Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Chef Rafe
SERIES: The Lonely Heroes Series (Book 10)
AUTHOR: Sam E. Kraemer
PUBLISHER: Kaye Klub Publishing
LENGTH: 330 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 1, 2023
BLURB:
When Chef Rafael Torrente runs into Bounty Hunter Dallas St. Michael on the Las Vegas Strip, the desert is about to sizzle like a spicy Italian sausage. Goditi il viaggio!
Rafael Bianco Torrente, world famous chef, New York restauranteur, and sometimes assassin is expanding his empire to the bright lights of Sin City. Rafe only has time for work, but the memory of one beautiful night with the man of his dreams has stuck with him for a whole year. To Rafe, extra virgin oil will always hold a special memory.
Dallas St. Michael, fugitive recovery agent and older brother of London St. Michael, former operative for Golden Elite Associates-America, is haunted by the memory of a man who blessed him with one perfect night. The memory of their too-short encounter has made Dallas unwilling to even consider having another man or woman in his life, so he lives his singular existence as a freelance bounty hunter in a bare-bones apartment in the Las Vegas Valley.
One accidental meeting in the middle of the night. The man he craves appearing out of nowhere. Is the Universe giving the two men another chance at… something? With their busy lives, is there any way they can find time to make the connection they both seek? Will they survive the three-pronged blitz attack on Rafe’s family that comes out of nowhere? Is it finally time to level old scores, and who are the new players in the mix?
Can Rafe and Dallas keep their chemistry alive while they fight the garbage dumped on their piece of happiness cake?
This is the tenth and final book in The Lonely Heroes series. Come along and finish the ride, won’t you?
REVIEW:
I’m going to be honest with you. I wasn’t ready to read this book or do this review. It hurt to know that this group of amazing heroes were going to end and I wouldn’t be looking forward to their next big adventure again.
We first got to see Dallas and Rafe meet in Kelly and Dallas’s younger brother London’s book Avenging Kelly when they all went to Hope Island. That one magical night on the beach stuck with both men. But they knew they were both too busy with their professions to even consider anything more than that one incredible night. Rafe had his newest restaurant to open in Sun City (Las Vegas) while Dallas was busy bringing in the bad guys that skipped town as a fugitive recovery agent (bounty hunter) for bail bondsmen’s. After a particularly long stake out, Dallas heads downtown to the newest casino to sit and gaze at the huge projection of the man that got away. Rafe is having a hard time sleeping, with his extended family in town for the opening of his newest restaurant Cucina della Nonna, Grandma’s Kitchen which is a nod to his Nonna, his grandma that instilled his love of cooking growing up. When a chance meeting of the two men happen once is definitely not enough. But will they make time for more? Especially when family war is about to erupt?
This series is what introduced me to the amazingly talented and gifted author Sam E. Kraemer. She has created a universe where men of honor and integrity do what needs to be done to protect those they love and the innocent people they have been hired to do so for. The upsetting part of this whole series was to watch how greed and jealousy of conflicted extended family members could cause so much harm, violence and death to members of their estranged families. But the hardest part was involving the young and vulnerable children in this dastardly deranged game of retaliation. I was thankful the Frank Man and his empire of despicable and deranged operatives were finally brought to their own kind of justice that they so rightfully deserved.
I will say that I’m thankful to get to see the human side to Rafael. We knew he was there when things had to happen and he made problems disappear permanently. Watching him fall for Dallas and the conflicts he had was riveting. Did I like when he decided to shut Dallas out for his own good…NO! But I understood his logic no matter how wrong it was. Those two men were already into each other so deeply and this ploy just hurt more than saved Dallas heartbreak.
So, I will be honest, I actually cried when I read the last words to this amazing story and series. I know we are promised at least one epilogue novella to catch up with our heroes. And there is a hint that we will possibly🤞get a novella of what’s up with Fitz and Zayn and their tenuous partnership. Also, we are promised new spin-off series and will get to see our heroes pop in there too. Sparky and his men are promised to us starting in April 2024 and we know that Dallas owes him at least 2 hunts so I have high hopes of getting to see him and Rafe. Plus the Pahrump Steel Cowboys MC’s are getting their own series and Giuseppe offered to help Sawyer “Bones” Abbott for his and his MC’s assistance in finding the older kidnapped couple.
If you have not had the opportunity to read this series you have totally missed out. Yes, there is blood and violence, but that’s what happens when the “good guys” come in to save those that need their help. I highly recommend that you read this series in order. Each book picks up where the last one left us and the Frankie Man part of the story line continues throughout the series while each couple gets their well earned HEA’s 💕
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