Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Adam Bomb
SERIES: Moguls, Royals and Rogues #1
AUTHOR: Kilby Blades
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: January 21, 2020
LENGTH: 254 pages
BLURB:
Moguls, Royals, and Rogues
Can a lifelong friendship survive the fallout?
Levi Cossio’s best friend Adam has always been larger than life: a smoking-hot billionaire hotelier whose charm can bend the world to his whim. When New York City stops being big enough for both of them—at least if Levi ever wants to fall out of love with Adam—he leaves it behind for a job in in San Francisco.
But when Adam pulls an Adam—upending the calm new life Levi has come to love with a plea to lend his talent to a worthy cause—Levi is helpless to resist. Adam will be the first Fortune 100 CEO to come out of the closet on a grand scale. He needs a trusted ally on his PR team. Levi is a lauded portrait photographer. And the job will only last three weeks.
Levi accepts on one hidden condition: he’ll keep his new friends away from Adam, certain that if they get a whiff, they, too, will fall under Adam’s spell. Bent on keeping his two lives separate, Levi barely makes it through the first two weeks unscathed—and then Adam drops another bomb….
REVIEW:
Levi is a top photographer. He is sought after by the famous and fellow artists. The man could capture a scene like no other. He depicts his subject so well that when he took some sneaky pics of his best friend, Adam, the love Levi had for him showed through. So, he kept them hidden. To further hide his passion, Levi moved from New York to San Francisco, where slowly but surely, he made friends and began to move on.
Then Adam turned up. He who was gods gift to everyone. He looked like it, acted like it, was it. He had the charm of the blessed. And to boot, he was the new billionaire CEO of Kerr Hospitality. Adam had recently lost his controlling father, broken up from the chosen woman, and needed a favor from Levi. He needed Levi to photograph his coming out.
Never managing to say no to Adam, Levi agreed, but he knew the job was destined to be hell.
Ooh, what can I say, other than, I’m a sucker for friends to lovers tales, and this one I loved.
The story is in the third person. However, it wasn’t technically the best I’ve seen come out of the DsP camp regarding head-hopping, and that is on the DsP editors, not the author. So, a few points lost there.
Anyway, technicalities aside and focusing purely on the story, what wasn’t to love. It was clear the author had specific ideas about the Kerr establishments, and the imagery came over beautifully. The photo shoot settings were also nicely illustrated. Not many other locations were described, nor did they need to be. I didn’t feel bereft at the lack of intimate details of the San Francisco layout.
As for characters, the extended cast is a blast. They let out almost every cat Levi wanted to keep in the bag. It is clear that they love Levi and want the best for him. Levi keeps many of his feelings towards Adam bottled up, and his friends are a super counterbalance to that.
Now for Adam and Levi. Adam has the strength of a leader, but when it comes to Levi, he’s in no man’s land. Adam knows he wants Levi and tries every trick in the book to get him, but he lost touch with what Levi needs. And to some extent, he’s like a lost puppy. Levi has his secrets, and his love for Adam is his biggest. But, he’s good at denying what is right before him. Levi is the guy that holds back in life but shows who he is through his photography.
Adam Bomb is the kind of story where the friends circle each other for a long time, grow apart, then realizing the two were meant to be together, find a way to make it work.
RATING: 
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