Title: Shock & Awe
Series: A Sidewinders Story book #1
Author: Abigail Roux
Narrator: Brock Thompson
Genre: Contemporary MM Romance
Length: 3 hours and 59 minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (12-18-2015)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Blurb: After barely surviving a shootout in New Orleans, Sidewinder medic Kelly Abbott has to suffer through a month of recovery before he can return home to Colorado. He’s not surprised when fellow Sidewinder Nick O’Flaherty stays with him in New Orleans. Nor is he surprised when Nick travels home with him to help him get back on his feet – after all, years on the same Marine Force Recon team bonded the men in ways that only bleeding for a brother can. He’s very surprised, though, when Nick humors his moment of curiosity and kisses him.
Nick knows all of Kelly’s quirks and caprices, so the kiss was a low-risk move on his part…or so he thought. But what should’ve been a simple moment unleashes a flood of confusing emotions and urges that neither man is prepared to address. Now, Kelly and Nick must figure out what they mean to each other – friends and brothers in arms or something even deeper – before the past can come back to ruin their tenuous future.
Product Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/audio/1545
Reviewer: Tams
Review: Kelly Abbott and Nick O’Flaherty have been friends, brothers, comrades in arms for over a decade. With Kelly still on the mend after being shot during the fiasco in New Orleans, Nick takes the time off to stay with his friend and help him while he heals. Kelly isn’t sure if it’s the pain meds, or being in such close quarters with Nick, but his perception of his friend shifts almost as soon as they get to his cabin. What starts out as mild curiosity quickly turns into so much more and soon, they cross a line that they can never jump back over again.
I really enjoyed getting to know more about Nick and Kelly. Being secondary characters throughout the Cut & Run series as members of Ty’s rag tag secret black ops team, the Sidewinders, I only got to know them in the capacity that fit into those stories. Now the focus of the story shifts to Nick and Kelly, the strong bond they already share after relying on each other in life or death situations for over a decade. So, while to some this may seem like an insta-love story, I assure you, it is not. It’s been brewing for close to fifteen years.
Narrated by Brock Thompson, this is my first audio with Thompson and it did take me about twenty minutes to get used to his narration. After listening to the Cut & Run series, I got used to that specific voice for Nick and Kelly, so Thompson’s was off at first. It did not take long for the story to pull me in though, and I actually think I like Nick more voiced by Thompson because he has his Boston bread accent. This wasn’t the norm for the Sidewinder guys, this was a singular story about Nick and Kelly realizing a mutual attraction, talking about it, and then acting on it. It was short, sexy and even a bit steamy.
I quite enjoyed this romantic reprieve and look forward to more stores for Nick and Kelly. They aren’t quite as troublesome and volatile as Ty and Zane, but they might graduate to that with more time. If you are a fan of the Cut & Run books of course you’ll enjoy this companion series.
But if you’ve avoided that series due to the madness, murder and mayhem… this is slower but just as appealing as anything else Roux has written.