Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Genuine Imitation

SERIES: Gentleman Hackers (Book 3)

AUTHOR: G.R. Lyons

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 299 pages

RELEASE DATE: July 19, 2022

BLURB:

A scarred beast. A strong-minded beauty. Can one thaw the other’s cold heart before it’s too late?

Thomas Pennington has spent his life trying to make himself worthy. After being ostracized by his own people, he came to a new land, gave himself a new name, and clawed his way to the very top of society, only to be struck down by someone he thought he could trust. Hiding the scars from that ordeal, Thomas isolates himself in the dark until a beautiful, confident boy turns everything on its head.

Hayden Ross is suddenly broke and homeless, but he still owes Thomas for trespassing on his property. When Thomas proposes an unusual arrangement—one that defers Hayden’s financial woes—Hayden jumps at it. Thomas wants to punish him, but Hayden is determined to prove he’s man enough to take whatever Thomas throws at him.

Thomas clings fervently to his traditions, which won’t let him love another man. But the more Hayden surprises and impresses him, the more he finds himself falling.

When a plot against Thomas puts Hayden in danger, will Thomas risk everything to save him?

Genuine Imitation is the third book in the Gentleman Hackers series. It features a mouthy trans boy, a grumpy billionaire determined to put him in his place, bi-romantic awakening, a ransom plot, and an HEA ending. And Hayden isn’t the least bit sorry for making Thomas work for it.

REVIEW:

I couldn’t wait to hear what happens with the twins now that they found each other!

Hayden is stuck in a weird predicament. He is suddenly broke and homeless because he still can’t forgive his parents for kidnapping him and separating him from his twin Levi at birth. Plus now, according how things go in Agoran, it is up to the wronged party and the perpetrator to make things right. So Hayden is now with a roof over his head but living with the consequences of his attempt to break into Thomas’s bank. Little does either man realize that there is something brewing between the two enemies.

Hayden comes across as the spoof little boy but he is dealing with so many things. His loving and doting parents kidnappers him from the hospital when the baby they were scheduled to adopt turned out to be very sick. They separated him from his twin and that wasn’t ever going to be okay. Plus they refused to acknowledge that he was not a girl but a trans boy. And to prove it only boys were given the gift of magic. He should have went with the Magi when it was discovered but his parents refused. So now he had to grow up and make a like for himself. A life that, as it turns out, is connected to Thomas.

Thomas touched my heart. The whole way his former tribe treated him was reprehensible. As if a little boy should carry the weight of what his horrible father did. And to blame his mom was just as bad. Then to ban him from his homelands at the young age of eleven. Unbelievable! So this young boy has to leave his only home he has know to navigate a whole new foreign place that he can’t even speak the language or write.However weak that Thomas thought he was he persevered and won. He amassed his wealth and rose to the top of Agoran society but still pined for his homelands. But he was anything but weak.

This would not be my typical reading but G.R. Lyons had pulled me into their universe and I’m enchanted. I simply can’t wait for the next book. Caution: you really, really need to read this series in order. Characters overlap and these stories pick up where the last one ended.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

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