REVIEWED by Jen B.

TITLE: Guarding His Heart

AUTHOR: Beth Lacock

PUBLISHER: Rainbow Romance Press

LENGTH: 118 Pages

RELEASE DATE: October 8, 2019

BLURB: 

He’d risk his life to find his brother. But he never expected to risk his heart as well.

Three months since his brother, Jake, went MIA, Lane Matthews is tired of waiting for answers. With a little help, he arranges a posting to Jeddah for his first overseas deployment—the perfect opportunity to find his brother.

Life in a foreign land isn’t quite like he imagined and neither are his duties. But when he meets his housemate, Tristan, while it may be memorable, it’s not one of Lane’s finest moments.

Tristan threatens to throw him way off course, and falling for the hot straight soldier is definitely not in his plans. But as tensions rise and the truth about Jake is revealed, will Lane’s heart follow orders or will all be lost like grains of sand swept away in a desert?

This is the story about a guy who joins the military so he can be sent to the same warzone where his brother went MIA in hopes of getting some answers. His first real encounter is with his housemate with whom he shares an instant attraction, but for a hot second, he believes said housemate is straight. It quickly becomes apparent the opposite is true, and they hookup without much communication. It is this lack of communication that causes problems. Likewise, Lane is there on a mission – to find his brother – and falling for someone is not in the plans.

I enjoyed this, and the sexual chemistry was definitely there. However, it never really got past the superficial feel for me. I never really saw the connection between Tristan and Lane aside from the physical, and the story about the brother seemed like a total stab in the dark. I can understand him wanting resolution though, so I was definitely rooting for him to find positive answers. While that seemed a major focus of the story, it was wrapped up rather quickly, and the relationship between Lane and Tristan took center stage.

This was a really quick read, and I would have loved to have seen more development between Tristan and Lane. All in all, however, it was an enjoyable story with a bittersweet ending. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from Ms. Laycock in the future.