Title: Knave of Broken Hearts
Series: Love in the Laguna, #2
Author: Tara Lain
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (224 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC (August 3rd, 2015)
Heat Level: Moderate/Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥4.25 Hearts
Blurb: Jim Carney has a full-time job—running from himself. Since he walked out on his wealthy family at sixteen because he’d wrecked his best friend’s life over some yaoi graphic novels, Jim has lived a macho, blue-collar existence of too much booze and too little responsibility.
Then Billy Ballew, the man Jim most admires, gives Jim a chance to come through as his construction supervisor. For once, Jim is determined to make someone proud. Then Jim goes in for a physical for his new job and his yaoi dream comes to life in the form of cardiologist Ken Tanaka.
Jim discovers he has two heart problems—a wonky mitral valve and a serious attraction to his doctor. But Ken is a major player, and Jim might be just a notch on the doc’s stethoscope. To Ken, Jim is unforgettable—but the living embodiment of his traditional family’s worst nightmares.
How come the minute Jim decides to be responsible, he finds himself taking care of his kid brother, getting a proposal from a wealthy woman, making a deal with the devil, and winding up in the hospital—when all he really wants is the Knave of Broken Hearts?
ISBN: 9781632169624
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6633
Reviewer: Aerin
Review: This book is part of a series and I recommend it to be read in order, because many characters from the first book are present in this one as well. I liked this book a lot more than I liked the first one, and that one was pretty good to start with.
I was looking forward to Ru’s story, so imagine my surprise when I realized I wasn’t going to get it this time around. This is Jim’s story; remember Jim from Love in the Laguna? He was very supportive of Billy and I liked him; in this book we get to know him very well. He’s a closeted man, to the point where he fools himself on a daily basis when it comes to his sexual preferences. I must admit he became aggravating at times in his determination to not accept his sexuality, and I might have felt the urge to smack him around.
Ken Tanaka is the sexy Asian doctor who takes care of Jim’s heart; he was my favorite character! I have a weakness for pretty Asian characters and Ken definitely is both. The chemistry between him and Jim is pretty easy to see, although if you’re looking forward to steamy, intense, melt-your-brains sex you might be a little disappointed. We do get the sex, but the steam factor is affected in a negative way by the constant humor and by Jim’s issues.
Whoa! Did I just complain about humor? But I love humor in my books! In this case humor was both a good thing and a bad thing. You know that invisible line when it comes to humor, which when crossed, makes a book too silly and less intense? That’s exactly how I felt about it. The sex had the possibility to melt by brains, but it was too silly and it felt short. Even so, this book was a solid 4.5 to 5 stars….until we got to the end.
The last two chapters were too cheesy, too silly and hard to believe. A very traditional Japanese mother MIGHT accept her son is gay, but she still insists on marrying Ken the traditional way to a husband of her own choice. Except all of a sudden at the end, she’s impressed with Jim, but not because of his shiny personality of his great quality of life. She came across as a materialistic, socialite, selfish person and I didn’t like her at all.
But hey, next book IS going to be Ru’s book and I’m so excited to read it! Is it here yet?
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *
Thank you so much for reading Jim and Ken’s story! Honored to be on the site. ; )