Reviewed by Caroline
TITLE: Livingston
SERIES: Trenton Security Book 1
AUTHOR: J M Dabney
PUBLISHER: Hostile Whispers Press
LENGTH: 167 Pages
RELEASE DATE: 6 March 2018
BLURB:
He was the Beast without the escape clause.
Francis “Liv” Livingston was a beast. No matter if he wore a perfectly tailored suit or if he was in his tactical gear, people avoided looking at him. He was always first to volunteer for the jobs only a person with a death wish wanted. Tomorrows weren’t guaranteed. His boss had come to him and told him he needed him for a job. Linus knew the jobs he liked, but when he opened the file, it all went to hell.
Beauty was only skin deep.
Fielding Haskell made his way in the world on his looks. He’d earned his first film role before he could read a script. He didn’t want the fame. He wanted to go to college. He wanted a man who didn’t look at him and see how pretty he was. Unfortunately, a so-called fan only cared how attractive he was, and it earned him a personal bodyguard and a vacation. He looked forward to the break until he met the man in charge of his safety and wondered if the danger he left was worth dealing with a sudden attraction to a man who was colder than ice.
REVIEW:
This is book 1 in JM Dabney’s new Trenton Security series. Although a new series those familiar with this author will recognise a lot of the characters as it’s a continuation of the world Dabney has built her two previous series of books around.
Francis Livingston or Liv as he is to his few precious friends comes from a torturous background and it’s that very thing that starts this story off. From its bleak set up this story show us how Liv has become the man that he is today, it shows his fears, his nightmares and his loneliness. He’s the member of the team who takes on the riskiest of jobs because in all honesty he’s not bothered if he comes home or not – oftentimes death seems like the better option to him.
Until he meets his latest babysitting job – a job he is none too happy to be given!
Fielding Haskell is a product of his own success, or rather his parents strict regime, and he is also their meal ticket. Since he’s been able to breathe his parents have used, abused and manipulated Fielding into a career that has left him miserable whilst they live a very comfortable life off the proceeds of his hard work. He hates his job with a passion and now it seems he has picked up a stalker and it’s become bad enough that he needs to be hidden away for a few months with a bodyguard in the middle of nowhere.
I liked both these characters. Liv was rough and gruff on the outside but you could almost feel his need to be loved and really seen for who he was and not for just what marked his skin. His coldness and hard attitude were there as a cover to keep his heart safe and when Fielding was literally dropped into his lap the cracks began to appear. Fielding was innocence personified and used to having no freedoms at all. Because of his innocence I felt he took to his dirty mouthed kinky side just too quickly – it didn’t flow – one minute he knew nothing and the next minute he was putting on a show in the woods. I liked his tenacity when it came to wearing Liv down but I did begin to wonder toward the end if Liv would ever agree to say yes.
This was a steady start to a new series and the characters that will be coming up next are a varied bunch that will make for some interesting stories in the future.
RATING: 
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