Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Blaze

SERIES: Unbreakable Bonds #5

AUTHOR: Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliot

NARRATOR: Kenneth Obi

PUBLISHER: Drake & Elliot Publishing

LENGTH: 7 hours, 50 minutes

RELEASE DATE: December 24, 2020

BLURB:

The rings have been selected.
The champagne placed on ice.
The cake decorated.

And the pre-wedding sex is off the charts….

Lucas Vallois and Andrei Hadeon are finally ready to walk down the aisle. There’s just one small problem.

A ghost from Lucas’ past shows up days before the wedding, desperate for help. Against his better judgement, Lucas and his best friend, Ashton Frost, plan a fast trip back to the one place they swore they’d never go: their hometown in Oklahoma. But the danger is worse than they expected.

Now, they’re in a race to track down a killer, keep a young girl safe, and get Lucas back in time to say, “I do.”

REVIEW:

I think this might be my favourite book in this series to date. It was heartfelt, filled with all kinds of emotions. I’m also kind of a sucker for stories where characters go back to deal with stuff from their past and find healing in it.

Lucas and Andrei are planning for their wedding that’s only a couple of weeks away. Plans are made and re-made as are the seating charts. Come hell or high water Lucas and Andrei are walking down that isle this time. There won’t be anything that can stop them, no postponing, they will be getting married. So of course there will be a hiccup in their plans when they get an unexpected visitor; Lucas’ sister Nicole. A sister he hasn’t spoken to since he left his hometown many, many years ago. She’s begging for his help with her daughter; Lucas’ niece, whom she fears might be in trouble. And a visit from an idolised uncle might persuade her to open up.

Lucas reluctantly agrees to return to his hometown for a day to talk with Taylor, hoping to find out what troubled the teenager. But he doesn’t go alone, his best friend Snow goes with him and he’s even more reluctant to return to the town that treated them so badly. Their quick day-trip goes down the drain when they arrive to find Taylor missing and more danger they ever planned on.

All of the guys are fiercely stubborn and protective of each other. Those bonds have been there from the beginning, and it makes them so special. They are unwavering and constant, no matter what these guys are there for each other. Theirs are bonds that transcends friendship or family. I also loved how fiercely protective the guys were of Taylor, how immediate it was. That they had healed enough from their past to be able to open up to her, to include her.

Kenneth Obi’s performance of this book was great. He’s found his calling (I hope, because I for sure would hate to see him stop narrating books). I know that when I pick up a book by him it will be great, he will take me on a journey that I don’t want to end. He will make me feel. For some reason, Taylor’s phone calls stood out to me narration-wise. I mean Obi really captured the fear in Taylor’s voice, the need to protect her mother. He also captured her independence and determination to get to the bottom of things and get to the truth.

Of course, Taylor wasn’t the only one he captured, there are also all of the men. He captured the love between our guys, all of the guys. The love of family, but also the bone deep romantic love they shared. How well they knew each other – like when Andrei could tell Lucas was on painkillers only by the way he acted on a phone call. The love between them poured from my earbuds every time they interacted, and it was wonder

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon