This is the story of Lucas Vallois and Andrei Hadeon...a bodyguard and the person he’s protecting who fall in love. Yes...it's been done before but still... it’s awesome. There are four primary characters, Lucas, Snow, Rowe and Ian. They have an "unbreakable bond" that's been forged through hardships. Lucas and Snow have known each other since childhood, they met Rowe in the military, and Ian after that. They’re all have very different personalities. Lucas is the protector and a businessman. Snow is a surgeon and he's rather dark and lost. Rowe is the military man, and later the owner of Ward Security, and Ian is sweet and caring, and a chef. While this book is about Lucas and Andrei, it’s also about the four friends and they all play a big part in the story. Andrei wasn't quite as developed as the other characters, but enough that we understood where he was coming from. There was hesitation on parts of both men in terms of their sexuality. Lucas considered himself bisexual but preferred to portray as straight in his business circles. Andrei considered himself bi-curious with little experience. They both had to move past their hesitations, but honestly, that wasn’t a problem in this story, just something that both characters had to work through, and it never stopped the relationship developing. Parts of the story were unpredictable, and some that were very predictable...such as he teams need for rescue after the undercover operation. This is definitely a "character-driven" book. It was an easy and very enjoyable read. I’ve started and finished the next book, which is Snow’s story, and will post them together. ( )

Hm. Not sure how I feel about this one.

On the one hand, it had a half-decent plot and even a couple of rather interesting supporting characters (Snow, I'm talking 'bout you!), on the other, there were just so many things about it that kept bothering me. There was a plethora of eye-roll worthy cliches I won't bore you with, because I'm a lazy bitch. There's also insta-lust. It's one of my pet peeves, but it's not nearly as irritating as the much more elusive insta-love. Unfortunately, copious amounts of both are the backbone of Shiver. When Lucas nearly flipped out on two of his best friends because of Andrei (whom he'd known only a few days at the time, but who, you guessed it, was already becoming the center of his universe), I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly got stuck that way. I guess some people would do anything to get some dick for love. Also, Andrei has to be the easiest butt-virgin EVER. Three days, guys. That's how long it took for a reluctantly bi-curious man to give it up. No matter how smoking hot Lucas supposedly was, that's just way too quickly for my taste. There was completely no chase. If one discounts that, however, the MCs did have some good chemistry.
The writing style wasn't that great either, but it wasn't bad. Overall, it seemed a bit simplistic, especially when contrasted with the bursts of purple prose that appeared randomly throughout the whole book. But I dunno, it may be a case of 'it's not you, it's me.'
I'm in two minds whether or not continuing this series would be a good idea, but the second book's about Snow and his hot nurse. Or was it a paramedic? Hmmm... ( )

Purchased Amazon April 2, 2022

3.5 stars
I picked up this book because upon trying the sample, it reminded me of Marie Sexton's Heretic Doms. The friendship, that soul-deep connection between the four men was very appealing to me.

Insta-lust. The kind of insta, when just hearing each others voice makes their cock leak and causes uncontrollable shaking in their bodies. That kind of attraction is unbelievable to me. If not for that, I would've liked the heavy UST, but it felt too much. Not to even mention the GFY element that added another layer of slight disbelief, though thankfully before anything happened between them, Andrei very calmly admitted that he had some experience with men, so it didn't exactly came out of the blue.

At certain points I felt some scenes were unnecessarily overdramatic. I know it's a crime story, I'm not talking about that. But just the little things. It might be the authors' M.O.

I also didn't like that every time the pov switched, we missed what happened to the other MC. So when poor Andrei got captured, it was really unexpected. There wasn't even a hint that he might get caught. And in the last few chapters we skipped over a few weeks... weeks that could've been filled with how Andrei met the big boss, or how he struggled with the fights, not physically but mentally.

Here and there we got Snow's and Rowe's pov too... and maybe Ian's too at one time? There wasn't any significance to those chapters, I think those were just an early introduction.

However the characters are likeable. Not just the four men, but I liked Detective Banner too, I think he might be the kind of cop who always screws up everything. lol And there was a kid, Geoffrey, I don't think he'll have a permanent role in this series, but he was so cute. :)

When it comes to a series, I always hope that with time it gets better, so I might try the rest sometime. ( )

Read this book as part of the 2019 Members' Choice Awards Challenge.
Categories: Best Audiobook Narration of the Year

I added this book to my tbr last year because it had won the Member's Choice Awards, and while there was nothing obvious that would make me not want to read it, I still avoided it - until now.

The character building was fine, there was some depth to them that I didn't really expect, so I was pleasantly surprised. The relationship was insta-lust with romance potential. The plot was so-so: interesting enough to keep me going, but not really my thing. The writing had its annoying/awkward moments, what with the constant use of "the other man", "the older man", "the doctor", "the ex-Army Ranger" etc. It ended in a very believable HFN - if it were any different it would have royally pissed me off.

So the book was by all means okay, but it lacked that special something that would have made it work for me, and it made my reading of it kind of tedious.

2.5 stars ( )