Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: James
SERIES: Gates of Heaven #3
AUTHOR: M. Tasia
PUBLISHER: Boroughs Publishing Group
LENGTH: 151 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 19, 2019
BLURB:
GOING IT ALONE
Too many ghosts live inside James Masterson’s head, and they weren’t the company he sought. Actually, he prefers no one’s company, but he finds himself surrounded by overly friendly, meddlesome types while visiting his brother at The Gates in DTLA. Somehow, James becomes the unwelcome subject of Detective Richard Ross’s attention, and, before he knows how it happened, James is caught up in Ross’s family drama. When a madman tries to kill Ross’s sister and her daughter, James’s special ops Army training kicks in, and he becomes their hero, something he knows down to his core, he is not. The thing about crazy killers is they never give up, and when the final showdown comes to a head, James knows he’ll do anything to keep the family he has found, especially the love of a sexy detective.
REVIEW:
I will give a warning for possible triggers: James is military and deals with severe PTSD and survivor’s guilt, with flashbacks and nightmares and such. For most it’s not a huge thing, but for those who’ve dealt with military or been in or are in, just be careful.
I love reading true stories about military men. I know that sounds weird. It’s not a uniform fetish or anything like that, but because when the story is told correctly, it gives people a tiny glimpse into the lives of what these men and women do in order to protect us every day. And for that, I will always be eternally grateful. We all take it for granted too much sometimes. This is one of those stories. It’s not terribly graphic with what he deals with, but it’s enough you get a real sense of things he’s seen and having to deal with in his head on a daily basis.
James lives with demons in his head every day. He can’t get past his survivor’s guilt or the PTSD that tries to take him down daily. And having to save his brother the way he did, just kind of added to what was already there. But now, on top of all that, he’s having to deal with the local cop, Ross, up his butt at every turn. He doesn’t mean to get into trouble, but he can’t sit idly by when someone is hurting someone else either. And now that threat includes Ross’s remaining family. His sister and his niece. Thankfully, James happened to be at the right place and the wrong time, but because of it and his military background, he was able to save the family, even though it meant a target on his own head. And now he and Ross seem to be butting heads even worse. Both denying what they truly want. But with the threat of the mob on their shoulders, they have to protect everyone at all costs while finding how deep the corruption goes. And hope that everyone can make it out alive.
Support and love go a long way to helping someone with PTSD. BUT, often times, it needs more. Therapy or some sort of session where the person can deal with what they feel. And for James, it’s no different. The problem is, is when survivor’s guilt is involved, people often keep saying, ‘oh, it wasn’t your fault.’ And I hate to say it, but it doesn’t help. You can say it until you’re blue in the face, but until the survivor can believe it, it doesn’t help. And that’s one thing I loved about Ross. He didn’t sugar coat things with James. He didn’t pat him on the head or back and say ‘there, there’. No. He offered a different way of thinking for James that could possibly help him see another side to this to understand he wouldn’t have been at fault regardless. And Ross’s sister was right. They really do make a good team. They bring out things in each other that no one else has been able to do. That doesn’t mean their lives are easy or will be easy. It won’t. Not with the demons floating around. But they know each other well enough or work well enough together to read the signs and know when to back off and when not to.
I really love the dynamics with these two. Often times it was funny, because of the quips they traded back and forth, but somehow they got each other right off the bat. And it made things easier for them. Not perfect or completely easy, but easier to deal with when things were needed a certain way. I love this story. I really love James and am glad he’s finally found something that makes him want to move the demons from his mind.
RATING: 
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