Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Dearly & Vain Valentino

SERIES: Dearly and the Departed (Book 2)

AUTHOR: L.A. Kaye

PUBLISHER: Kaye Klub Publishing

LENGTH: 218 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2023

BLURB:

When the family business is death, how does one convince the deceased to embrace the afterlife without hurting their delicate feelings?

Keir Dearly, proprietor of Dearly & Son Funeral Home, is working his way through heartache after Dashiell Clegg, the object of his affection, has taken off on an adventure and left Keir behind. When a certain handsome detective shows up and wants to woo the mortician, temptation knocks. Will Keir answer while Dash is off trying to accept mind blowing news and navigate a new reality?

Valentino Rankin, a fledgling male model, becomes a client of Keir’s at Dearly & Son by paying more attention to his reflection in a store window than the flow of traffic. He refuses to give Keir information to assist with reconnecting him to his body and has a hard time accepting he has to fight a living biker and a cop for Keir Dearly’s affections.

How can Keir convince Valentino that the afterlife is calling, or is there something more to Valentino that Keir can’t see? Can Dash help clear things up with his newly acquired skills that will be a surprise to everyone? There’s trouble with the electricity at Dearly & Son, and it’s nothing an electrician can fix!

REVIEW:

Okay this one really pushed me outside my nice, tidy reading box and I can’t be more pleased to admit it.

Keir Dearly is heartbroken. Dashiell Clegg not only cancelled their New Yers Eve plans but flew off to Italy to the Ducati factory to see how the bikes are made. He is also is taking a month to ride the Italian country side with the lead of the design team and his wife. But now Dash has gone MIA and Keir fears his revealing of his abilities has run him off for good. Dash admits that Keir being able to converse with his customers freaked him out. And taking off like he did wasn’t the brightest move but no one had ever accused him of being bright. When a freak accident leaves Dash in a coma he realizes that maybe Keir wasn’t imagining his abilities. But how does he reconcile all his new knowledge and share it with his beloved?

I get where Keir had every right to be heartbroken and then pissed at Dash. He had fallen hard for the guy and then he literally ghosted him. Not cool to do to a mortician. But I also get where Dash was coming from. The guy literally has had so many tough things happen to him, unfair or not, and trusting someone as sweet and pure as Keir to really love him was hard. Then to get hit with the knowledge that your mortician boyfriend can talk to his dead clients had to have freaked him out. And losing his phone when he got hurt added to the situation. When he awoke from his freaky coma he was confused with what was presented to him. And the last effects of the boating accident made it where he didn’t want to bother his employees with his predicament. That man sure needed to learn that he had people out there that not only worry about him but love him. His employees/friends for one but Keir the most.

I will say I couldn’t figure out where this was going which is fairly  rare for me. I usually have at least a clue. However this stories had so many turns that it kept me guessing until the very last page. But what was with all the good spirits always coming to visit and talk to you when you were unconscious? I guess they figured they had a captive audience.

And I can honestly say I didn’t see Valentino’s story evolving like it did. I know there were clues along the way but I never put two and two together. Like I said, this book kept me guessing and on my toes the whole way. I simply couldn’t put it down.

I am really looking forward the the next books in the series. I wouldn’t say you are left on a cliffhanger but there are elements in the story that still need to be sewn up. And I can’t wait to see where they go next. Great book and funtastic series!

RATING:

BUY LINK:

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