Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Drilled

SERIES:  Four Bears Construction

AUTHOR:  K.M. Neuhold

NARRATORS:   Tim Paige and Liam DiCosimo

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  6 hours and 14 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  September 29, 2021

BLURB:

A month in a remote cabin with the last man I ever expected to see again? I can’t decide if I should punch him or drill him. it might end up being both.

After more than a decade, the last person I expected to see walk into the Four Bears Construction offices as a new hire was Ridge.

He was my first crush, and my first heartbreak when he started dating my sister. When he left her at the altar without so much as a note, I wrote him off for good.

No amount of excuses and explanations can erase what he did. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. But when we end up being sent to a remote campground alone to spend a month rebuilding the cabins, it’s too easy to remember why I fell for him in the first place.

I know the guys are all taking bets on how long it takes us to start playing with each other’s tools.

It’s going to be a long month.

Drilled is a forced proximity, best friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, hilarious and steamy, final book in the Four Bears Construction series. It can be read as a stand alone but you won’t want to miss this whole hilarious and hot series. No bear shifters, only the other kind of burly, hairy bears.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the seventh and final book in this series (although fear not, we may get a spin-off series) and so it contains lots of spoilers for previous books – although nothing that takes away from this one 🙂  I do recommend reading them in order because you will love them.

Apollo is a bit of a grumpy Gus, but he really likes his job at Four Bear Construction.  He’s comfortable there and he really likes the guys.  However,  he’s less then enthusiastic when who should walk in the door as the latest hire but his former best friend. Ridge.  His first crush.  The guy who ran out on his sister and everyone else on their wedding day.  He’s not in the mood to forgive in forget.  In fact, he want nothing to do with Ridge.

The rest of the guys at Four Bears are surprised at Apollo’s reaction to Ridge.  They assume it’s a relationship gone bad – and it is.  Just not the kind they think it is.  Apollo just wants to do his job and avoid Ridge.  But then a job comes up for the company that will require a team to work on a remote campground renovation for at least a month.  Since Apollo and Ridge are the only single guys in the group, the owners ask if they will take the job and spare any of the rest of the guys from having to be away from their husbands for a month.  They don’t want to let the job go and both guys like their jobs so they agree.  But then Ridge’s truck breaks down so Apollo ends up driving him up to the camp.

Apollo refuses to talk to him about anything but work, but Ridge is determined to set the record straight about why he left without saying anything.  He had never felt like he had a family until his best friend Apollo took him under his wing and what better way to make sure he never lost them than marrying into the family.  But the night before his wedding, he realized it wasn’t Gina he was in love with, but Apollo.  And he didn’t know what to do with that – suddenly waking up to his sexuality and not wanting hurt anybody else, he just took off.  Apollo has never forgotten him and hasn’t wanted to even know why at this point.  He’s not going to forgive Ridge for what he did.

But as they work together, they both remember how great their friendship was.  And when Ridge finally gets Apollo to listen and understand why he did what he did, well then Apollo is the one confused, because how can he still have feelings for his best friend, first unrequited love, that he’s never really gotten over?  He’s got to figure out how to handle this because he doesn’t want to lose Ridge or his family.  When Ridge confesses that he ran because he realized he was in love with Apollo, well nobody is quite sure how to move forward.

While this wasn’t my favorite of these books (although it’s kind of hard to pick a favorite TBH) it was still a really good story about finding your way back to yourself.  I really loved that Apollo and Ridge were finally able to get back to their friendship – and more.  I loved that the Four Bears guys continue to be the fun loving, prank pulling lovable bunch of found family brothers that anybody could ask for.  Stone and the gang do their best to try to push Apollo and Ridge together, knowing that they’d either get it together or kill each other!  Hijinks of course ensue!  Plus there is the hilarious little thing about Ridge hating spiders and being scared in the woods and the supposed haunted campground.

For fans of the series, we get a glimpse of some of the possible pairings in the spin-off series we’ve been promised.  We get to visit with all the other couples and have some fun and games out in the woods.  Liam DiCosimo and Tim Paige continue to provide stellar narration.  I truly hope that they are available to narrate more MM books, because they do a fantastic job. There are a lot of characters in this and they stay true to their previous performances for all of them.  Definitely recommended and a sweet send-off to this favorite series.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

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