Recent Release Review: Calling His Bluff (The Kings: Royal Flush #2) by Charlie Cochet

Reviewed by Jen

TITLE:  Calling His Bluff

SERIES: The Kings: Royal Flush #2

AUTHOR: Charlie Cochet

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 261 pages

RELEASE DATE: July 17, 2025

BLURB:

Welcome to the Royal Flush series, where love is the ultimate gamble.

Ryden Foster is a Marine scarred by a painful past of loss and hardship, but with the support of his Four Kings Security family, he’s finally healing. As he rebuilds his life, the only thing he enjoys more than his job is sparring with Jay Starling, Ward Kingston’s flashy executive assistant. Their longstanding feud is filled with sharp banter, weaponized romance novels, and a heat neither will acknowledge.

Jay is organized, efficient, and always in control, except when it comes to Ryden, the brash Marine with a talent for getting under his skin. When a Marine wedding and a client’s murder are linked, Jay and Ryden are pulled into something far more dangerous than petty rivalry. After a chilling encounter, Jay sees a side of Ryden he wasn’t prepared for, one his heart can’t ignore.

As Ryden and Jay join the Kings on a perilous mission, surviving means risking more than just their lives. It means trusting each other with their hearts.

An enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract romance filled with found family shenanigans and high-stakes action.

REVIEW: I love Charlie Cochet. Her books are always a guilty pleasure for me. So when I saw this spinoff, I had to grab it. Once again, we have a story of ex-military with backstories finding their other halves, and Ms. Cochet gives us everything we loved about the previous books. Here, we have Jay, King’s faithful assistant, and Ryden, one of the Marines, who have been at each other since they met. Years of getting under each other’s skin, pranking each other and generally just pissing each other off. No requests by the other guys, including King, have been able to push a ceasefire with these two.

But then, things heat up, and the guys find themselves smack in the middle of an operation involving some of their other friends. Jay and Ry are sort of pushed together which has the result of them realizing they really don’t know that much about each other. Their relationship pretty much blossoms from there, as their eyes are opened up about their feelings. Unfortunately, they still have the current situation to deal with.

I really love seeing all of these guys (and their pets) together again as the team goes to work. Chip is still a strong member of the team as well. We know everyone already, with the exception of Jay’s brother, who shows up and forces Jay to deal with a few familial issues from his past. All in all, it was a very healing installment as relationships go, especially for Jay. We have grown to love him as the one who runs everything in the office, taking care of even the smallest of details. And it is easy to see why he is loved by all, even Ryden. This is a pretty big family already, but it is easy to keep them straight, and I’m really hoping there is still room to grow. Either way, this was another hit for me from Ms. Cochet.

RATING: 

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