Book Title: Learning Curve – Life Lessons Book 4
Author and Publisher: Kaje Harper
Narrator: JF Harding
Release Date: November 16, 2022
Genre: Contemporary/Mystery M/M Romance
Tropes: established couple, found family
Themes: murder mystery, parenting, prejudice
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Length: 11 hours and 17 minutes
This is book 4 in the Life Lessons series. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
This is the solid HEA
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Mac is afraid he won’t recover enough to go back to being a cop; Tony’s afraid that he will.
Blurb
Three months after being injured, Detective Jared MacLean is healing, but he’s afraid it may not be enough to go back on the job. He won’t give up, though. Being a cop is written deep in Mac’s bones, and he’ll do whatever it takes to carry his badge again.
Tony used to wish he could have Mac safely home, but watching his strong husband battle disabilities is far from Tony’s dream come true. When Mac is asked to consult on a case involving one of Tony’s students, both men will have to face old demons and new fears to find a way to move forward together.
(This is a lightly edited rerelease of the 2013 original, bringing Mac and Tony to their HEA. – content warning for a domestic abuse case, suicide)
Detective Jared MacLean heard his name called and Linda Ramsey hurried toward him, her face bright and delighted. “Mac!” She grabbed him in an exuberant hug. “You’re back!”
“Just… partially. For this case.”
“Whatever.” She squeezed him hard and stepped back. “This is only the beginning. And I can’t wait to see the look on Terrance’s face when you walk in tomorrow.”
Mac thought he really could wait to see the man who’d ditched him in a crisis, but he’d committed. He was stuck with the consequences. “Maybe he’ll be out somewhere.”
Ramsey laughed. “If he knows you’re coming, I bet he will be.”
Mac pictured it, walking in the door first thing in the morning and… wait. “I can’t.” What the hell was he thinking?
“What?”
“I can’t… simply go home and tell Tony that I am heading off to work tomorrow morning, and he has to take the kids to school and pick them up and oh, yeah, about the fact that it is my turn to cook dinner… I, um, can’t suddenly drop everything I am doing at home. Even if I really was ready.”
His partner Oliver nodded slowly, then snickered. “You cook? Do you have the poison control number posted handy?”
“Basic cooking is not that hard,” Mac said with dignity. Really, if you could change a tire, you could make a grilled cheese sandwich. “So yeah, I have to make half the dinners. Fortunately not tonight.” He glanced at his watch again. At this rate, he was going to be late for Tony’s dinner. “Maybe I could be, um, a consultant for now. An… unpaid consultant obviously. I can help you out, when I’m free.” That way he might not even have to mention work to Tony. Much.
“I’ll pretty much take anything,” Oliver said. “If you’re the only one the victim’s kid’ll talk to, we need you available.”
“Waiting might be better anyway,” Ramsey said. “Gives me time to prepare Terrance.”
“Prepare how?” Mac asked dubiously.
“I have a plan. I’ve been keeping him off balance. A little gesture every day.”
“I heard about that.”
She giggled. “Last week, I sent a bunch of contributions to LGBT charities in his name. Small contributions in cash. He’s been getting the thank-you letters here at the department, for some reason. The Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project envelope was disappointingly bland, but the PFLAG one was great.”
“You’re not going to change his mind by some kind of, um, harassment campaign though.”
“No, you don’t get it. A few days before you come back, I drop him a little note. ‘Mac returns to the department in three days. Wouldn’t it be nice if his return went really smoothly and quietly?’ And then the harassment stops for the three days… What?” She stared at Oliver.
He had his fingers in his ears. “I hear nothing about any harassment you may be carrying out. Go on.”
“And then we’ll see. Is he smart enough to act in his own best interests and leave Mac alone? Or not? I’m thinking he may decide to let Loes carry the homophobia ball by himself. There’s no hope for Loes, but Terrance is just dumb and lazy. I’m betting he can be trained.”
Mac stared at her. “I am so fucking glad you are on my side…”
Find out how Mac’s return to detection goes, how Tony copes, and whether Ramsey’s harassment *ahem, persuasion* scheme works, in Learning Curve, Life Lessons Book 4. This series should be read in order. If you are following it in audio, don’t miss the ebook-only free 3.5 story – Compensations.
I get asked about my name a lot. It’s not something exotic, though. “Kaje” is pronounced just like “cage” – it’s an old nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I’ve been writing far longer than I care to admit (*whispers – forty-five years*), although mostly for my own entertainment. I write M/M romance, often with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi, paranormal… I also have Young Adult short stories (some released under the pen name Kira Harp.)
After decades of writing just for fun, my husband convinced me I really should submit something, somewhere. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out in May 2011. I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally published, including Amazon bestseller The Rebuilding Year and Rainbow Award Best Mystery-Thriller Tracefinder: Contact. A complete list with links can be found on my website “Books” page at https://kajeharper.com/books/.
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