Title: A Bit of Me
Series: Love in Xxchange 06
Author: Bailey Bradford
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Super Novel (231pgs)
Publisher: Total E-Bound (7th November 2011)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥4 ½Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Chase Murphy lost everything—money, his best friend, and his confidence-but one man wants to help him regain what was taken from him along with a love that Chase never expected to have and doesn’t believe he deserves.
Xavier Talbot has everything a successful man should, or at least he thought he did. Suddenly he discovers that his brother is a sick sadistic jerk, the boy he found on the streets and raised for the past several years is going to give Xavier a clear understanding of ‘empty nest syndrome’, and the club he’d built up from nothing, The Xxchange, now seems like a sleazy place instead of the GLBT paradise Xavier had imagined. Then a chance encounter with one man gives Xavier a bit of hope in his rapidly depressing world.
Chase Murphy only wanted one thing—to find his best friend, James Stratton, who’d been kidnapped by a vengeful sociopath. Hurt and stranded in a town he has no intentions of staying in, Chase meets a man he wants to hate, but he can’t stop thinking about Xavier Talbot no matter what he does. Slowly, seductively, the town and its inhabitants draw Chase in and make him rethink his opinion on forming friendships and the possibility of a long term relationship. He isn’t sure he wants to hang around to see if things would work out, but it isn’t until James is found that Chase discovers the truth about what it means to love people, as friends and, for Xavier, as a lover.
Reader Advisory: This book is best read in sequence as part of a series.
Purchase Link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1430
Review: Chase has had a hard life and it has only got worse in the last few months. He now has nothing at all and his only friend is missing. When he meets Xavier he finds it difficult to handle the attraction. Xavier has troubles of his own; his brother is losing control and Billy has met someone who he could love. When he meets Chase, Xavier thinks he may have just met the man for him.
This story has a great story-line that keeps you reading. Chase is only in the mess he is in because he helped a friend. But saying that, he probably would have done it anyway. He is recovering from a severe beating when he meets Xavier and although he is attracted to him he holds back as he has trouble trusting people. Xavier will go at whatever pace Chase wants and between the two of them they manage to sort out their problems with the help of their friends.
I really liked how this story paced its self and was filled with enough conflict to keep it hopping. The hurt that Xavier feels over his brother is well portrayed and his feelings about losing Billy are all too true and described very well. Chase’s fear of getting close to people is understandable and his worry for his friend is brilliantly done. The relationship between Chase and Xavier is well done and not rushed or over the top and the sex is red-hot.
I will recommend this to anyone who likes mystery, a bit of danger, hot sex, hot men, a fantastic story and great taste in authors. I personally can’t wait for Billy’s story and then I am hoping for James and Shearing’s story.