Reviewed by PizzyGirl
TITLE: The Gardeners
SERIES: Those Who Dare #1
AUTHOR: Brenda Cothern
NARRATOR: Ken Solin
PUBLISHER: Wench Publishing, Inc
LENGTH: 8 hours, 17 minutes
RELEASE DATE: February 13, 2018
BLURB:
Growing up as part of the Mancini mob clan in Chicago was all Tony Bricker and Max Hixson ever knew since the time they were seven. They were trained by their uncle, the Don, of the Mancini family and he dubbed them his Gardeners.
They were more than just best friends, they were chosen brothers and not only loved their jobs as Mancini enforcers, but were damn good at it.
Until, Max changed everything three years ago. Their friendship shattered and Max fled to Michigan to do his uncle’s work. Now he’s been called back to Chicago and once more paired with his former best friend, chosen brother, and the one man he’d always loved.
Now, both men must address what happened between them three years ago in order to do the job only they can do: recover their cousin Val from the O’Reilly clan.
This book contains M/M sexual situations and extreme mobster violence. This book also contains references to sexual abuse. If this is a trigger for you, please do not read. This book is intended for readers of legal age in the country in which they reside. Please store your adult literature responsibly.
STORY REVIEW:
I enjoyed this story way more than I had anticipated. It was such an odd mix of violence and romance, but it worked for me!
The two main characters were unapologetically violent and sadistic. Normally, I don’t connect with that type of character, but in this case, I did. The developing romance and the struggle for Brick to come to terms with his love made these men human and connectable.
I loved that “I’m not gay” very quickly turned into “I don’t care because I love you.” It was really low angst compared to what it could have been based on the initial rift and buildup. There were times I was very confused as to how easily the transformation took place, but the overall good hearted feel (yes, a violent mob book felt light and fluffy in parts) left me very satisfied.
The sex was HOT even knowing one of these men was just a straight man, the sex was hot enough to get me past the unrealistic perfection of a straight man having gay sex for the first time.
I did struggle a bit with the POV since the naming convention was not always clear. Tony called himself Tony, but Max called him Brick. And Max called himself Max, but Tony called him Hix. It was just a bit too confusing at times.
I think my favorite part of the book though was Uncle Anthony and the way he was like “boys, you are stupid. I’ve known for years you were in love with each other. I am so glad you got your heads out of your asses and figured it out as well.” This big bad crime boss was accepting and even a bit condescending in his casual announcement of his acceptance. It was rather awesome.
Please be warned that this story is rather violent with scenes of torture being described in graphic details. If you can handle gore, then the romance is rather cute. Kind of a dichotomy but that is part of the reason I really enjoyed this one so much.
NARRATION REVIEW:
I really enjoyed this story in spite of the narration. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t really much more than an awkward reading of the story. Ken Solin’s voice was easy to listen to, but the overall narration was mechanical and flat.
RATING: 
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