Reviewed by Sarina

TITLE: By the Numbers

SERIES: Sanctuary #10

AUTHOR: R.J. Scott

PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books

LENGTH: 156 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2017

BLURB:

The final book in the Sanctuary series

Secrets and lies threaten Brandon and Daniel’s new love.

Brandon Hoselton is running scared, finding security in his obsession with patterns and numbers. With his family threatened, he feels he has nowhere left to go, and even considers ending his life to keep them safe. Until Sanctuary, in the shape of the enigmatic Daniel Karnes, gives him a reason to stay alive and offers the possibility of a future free from fear.

Former SEAL Daniel is new to Sanctuary, tasked with watching Brandon, a brilliant geek with way too many secrets. Falling in love with quirky Brandon is easy; now he just has to make sure secrets don’t end up with them both dying.

The only way of destroying Varga is to cut the crime boss’s money, and the two men become part of an intricate take-down involving millions of dollars. But Brandon has a secret he can never share with Daniel, and their new love is at stake.

When the villain has murder in mind, sometimes the only way to stay alive is to lie.

REVIEW:

Finally! After the previous book, Ghost, I was really looking forward to seeing how, not only the current story arc finished, but how the series ended and I have to say I was not disappointed. Brandon was met previously in the last story and it was pretty obvious he was in a bad place. I expected a lot of things from and about him in this last installment to the Sanctuary series but I was wrong about a lot and more impressed about what remained than I had expected to be. Brandon is first and foremost all about protecting his sisters; bearing in mind that they have no idea the real reason they’ve been put into protective custody, I’d say Brandon was on the right track. There were so many little quirks to Brandon’s personality that I hadn’t been prepared for but I loved that; his uniqueness with numbers and the methods he uses to calm himself down and stay focused made him a truly unique character and after ten books, that’s quite a feat! Honestly, I’d expected him to be overshadowed by Daniel’s sheer personality if nothing else but Brandon was the standout in this book for me. Daniel was basically what I’ve come to expect from a Sanctuary operative at this point; professional, determined to protect his charge(s) at all costs and usually lacking in the sense of humor department. It was obvious he didn’t quite understand what made Brandon tick but what I liked about him what that he went out of his way to learn and to try and help when Brandon started panicking.

While there were some minor sexy times, this last book was pretty much all story and character driven and that was fine with me because it was a really good story! I’ll admit, I would’ve liked to have seen the guys switch it up a bit but I was overall really happy with the story and the interactions that I got. The ending itself was great; I loved the way things wrapped up in regards to Varga and the future glimpse you get to see of Brandon and Daniel was pretty near perfect. All in all while I’m sorry to see the series end, I’m happy with the way it was finished.

If you enjoy books featuring law enforcement, military personnel, and/or bodyguards, this series is totally worth the read. Every story was enjoyable and featured characters that I came to care for and looked forward to seeing make repeat appearances throughout the rest of the books.

RATING:

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