Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Trust with a Chaser
SERIES: Rainbow Cove
AUTHOR: Annabeth Albert
NARRATORS: Marc Bachmann, Iggy Toma
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 8 hours and 30 minutes
RELEASE DATE: February 20, 2018
BLURB:
One hot cop. One bar owner out for redemption. One smoking-hot summer fling destined to leave scorch marks….
Mason Hanks has returned to Rainbow Cove, Oregon with one goal in mind: turn the struggling coastal community into a thriving LGBTQ tourism destination. Step one is transforming an old bar and grill into a gay-friendly eatery. Step two? Don’t piss off Nash Flint, the very hot, very stern chief of police who’s not so sure he’s on board with Mason’s big plans.
Nash Flint just wants to keep his community safe and enjoy the occasional burger in peace. He’s not big on change nor is he a fan of Mason’s troublemaking family, especially his rowdy older brothers. But Mason slowly wins him over with fantastic cooking and the sort of friendship Nash has been starving for.
When their unlikely friendship takes a turn for the sexy, both men try to steer clear of trouble. Nash believes he’s too set in his ways for Mason, and Mason worries that his family’s reputation will ruin any future with Nash.
Burning up the sheets in secret is a surefire way to crash and burn, and discovery forces a heart-wrenching decision – is love worth the risk of losing everything?
REVIEW:
Mason Hanks is from a pretty disreputable family in Rainbow Cove. He’s returned from Culinary School in Portland with his two best friends hoping to bolster the community by building and promoting the town as a LGBTQ friendly destination. He’s reopened a bar and grill and he’s got investors from Portland interested in rebuilding a resort that will cater to the community and bring much needed investment and tourism dollars. But he’s also got to manage his family which is also a nearly full time job. His mother is deceased and his father is ill. One brother is in jail and the other is a hot mess which a young child that seems to land with Mason too much of the time.
Nash Flint is the town police chief, as was his father before him. He lives in his family home after his mother moved to Portland to be near Nash’s sister and children after Nash’s dad passed away. Nash is not a fan of the Hanks family nor is he big on changes to the town or even his diet, but he’s intrigued by Mason, the youngest Hanks. The food is good and Mason is trying to make something of himself and bring new money into the town which Nash rather begrudgingly admires. He also finds Mason pretty darn cute as well. But Chief Flint is so far in the closet he can see Narnia. And he’s not about to jeopardize his standing in the community, his family, or his job for anyone – not even, or maybe especially someone as attractive and understanding as Mason Hanks.
Nash and Mason begin a tentative friendship – that includes cooking lessons and time relaxing in an accepting environment. Both are under a lot of stress and they find being together somewhat easy if they can ignore the chemistry and desire. Which of course gets harder to do the more time they spend together. But Mason proposes that they just have some fun in a kind of friends with benefits sort of arrangement – and he accepts that it has to be on the DL with Nash’s feeling about his job and the community’s acceptance of his orientation. And that works for the while.
As things heat up, the secrecy begins to get to Mason just as Nash has feared all along. And when things come to a head with Mason’s family and he feels like Nash hasn’t supported him, things go a bit sideways. There are other people involved and just as Mason has feared, his family is going to screw things up for him in more ways than one. But there are more things to consider than just Nash and Mason and they have to figure out a way to make things right for everyone, including the most vulnerable in their midst.
This audiobook was a delight! I loved this story when I first read it when it came out – huge Annabeth Albert fan here. I think this is still my favorite of this series to be honest. Mason is such a good guy – always trying to do the right thing for everybody and putting himself last so many times. He’s got an uphill battle in the community because of his family’s reputation – as unfair as that is – and he’s working overtime to make things better. Nash is pretty set in his ways and he’s not about to rock the boat at nearly 40 with coming out. We get a good look into his family dynamic and how that has undermined his ability to be himself all his life. He’s got this whole “living up to” his father’s legacy thing going on that has pretty much sucked the joy out of his life. He’s very lonely and that calls to Mason. Mason recognizes that Nash needs a friend and he pretty quickly volunteers for that spot. He’s not sure where this is going but he sure wants to find out more about the sexy chief 😉 I loved how their relationship grew from friends to lovers and back with the support they show each other. Both men have family members who do not support them which was disappointing, but I think realistic. The dialogue was snappy and believable. These two really just fit together and the little things they did for each other left me with warm fuzzy feelings. So adorable! The narrators for this audiobook were superb. I’m a big fan of Iggy Toma who narrates a number of series that I’m fond of. I haven’t heard as many books narrated by Marc Bachmann, but I thought he did a good job with this. Because the story is told from alternating POVs, we have a great sense of both characters and their motivations and that’s handled well with the dual narrators. This is a really great start to this series from a much beloved author. Highly recommended!
RATING:
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