Title: Jude
Series: Lucky 03
Author: Garrett Leigh
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (220pgs)
ASIN: B07Q18JBBG
Publisher: Fox Love Press (24 March 2019)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: 💖💖💖💖 3.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Prime
Blurb: Isha has spent the last year watching his BFF get his happily-ever-after. He’s proud of Dom, but…it hurts to see him so free while Isha’s love life is still on lockdown. Only Isha’s ex-wife knows the secret that he’s kept caged for so long—that he’s queer too, and he’s lonely.
Jude’s too chained to his work to notice what he’s missing by being terminally single, but a new face in the village soon catches his attention. City boy Isha is gorgeous, and when he starts to haunt Jude’s reptile shop as well as the hook-up app on his phone, he’s a welcome distraction from Jude’s business problems.
For a control freak like Isha, letting Jude under his skin is an existential meltdown, but Jude’s not in the market to be anyone’s queer crisis, not when he’s facing troubles of his own. Unlocking their lives could push both men apart forever, but it might be a risk worth taking if sharing is the key to their happy future.
Purchase Link: Amazon US | Amazon UK
Review: Jude is the second book in Garett Leigh’s series Lucky. This book focuses on a different couple from the previous books and works as a standalone book, although both couples (Lucky and Dominic, Cash and Rae) feature heavily throughout this book. Obviously, Garrett Leigh is not an entirely new author to me, but I feel that I need to do more exploring with the author’s offerings to get a true opinion on how I feel there.
Even after the three books in this series I am not completely sold on the writing style, feeling that there is a lot of filler words and faffing about. Then again, I just might not have any patience, particularly when I can see the direction in which the story will go. However, in saying that Jude is by far my favourite book in the series, where I felt it was much easier to relate to the MCs, even if I wanted to strangle one of them multiple times throughout the book.
The couple in this book is Jude and Isha, both of which have close ties to the second book. Jude owns and runs a pet shop, devoting all his energy to the business, so much so he doesn’t see that there could be more in his life. They hook up on Grindr. They also meet when Jude needs to organise a party for his son, mostly because his ex-wife can’t handle snakes and the kid wants a pet party (seriously, never knew that could be a thing for a kids party). Isha isn’t closeted but he has issues in showing the world his sexuality, even if his ex-wife embraces this side of Isha more than Isha does. And this is where the miscommunication comes in.
Isha has a lot of shit to sort through and though I really wanted to strangle him, this is what made him an excellent character. He had a lot of growth throughout the story before he could be worth of Jude. Isha’s other problem is that he uses work as a crutch to keep him occupied so that he doesn’t have to face up to reality. He is really an intriguing character and is the reason why this rates as my favourite book in the series.
This is a book mostly about self-discovery. This will appeal to reader that are into reading characters that have to come to terms with themselves before they can let love in. It was nice seeing the four guys from the previous books again as they tried to help their friends.