Reviewed by Taylin

 

TITLE: Real Hazzard

SERIES: West Coast Forensics #4

AUTHOR: Elle Keaton

PUBLISHER: Dirty Dog Press LLC

LENGTH: 277 pages

RELEASE DATE: August 25, 2022

BLURB:

They’re not looking for love, but it finds them anyway. Can two very different men find common ground and claim a future… together?

Foster

Things I love

✓ my kid sister

✓ the no-hope dogs I rehabilitate

✓ my job as an EMT

✓ and maybe my new friend Dutch.

But Dutch isn’t gay and physical attraction isn’t something I feel often. Are these feelings real, or am I just tired of being alone?

Dutch

This is all Hazel’s fault. Hazel the Hazard.

✓ Hazel made me come to first grade safety day.

✓ Hazel blurted out—loudly—about the beautiful fireman.

✓ Hazel invited the beautiful fireman over for a party.

I swear I’m not gay, but Foster Jennings is the most beautiful man I’ve ever met, outside and in.

Dutch is the single dad of a precocious daughter. He moved to Piedras wanting a better life for Hazel and himself. Things are shaping up, he’s landed a permanent job at Brooch Resort and Hazel has quit having nightmares that someone is going to steal her away.

Then everything goes sideways, Dutch’s past threatens his future and he doesn’t know where to turn.

Something is wrong, Dutch is pushing him away and won’t tell Foster why.

When Hazel goes missing Dutch can’t hide anymore, he needs his… Foster to help him get Hazel back.

#Demisexual #BiAwakening #SingleDad #FindingFamily

Real Hazard is book four in the West Coast Forensics series, is dual POV, can be read as a standalone but may be more fully enjoyed if you start with Real Trouble.

 

REVIEW:

Foster had raised his sister since their parents died in a car crash, leaving Becca in a wheelchair. Between raising a teenage Becca, his EMT work, and training wayward dogs, Foster’s life was full. Then he encountered Dutch. Dutch fled from a dodgy past to raise his daughter, Hazel. Now line chef at the Brooch resort on Piedras, he was tired but happy. When his eight-year-old took him to the school safety day, life changed again when he met Foster. However, both men struggle to have their bright-light moment.

Wuhooo – the residents of Piedras are back but in a slightly different way than before, which mixed things up nicely. This time I didn’t get to see the strong arm of the Delacombe matriarch, but the adult children of the Piedras shady past who made good – and were even scarier than their relatives. I guess you could call them the white-hat mafia.

Like previous stories in the series, Real Hazzard is also told in the third person from the viewpoints of Foster and Dutch. Like the blurb says, this one can be read as a standalone but is best enjoyed with previous knowledge of the world from book one. I believe this is because of the new mix of protective friends. They’ve previously lurked on the outskirts as victims or have been caught up in their family history. These relatively mild-mannered people have lived through a lot, learned from it, and now rule their own lives, protecting those they deem their chosen family.

Foster is an all-around good guy with a tragic past. He loves slowly (he is demisexual) but fiercely when in love. He’s an EMT, helps at the fire station, and is an expert dog trainer. Shout out here for Gorp, the highly intelligent, stubborn mixed heritage dog.

Dutch hails from a biker-gang past that he survived rather than lived. His daughter gave him the best reason to leave it behind. Since he found Piedras, Dutch has raised Hazel into one firecracker/hazard of a young lady. What he is unaware of is how protective his island family is of those they’ve adopted.

Real Hazzard was always going to be a slow-burn story with intense worldbuilding, especially when combined with the other novels in the series. Much of the initial focus is on Dutch and Foster being single parents. Yet, it is a tale that builds more depth, anticipation, and action with each chapter. And when Dutch’s past catches up with him…well… I couldn’t read fast enough.

As the West Coast Forensics is getting to be a lengthy series (and it’s not finished yet) – I was grateful for a cast list as part of the opening credits. It gave my memory a jolt of clarity before the fun began. All the characters are interesting, and I love the balance of a strong female cast alongside the equally awesome men. Becca (Foster’s sister) and Hazel are super additions to the list, and Dutch is destined to be another bad-ass island protector.

But, for me, what makes this series work so well, and my reason for loving it is the eclectic variation of Piedras inhabitants with all their quirks that, time after time, thwart the bad guys. They are a wonderfully dysfunctional family that argues among themselves but sticks together when someone threatens one of their own.

So, in a nutshell, we have a slow-burn story with a protective heart whose pace increases with the story progression. A man who wants to leave his past behind. And some new kids on the block who have previously been through the wringer and band together when the chips are down – Nicely done.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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