REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Stacking the Deck
SERIES: The Kings: Wild Cards #1
AUTHOR: Charlie Cochet
PUBLISHER: Charlie Cochet
LENGTH: 267 Pages
RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2020
BLURB:
Ex-Special Forces Communications Sergeant Jacopo “Jack” Constantino knows a thing or two about communications technology. As head of Cyber Security at Four Kings Security, Jack spends his days working with high-tech systems. Life for Jack is pretty uneventful—despite working with his brothers-in-arms—and he finds himself longing for a little excitement.
Be careful what you wish for.
Two years ago, Fitz Harlow captured Jack’s heart and walked away with it. Now he’s back.
Fitz spent the last two years picking up the pieces of his life after a disastrous end to a ten-year relationship. After much therapy, and ice cream, Fitz leaves the fashion world behind and returns home to St. Augustine to open his own high-end salon, Hair Comes Trouble. Two years later, Fitz finally has the quiet, peaceful life he’s wanted for so long. There’s only one thing missing, or rather, one man missing, but Fitz has his doubts. With Jack, he’s not just gaining a boyfriend, he’s gaining a boyfriend, his family of mischief-magnet ex-Green Berets, and one highly opinionated Belgian Malinois.
Fitz and Jack discover their connection has only grown stronger over time, thanks in part to meddling friends, but just as they start to pick up where they left off, someone takes objection to their reunion. Danger hides in the shadows, a stalker determined to keep Fitz out of Jack’s life, no matter the cost. With the odds stacked against them, can Jack and Fitz win a battle against an unknown enemy, or will Jack lose Fitz forever?
The Kings: Wild Cards series is a spin-off of the Four Kings Security series.
REVIEW:
I can never get enough Charlie Cochet who delivers every time with her groups of close-knit teams of men who have become brothers, whether by past military experience or by current occupation. This one is no different and also offers the fun aspect of book titles and character nicknames all having meaning. In the initial series, The Four Kings, we met the main players (Ace, King, Lucky and Red), all who have earned their nicknames through their military team experience. They are all partners in Ward Security run by Kingston Ward, aka King, appointed leader of the group. In this spinoff series, we have the no less important members, Jack, Joker, etc.
In this installment, with a little push and shove from friends, Jack is reunited with Fitz. They met two years prior when Fitz was wrapped up with his bff, Laz, who is now paired with Red. Fitz had to take some time to get his life together after ending a 10 year relationship which explained why he tried to avoid starting anything with Jack until now. Just as things start to get rolling, however, there are incidents that start putting up red flags. Is someone after Fitz or are they after Jack? Either way, it puts into perspective what life would be like being involved with Jack due to his career and background and something which Fitz is unsure he is able to handle.
Thankfully, those same friends help out again and help get them all through the issues. Throw in some betrayal (not between Jack and Fitz) and a little excitement when things come to a head, and you have another solid piece to the Kings/Wild Cards puzzle. One of my favorite things in this, and in any book really, is good banter and comradery, and Ms. Cochet delivers that in spades. The pairing theme of badass special forces guys falling head over heels for twinky geeks does get a little tiresome, but there is enough of everything else to make up for it. We did get a glimpse at the future couples, and while I’m not super excited about the next one with Frank and Joshua or Ryden and Jay, I cannot wait for Joker and Gio. There is a lot of backstory with Joker and we already know Gio is capable of pushing Joker’s buttons. Bottom line, I definitely recommend checking this out and while this can be read as it’s own, you would really be missing out by not reading the initial series.
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