But even after everything is said and done and they do manage to stitch things up, unlike the previous installments this book ends with one HELL of a cliffhanger. The last scene of the book is heart shattering but everything about it how it unfolded was expertly done. It was somehow another step, probably the last before they can truly find their place as a couple and yeah I'm saying that because I've already read the next one.. when I finished this book two years ago I wanted to shoot someone for having to wait a WHOLE year to get my hands on the next installment..
The first big secret to be revealed is why Sidewinder (Ty's Marine Team) were discharged. Funny enough, even the team didn't really know the real reason and what was behind it all. So it's not really Zane who is shocked by the discovery but his best friends who believed him and in him for years and now discovered he sort of betrayed them (mostly betrayed their trust I guess). But what DOES shock Zane is learning the truth Ty and his team has been living in right from their discharge.
This changes everything. The betrayal Zane feels is NOTHING like was the team discovered. They might be pissed that he lied to them and withheld information he wasn't even allowed to give, but being with Zane for two years now and leaving out the agreement they all signed (not saying more not to spoiler..) shatters Zane from the inside especially when he realizes there is still one thing Ty unwilling to tell him, not even when Zane threatens to walk away which is exactly what makes Zane take the step out of the room, out of Ty's life in his eyes and with that step, all the amazing achievement Zane made from being with Ty and beside him threatens to crush to the ground.
I"m not sure what was more painful, Ty's misery over the secrets he kept (I guess in good reason) or Zane's heart ache over the betrayal. But, well, since I've always been on "Team Zane", as usual I'm taking his side (even if he was quite the asshole later on..).
When Ty is pushed to finally tell Zane the absolute secret, it's the last thing Zane expects to hear and it puts EVERYTHING in their relationship on a big question mark. Everything he trusted and believed in feels like a total lie. Again, I got Ty here, why he lied, why he kept on lying but again, thinking of Zane, oh god, I remember I cried when I read it for the first time. This time I was just hurting about what's going to happen next, too wrecked to stay in this point in time in the book.
It would have been easier to deal with all the fallout if not for Liam Bell, a former SAS agent from the team's past who appears out of no where and having a very dubious agenda. Does he want to kill Ty? Make him suffer by hurting Zane? Use him for his purposes? It's really not clear right up until the end where it does come clearer though it's not totally confirmed. But regardless of Liam's role in everything they have both the New Orleans crooked police on their heads as well as the Vega Cartel from Miami... Yaiks!
There is a lot of talk about Voodoo and fate in this book. Ty being a believer and Zane not, yet Zane "humors" Ty by accepting his beliefs most of the time right up until they realize that years and years ago, their paths crossed in the most unexpected way. Which could only be "explained" now as them being fated to be together. I'm not sure what I feel about it actually. I thought it was mostly strange.. (maybe because like Zane I'm NOT a believer..) But well, it is what it is.
Before the horrendous cliffhanger but after the big fallout with their enemies Ty and Zane go through another semi crisis, well, crisis isn't really the word actually, I'm not even sure what it is, but it's something that was much needed for the both of them. Again, something they absolutely NEED in order for their relationship to work on the long run. I was pissed at first, when I first read it, but even then, as I was reading it, I got it. It was right.
I enjoyed this one, I really did, with the angst and the annoying cliffhanger, it was great seeing them deal with who they are, where they are now and what the past and present made them into.
Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 288 pages, 28-31 March 2015 / On GoodReads
Originally Reviewed 01/06/2013:
Though it was a great book, I'd say it was a 'difficult' one.
Until now every problem the guys had was easily solved and if not it was delayed in an easy way (like 'stepping out of the closet' in front of the family, moving in together and the manner it was done - as partners but not as a couple for most people's knowledge)
So all in all everything kinda works itself out. nothing 'big' or very problematic in their relationship with each other.
This book brings a 'big secret' or rather 2 big secrets that tear their world apart leaving us torn as well.
It was heart breaking seeing them struggle through this secrets and trying to accept each other decisions and actions.
we also have a player from Ty's past which is pretty complicated guy from an interesting past....
A great book! but also less then an 'easy read' because of all the emotions packing up that twists you from the inside :-)
Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 288 pages, 30 May - 1 June 2013 / On GoodReads
ABOUT THIS SERIES
Cut & Run is a GREAT MM Romance series written in the beginning by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban and continued from the 5th book with Abigail Roux solo. I
really enjoy Ty Grady and Zane Garrett's relationship and since it's
quite slow going on the built - the way the relationship was formed and
established between them felt very genuine.
