Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Just Say When

AUTHOR:  Aimee Nicole Walker

NARRATOR:   Tristan James

PUBLISHER:  Tantor Audio

LENGTH:  6 hours and 3 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  June 27, 2023

BLURB:

Someone wants Police Chief Emilio Mendoza dead. And if his unknown assailant doesn’t kill him, pining for Sheriff Abraham Beecham just might.

Abe and Lio’s thirty-year journey has taken them from heated rivals to best friends with countless labels and pit stops along the way. Romance is the only avenue left unexplored but not from lack of love or desire.

Abe pushes people away before they can get too close, and Lio doesn’t engage in situations he can’t control. They’ve reached an impasse, and neither are willing to risk their friendship until fate intervenes, forcing them to reassess their priorities.

But when an unhinged enemy targets Lio, will their gamble be too little too late, or will their love truly conquer all?

Just Say When is a stand-alone romantic suspense novel within the author’s Savannah universe.

Contains mature themes.

REVIEW:

Savannah Police Chief Emilio Mendoza and his best friend, Sherriff Abe Beecham have been in each other’s orbit since they were kids.  We’ve seen glimpses of these two as they have shown up particularly in the Matrimony & Mayhem series.  They have had a number of “closed door” meetings and the officers from Savannah PD have seen them out together and have definitely been speculating.

At the beginning of this story, Abe and Lio as well as Lio’s ex-wife and her current husband are supporting Lio’s 15-year old son Alex at his baseball game.  Abe is Alex’s godfather and they are very close as well.  This leads to a story of how Abe and Lio went from being enemies – certainly on the fields of competition (baseball, basketball, football) to comrades in arms in the Army to best friends and colleagues in their law enforcement roles.  They’ve dances around each other for years and are both finally in a place where they are single and can do something about this simmering chemistry between them.  But Lio knows that love isn’t enough.  And Abe has some things to work through and some patterns to examine before Lio goes all in.

In the meantime, Abe and Lio are spending a lot of time together.  Lio has bought a fixer-upper and he’s slowly redoing everything with Abe’s help.  There is also a situation with a potentially dirty copy who is making Lio and his ex-wife, Alissa’s jobs really difficult.  She is an assistant prosecutor who has to go over a lot of cases that now may be tainted.  It’s a sticky situation and it’s making waves for everyone.

Then there is Abe’s very dysfunctional family.  He has to deal with a loss and what it means for his future.  He also has to come to terms with his past, since the last person who really loved him unconditionally is gone.  He wants to move on and he wants it to be with Lio, but there are still obstacles.  Including someone taking potshots at Lio and even more!  Can they survive all of this to forge a future together?

Finally!  The long awaited story behind the mysterious relationship between Savannah’s Chief of Police and his best friend, Sherriff Abe Beecham.  Although this isn’t “technically” part of the Locke & Key series, they certainly have featured there as the object of plenty of speculation from the detectives of Savannah PD 😉  I have been waiting forever for this audiobook it feels like 😀  But it was soooo worth it.  I really enjoy this whole Savannah universe that Ms. Walker has created.  There are so many good books in this world and this is another winner.  Abe and Lio are meant to be.  But the timing was always off.  Until now.  And they still have to dance around things a bit and then there is a crisis that involved everyone that has the potential to derail all of their lives.  But thankfully they work as a team. i absolutely loved the teamwork here with the MCs and their found family/colleagues.  The mystery was good and I enjoyed the suspense and the run up to the final confrontation/climax.  There is so much great history here and I thought having the story told from both MC’s POVs added a lot to the storytelling.

As usual, Tristan James does a great job with this performance. Again, we’ve seen a number of these characters in previous stories in this universe and this extremely talented and experienced narrator keeps the characters consistent from book to book.  Abe and Lio have been side characters in previous books and the MCs from those stories appear in cameo’s here 🙂  which is always a pleasure.  All of the characterizations of the players in this book were solid.  Whether villain or hero, I believed the story because of this solid voice acting.  It was suspenseful when required and tender and humorous a well.  I always look forward to the audio production of these books which adds just another layer to the enjoyment of what is already a very good story.  Well done!  Highly recommended especially for fans of the Savannah Universe stories from Aimee Nicole Walker.

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

Amazon

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