Red Haze is the long awaited HEA for our favorite moody drummer Arlo and the bodyguard who became the center of his world. Can two men who broke each other's hearts find their way back to one another?
From the blurb:
Everyone knows it’s a bad idea to crush on a straight guy. But when that man is also your bodyguard?
It’s just asking for trouble.
Arlo
Our rise to stardom might’ve helped me escape from the chaos that was my childhood, but that didn’t mean it was easy for me. Now, with fame and an almost unlimited bank account, you’d think I’d be happy. But I’m not. There’s no escaping the depression that dogs me or my past that refuses to leave me alone, no matter what I try. There’s no-one to stop the self-destructive spiral I’m caught in.
No-one, that is, until Jack.
As soon as the stoic man who looks like he could crush me under his thumb is assigned to me, I know I’m in trouble. Not only is he every one of my wet dreams brought to life, but he’s straight. Oh, and tasked with keeping me out of mischief.
What I wasn’t expecting was the friendship that followed. The way we would come to depend on one another.
When it’s all ripped away, can I find a way to exist without Jack at my side? Or am I destined to love someone I can never have?
Jack
After leaving the SAS, going into personal security seemed like the next logical step. Having been briefed on my client, the drummer for the rock band Caffeine Daydreams, I believed I’d be guarding some spoiled kid with more money than sense.
But as I get to know Arlo, I realise nothing could be further from the truth.
With the line between professional and personal blurring, Arlo quickly becomes the most important person in my life. When I have to decide between keeping him in my life or protecting him, I choose the latter.
I will always protect Arlo.
What I didn’t know was that the price I’d pay would cut me far deeper than I’d thought possible. Can I persuade Arlo to give me another chance? Or will I have to resign myself to just seeing him on my screen?
Red Haze is a demi-awakening, bodyguard x rockstar MM romance. The final book in the Caffeine Daydreams series, each book follows a different couple as they find their HEA. Although better read in order, these books can standalone.
Angel's review:
I've been curious about Arlo and Jack's story since the first book in this series. There has been a lot of curiosity surrounding these two characters, and I'm so happy we finally got their story.
I'll start by saying that Lark knows how to write, she always creates beautiful characters with a fantastic story, and wonderful dialogue. This book was no different, it was just as great as her other books. I, for one, am really glad that we got to know what finally happened between Arlo and Jack. And what happened was so heartbreaking and the angst that occured during this story was so painful! I just wanted these two men to have their happy ending together, and they did eventually get there... But only after they went through pain and hardship.
Which, if you have ever read anything by Lark Taylor before, you would know she always has some level of angst in her stories. She pulls at your heartstrings and makes you feel for her characters. I thought the writing of this was great, I loved getting the full backstory of what actually happened between Arlo and Jack. I liked how we got their history, and then were able to get an insight on what was going on with them in real time.
I loved how all the members of the band all gathered around Arlo and had his back no matter what. The action scenes were written really well, I thought the twist of Arlo having a stalker was written exceptionally well, and was believable. The way it was written put you on the edge of your seat, because you were left wondering who was after Arlo, and when they were going to appear.
My favorite part was the fact that River, Mori, Sebastian, and Matty made an appearance! That was such a lovely surprise, it was amazing seeing those characters in this book!! Overall this was a terrific way to bring this series to a close.
Jacqueleen the Reading Queen's review:
"๐'๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ'๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ? ๐๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ?"
I totally loved reading Arlo and Jack get their HEA, even when I wanted to smack them both upside the head so many times! So much hurt and loss could have been avoided if they had just communicated. If they could have let down their final barrier and truly trusted one another. It was so frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time. Because even though I wanted to hate Jack for a lot of the choices he made, I couldn't. I couldn't because he made them for the right reasons. Or at least what he thought were the right reasons.
"๐'๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐'๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต, ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ."
Poor Arlo. Watching all his bandmates fall in love, especially Kai whom he felt a kindred spirit. It killed me how hurt he was. I couldn't believe it when we finally got the background on these two all that was going on under everyone's noses. The depth of their connection must have been extremely difficult to hide.
"๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ญ๐บ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฌ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต."
On a lighter note, I absolutely loved all the cameos from a certain demon series. *wink wink*. They brought some needed levity into a bad situation. A situation that had such a satisfying ending. Take that as you will. And since I was teased an intriguing possible future couple I think I have to mention it in my review. Please tell me Corey is getting his own book!! ๐๐ป
Heather's Review:
Sometimes you just need to read a book where you spend 70% of it wanting to smack the characters up side of their heads and pull their brains out their... well, if you need that in your life, than Red Haze is definitely the book you want. It's angsty, with seemingly unrequited love, demi-sexual rep, bisexual awakening and of course, a ton of outside interference.
I'm so glad that Arlo finally gets what he wants, and that Jack gets his hard won HEA too... It was lovely to see all of the Caffeine Daydreams characters happy and secure and the cameos were fun too!
Red Haze is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription
Comments
Post a Comment