Reviewed by PizzyGirl
TITLE: Ride or Dye
SERIES: Curl Up and Dye #6
AUTHOR: Aimee Nicole Walker
PUBLISHER: Chasing Rainbows Press LLC
LENGTH: 202 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 12, 2018
BLURB:
Gabe and Josh Roman-Wyatt have been living life in the fast lane. Demanding jobs, precocious twin toddlers, an ever-growing circle of friends, and a menagerie of pets means their home is filled with love and laughter but very few quiet moments for the happy couple. Gabe’s solution is to plan a surprise vacation at a perfect hideaway where the two of them can slow things down and reconnect.
Tarlington House, a historic home located on Edisto Island in South Carolina, hosts an annual murder-mystery event which will allow Josh to use the skills he learned from his all-time favorite television detective to solve the case. The serene setting is perfect for fun days in the sun, passionate lovemaking under the stars, and a healthy wager between husbands to see who can plan the best date. But when the other guests arrive, the guys find themselves surrounded by liars and cheaters who will say or do anything to win, reminding them there’s no place like Blissville.
When a guest is killed during a vicious storm that knocks out the power and phone lines, Josh and Gabe’s murder mystery role-playing becomes a real-life whodunnit. Serve and protect will take on a deeper meaning for Gabe when he’s torn between upholding the law and protecting his husband from a ruthless killer.
Ride or Dye includes sexy sunrises, snarky banter, and swoon-worthy romance. It is the sixth and final book in the Curl Up and Dye Mysteries, which must be read in order. Ride or Dye contains sexually explicit material intended for adults 18 and older.
REVIEW:
I struggled with this final installment of the Curl Up and Dye series. It wrapped things up nicely for josh and Gabe, but I felt like it was rushed and there was so much missing.
As always, the romance between these men was SPECTACULAR and I felt it leap off the page and wrap around me. I was there with these men as they showed their love and lust for one another constantly. Their devotion to one another and to their family was phenomenally portrayed and I don’t think I can recall any other relationships that were so believably intense.
But that being said, I felt like rest of the story suffered because the need continually display more and more OTT romantic actions and sexual scenes took over. Even the romance itself fell apart for me a few times because the author seemed to be more focused on the sexual side that the true romance fell away. For example, the one upmanship of Gabe and Josh’s planned days. I felt like they were never fully realized the way the author promised.
I also felt like the mystery itself was front loaded too heavily and the carry through never happened. There was so much potential for the vacation to be fun and for the mystery to actually be mysterious. However, so much of the page was devoted to sex and love that the mystery never actually happened. I mean it did, but it was at the very end and there was no mystery. The incident happened, the baddy was revealed and the case was closed. There was no typical detective wanna be Josh and no real investigation into who did it or why. It was just revealed and the story went back to being all about the relationship.
Don’t get me wrong, this story was worth reading and the relationship between these men is one of my all time favorites. But for this to be marketed as a mystery, it failed in my opinion and that left me personally less than satisfied.
However, that does not stop me from encouraging anyone from reading this series and getting to know these men and theirs friends. It is worth it and you can make your own decision about the ending.
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