Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Bad To Be Noble
SERIES: Bad To Be Good #3
AUTHOR: Andrew Grey
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 228 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 23 2021
BLURB:
For glass artist Ashton Weller, Longboat Key seems like the perfect place to start over. It’s warm, sunny, and far from the dangerous ex he left behind in Chicago, even if his glass studio does get even more uncomfortable in the Florida heat. It’s also home to Terrance Manetti, a man who turns into Ashton’s inadvertent hero when he saves him from some unsavory types at a local restaurant… and may turn into more than that.
Former mobster Terrance has been in Witness Protection with his “brothers” ever since they turned state’s evidence against their former employer. His brothers have a different life here, filled with family and small-time, honest jobs, and Terrance doesn’t know whether to be jealous or derisive.
Not until he meets Ashton, anyway. With Ashton, Terrance could build the kind of life he’s never dared to want—the kind of life where he won’t need the skills he learned in organized crime. Or so he thinks—until Ashton’s past comes looking for him….
REVIEW:
First a note on connectivity. You could read this book as a stand-alone. There is enough information about the past to make it readable and understandable, but there is, inevitably, so much left out that you will lost a lot of richness and depth if you have not read the previous two books in the series first.
Having grown up together on the hard streets of Detroit, Gerome, Richard and Terrance are unrelated by blood, but brothers in every way that counts. Former crime bosses, they are now in witness protection and trying to live quiet lives. Both Gerome and Richard have found love and have partners and even children. Terrance was the strong-arm, the one who did the fighting and left the thinking to the other two. He watched them find their happy-ever-after, their families, never knowing that’s what he wanted to…until now.
The story forms a similar formula as the previous two. Terrance falls for someone who is running and needs help. The person they are running from has, at least peripherally, connections with the life the three brothers thought they had left behind. It comes to a head. Someone dies. They’re all saved. They live happily-ever-after…until the next time.
Sometimes formulaic can mean disaster, sometimes, it just feels safe. I had to admit that I never truly warmed to the star of the previous book in the series, Gerome. My spark came from the surrounding characters. Here, the background characters are still sparking up a storm, but I did fall for Terrance. He had a long way to go before he was ready for his family, and he was always ready to go the extra mile. Maybe he wasn’t the brightest of the three brothers, but he was a quick study.
Ashton brought a great splash of colour to the story. A glassblower by trade, he treats us all to a tiny slice of an occupation I know absolutely nothing about. I found it absolutely fascinating. Ashton is an extremely interesting character, and whilst he didn’t quite worm his way into my heart like Daniel and Tucker did, I loved him. He’s a strong and likable character and I have always liked that the physically weaker partner has always been so strong in other ways.
A last word belongs to the kids, who continue to enchant. I particularly love the dynamic Coby and Joshie have between them and they add an air of innocence to a family that are certainly not innocent in general.
If you enjoyed the first two books, you will definitely enjoy this one. If you didn’t enjoy them, why are you still here, and if you haven’t read them, go do that first.
RATING: 
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