’t love or hate this story which always are the hardest for me to review. This had all the makings of a book I’d love; jilted lovers, assassins, betrayal, danger, passion, and loads of angst. Unfortunately where I think this one fell short was the overall delivery of the story. It almost felt like we started Cabe and Brax’s story right smack in the middle which was really confusing at times because even though it was apparent they cared about each other that essential relationship buildup was missing which I think hurt the story.
Kyle Cabe has agreed to a final mission. He was promised in and out, no problems and no issues. The very last thing he expected was his back from the grave ex-lover Braxton Hughes to be waiting for him. He especially wasn’t prepared for Brax to try and win him back but that’s apparently what the plan is.
Cabe’s hardened not only by his gun for hire life but by the betrayal and hurt he feels towards Brax. These two are stuck in a cabin together with hurt feelings, broken hearts, blood lust, and libido’s that go through the roof. This is riddled with angst almost overload but I didn’t mind that so much as it lead to some pretty delicious encounters.
Overall, I liked it. I think a little bit longer with some more in depth look at Cabe and Brax together before all the lies would have helped a lot. I want to mention that 20% of the proceeds for this book go to the GLBT National Help Center so you should really get it for that reason alone. And the ending was also super sweet…
RATING: 
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