Title: Cash

Series: Lucky 02

Author: Garrett Leigh

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Novel (270 pages)

ASIN: B07MVLGFJT

Publisher: Fox Love Press (22 Jan 2019)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: 💖💖💖 3 Hearts

Reviewer: Prime

Blurb: Cash is a car mechanic with a secret. Head down, sleeves up, he hides from the past as much as his shattered heart, until a reluctant stumble into a Tottenham bar ends in the one night stand of his dreams.

Hunt saboteur Rae can’t believe his luck when he wakes up the next morning. Cash is gorgeous, and the hottest hook up he’s ever had. He doesn’t expect to see him again, until a twist of fate lands him on Cash’s doorstep a few months later.

United by a cause that’s broken Cash before, they are drawn together. They have more in common than they ever imagined, but with Cash haunted by the past, and Rae so tangled in the present, it’s not long before love isn’t enough to keep them alive.

Purchase Link: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review: Cash is the second book in Garett Leigh’s series Lucky. This book focuses on a different couple and although the couple of the first book (Lucky and Dominic) feature heavily throughout this book, this does work as a standalone 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.

I feel that my review for this book is going to be rather short and to the point, mostly because although I liked and enjoyed the story I really found it hard to connect to the characters properly. I’m not going to wait until the end of the review either to get give my conclusions. Therefore, I didn’t really fall in love with the guys, despite the fact I wanted to see a HEA. This is probably compounded (and directly influences) the fact that at times I felt that the story was a tad too long and I just wanted the story to hurry up.

The story is about Cash and Rae. The guys meet one night, have a one-night stand which leaves both of them with a mountain of emotion which seems easier to just ignore (so, yes, there is a significant helping of miscommunication in this book and that tends to frustrate me). However, Cash’s past life and Rae’s current activities bring them back together.

Rae is active in a hunt saboteur group, i.e. a group that protests and disrupts hunting parties that chase live animals, most common that in England seems to be fox hunts. I suppose they are eco-warriors, against animal cruelty. His group are in trouble and so he is sent to find some old saboteurs that left the game, in the hope of getting experienced help concerning some major hunting activities. He didn’t realise that the Ciaran that he was tracking down is Cash, who hates his real name. Cash has nothing against the sabs, after all he was one of them, but it is his confusing feelings for Rae that draw him back in. The danger and mystery culminate to events that could kill Cash.

As I said earlier, although I enjoyed the story and I will stick around for the final good, I didn’t feel a deep connection to the characters. This is good for people that like an action, contemporary romance with a couple of ordinary guys.

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.