Reviewed by Alexander

TITLE: Stars & Stripes

SERIES:  Cut & Run book 6

AUTHOR:  Abigail Roux

PUBLISHER:  Riptide Publishing

LENGTH: 10 hours, 19 minutes

NARRATOR: J.F. Harding

BLURB:

Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett have managed the impossible: a few months of peace and quiet. After nearly a year of personal and professional turmoil, they’re living together conflict free, work is going smoothly, and they’re both happy, healthy, and home every night before dark.

But anyone who knows them knows that can’t possibly last. When an emergency call from home upsets the balance of their carefully arranged world, Ty and Zane must juggle family drama with a perplexing crime to save a helpless victim before time runs out.

From the mountains of West Virginia to a remote Texas horse ranch harboring more than just livestock and childhood memories, Ty and Zane must face their fears – and their families – to overcome an unlikely enemy and bring peace back into their newly shared world.

REVIEW:

Stars & Stripes is the 6th book in the Cut & Run series and happens to be my very favorite of the books. Over the next few weeks, I will also be reviewing books 7-9, so look for those coming soon. Also worthy of note is that although the story itself is standalone, context is everything, so because I am a super nice guy, I will refrain from including spoilers in my review.

There are a few things that make this story my favorite, and the big cat rescue, and Ty’s aversion to furry predators was a big one. I loved Ty’s reaction, during the first visit to the rescue, and how he was drawn to one of the tigers, even with the bad memories of being attacked by a cougar in a previous book. Ty is the kind of character that never ceases to evolve and surprise, and I also like how he manages to keep the core of himself intact.

Another aspect of the story that was appealing, was the introduction of Zane’s family and his coming out. Unexpected, funny, and reaffirming of his and Ty’s relationship and the level that it has attained. Zane has truly shown us over the course of the series to be complex and unpredictable, and in Stars & Stripes, he shows an inner peace and confidence, primarily due to Ty that was a long time coming.

So we finally met Zane’s family, but that is not where the story began, it actually began with a visit to the Grady homestead, where Ty’s grandfather outed him. So here we have both Ty and Zane coming out to their families. As I said above, Zane’s was funny and reaffirming, while Ty’s forced outing was wild and volatile, but not without affection and the need for a cast (yes, I know, I’m a tease!), but the story is really about Zane’s father getting shot and a couple of missing “cats” from the rescue. Needless to say, from this point forward, it would all be spoilers, and so I will just shut up and let you wonder what the heck getting shot and furry predators have to do with anything…

It is no secret that I love audiobooks, they give me the opportunity to read while driving, or even while doing chores around the house, but originally audiobooks allowed me to re-read old favorites, when work and reviews took up my time. That being said, I appreciate a good story, but if the narrator isn’t up to the task, like I have experienced in the past, you can imagine the level of my disappointment. Fortunately, whoever chose Harding to narrate Stars & Stripes could be considered a genius, he is so good. I am not saying that the performance was flawless, as I did notice a few minor issues, like Sadie becoming Sandy, and inconsistent accents, but these were, as I said, minor.

STORY RATING:  

AUDIO RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon