Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: King
SERIES: Executioners #3
AUTHOR: J.M. Dabney
PUBLISHER: Hostile Whispers Press
LENGTH: 148 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 23, 2018 2nd edition
BLURB:
Andrew King’s life wasn’t what he’d expected it to be. At thirty he was a single dad who drove his rig to make ends meet and played in his band Executioners on the weekends. King saw himself being a husband again one day because that’s what was expected. When Melanie had gotten pregnant, their parents had given them one choice—they’d stuck it out a year. At twenty-eight, he became a single dad when Melanie went off to college. He loved his son more than anything, and they’d quickly fell into a life of just the two of them, well, not just the two of them there was Lincoln too. His ex-wife was still his best friend. They all co-parented Mal, it was natural and right.
Lincoln Church lived for his nephew and his teaching job. While King, his ex-brother-in-law, worked driving a truck. As a result, Mal ended up living with him most of the time. It was the closest Linc would ever come to being a dad. The only bleak spot in his life was his feelings for King which he thought would never be reciprocated. It wasn’t so bad because he still had King and Mal in his life and that meant the world to him.
A stupid accident and a broken leg sidelined King, keeping him off the road. When King needed help, Lincoln rushed in, and King couldn’t deny his attraction or love for Lincoln. Would one kiss ruin the weird, little family they’d created?
REVIEW:
You know, there’s a line at the end of this book that sums up these series perfectly. And I’m paraphrasing. But Linc is sitting around with everyone, listening to the Executioners play in Pelter’s yard, and he reflected on everything. And his thoughts were, that everyone in their broken perfection were a family. (Again I’m paraphrasing!) But it sums it up so perfectly. This set of series, with all these men, have just been devastating on some levels. But they’ve found the one or two people that make them the better men they want to be. They make them happy and whole. And in their brokenness, they found life, love and family. And even in all the brokenness, it’s been perfect.
Linc and King have been circling each other for years. For Linc, he pretty much fell in love at first sight with King. What Linc didn’t know, was it was the same for King. But King at the time was in the closet and dating Linc’s sister. They had a kid and a quiet divorce and King came out. Linc was dating someone for a while but still had a thing for King. He always would. Even if King found someone else, he would still love the man. But he didn’t want to think about King with someone else, but he didn’t want to mess up what they had either. He loved being a ‘dad’ to little Mal, even if he was technically the Uncle. The way they had their lives set up worked for them. King on the road, Melanie at school and work and Linc worked and kept little Mal while they were away. It was perfect for him, except for not having King at his side. But an accident King was in caused things to move into different perspectives. King kissed him and it was one he would never forget. But was it really King kissing him or the meds talking?
One thing that broke my heart with Linc was that he was so hard on himself. He was always down on his looks because he was a little heavier, but King always put a stop to that. And he got creative with it as time went on lol. Linc was such a sweet and tender man. He was perfection for King. He was everything King ever wanted in a man and apparently it was time to stake his claim. He talked and talked about it to Melanie and his own Uncle, and everyone said the same. Stop feeling guilty over it being Melanie’s brother and get your man. Linc was told the same but in different words of course. They needed each other. They needed to complete each other the way no one else could. And until they got over the Melanie issue, it would never happen. I loved these guys. Just as much as I do the rest of them. They are broken perfectness. Flawed but beautiful.
Thank you to J.M. Dabney for creating these series of beautiful men. It’s been a pleasure to watch them all grow into who they are now. And knowing more are to come, it makes me very happy.
RATING: 
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