Ty and Zane are both FBI agents. Ty being former Marine and Zane having a lot of experience in the Under Cover field as well. They are put together against each others will (doesn't it all start this way? :)). It doesn't take more than 2 seconds for the both of them to realize they are the absolute opposite of the other and it doesn't take a genius to realize it's going to crash and burn between them... and yet they somehow do find themselves attracted to each other and moreover start to trust each other as partners. It takes them a few books to build a "real" relationship, takes them time to "come out" in front of family and friends, and yet they have to keep their romance to themselves when it comes to their work if they want to work together since the FBI doesn't partner couples (it doesn't have to do with them being gay).
I think it's a really good suspense romance as well, though the mystery part isn't the strong part of the books but the building of their relationship with every book that follows. Each book has it's own issue that needs to be resolved but there is also somehow a bigger picture with both Ty and Zane's past slowly unraveling and coming to bite them in the ass with the last three installment rapping up all the major troubles they were dealing with right from the beginning.
We also get to meet Ty's teammates from his time as a marine. Once a Marine, always a marine, right? and there's also a spin off series of two of Ty's teammates - Nick and Kelly called Sidewinder. I've read and reviewed the first one - Shock and Awe. But sadly I don't feel the connection to the characters as I do with Ty and Zane so I won't continue reading more in the spin off.
Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban published one more book together - "Warrior's Cross". Though it was published in 2009 the "right placement" of the book in relation to the Cut & Run series is before the 5th installment since it gives a better understanding of the couple who appears in "Armed & Dangerous". Julian and Cameron's story is VERY different than the Cut & Run series. It's a sweet love story.
Ty and Zane are both FBI agents. Ty being former Marine and Zane having a lot of experience in the Under Cover field as well. They are put together against each others will (doesn't it all start this way? :)). It doesn't take more than 2 seconds for the both of them to realize they are the absolute opposite of the other and it doesn't take a genius to realize it's going to crash and burn between them... and yet they somehow do find themselves attracted to each other and moreover start to trust each other as partners. It takes them a few books to build a "real" relationship, takes them time to "come out" in front of family and friends, and yet they have to keep their romance to themselves when it comes to their work if they want to work together since the FBI doesn't partner couples (it doesn't have to do with them being gay).
I think it's a really good suspense romance as well, though the mystery part isn't the strong part of the books but the building of their relationship with every book that follows. Each book has it's own issue that needs to be resolved but there is also somehow a bigger picture with both Ty and Zane's past slowly unraveling and coming to bite them in the ass with the last three installment rapping up all the major troubles they were dealing with right from the beginning.
We also get to meet Ty's teammates from his time as a marine. Once a Marine, always a marine, right? and there's also a spin off series of two of Ty's teammates - Nick and Kelly called Sidewinder. I've read and reviewed the first one - Shock and Awe. But sadly I don't feel the connection to the characters as I do with Ty and Zane so I won't continue reading more in the spin off.
Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban published one more book together - "Warrior's Cross". Though it was published in 2009 the "right placement" of the book in relation to the Cut & Run series is before the 5th installment since it gives a better understanding of the couple who appears in "Armed & Dangerous". Julian and Cameron's story is VERY different than the Cut & Run series. It's a sweet love story.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! (Though I admit in my opinion the last two books were the weaker link, I expected more of them and got a bit too much of the new and shiny couple - Nick & Kelly).
This was and will be one of my absolute favorite MM Romance / Suspense Series. Ty and Zane, yeah, mostly Zane, are a couple I'll always carry with me. The road we went through together made them almost real in my mind and I'm really sad to say goodbye to them now that the series is over. Goodbye my friends.
Books:
1. Cut & Run (published 1 September 2008) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
2. Sticks & Stones (published 25 January 2010) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
3. Fish & Chips (published 6 December 2010) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
4. Divide & Conquer (published 14 October 2011) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
5. Armed & Dangerous (published 18 May 2012) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
5.5 Dine & Dash [ free bonus scene ] (published 8 July 2012) ★ ★ ★ ★
6. Stars & Stripes (published 13 August 2012) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
7. Touch & Geaux (published 8 April 2013) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
8. Ball & Chain (published 17 March 2014) ★ ★ ★
9. Crash & Burn (published 30 March 2015) ★ ★ ★ ¾
 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment