35 Followers
50 Following
maybedog

Affairs of M/Men

M/M Romance Reviews by Maybedog

Currently reading

Honesty and Artifice
S.H. Allan
Closure
S.H. Allan
Cuddling
G.S. Wiley, Rowan McAllister, Dawn Douglas, Stephen Osborne, Anna Martin, Elizabella Gold, K. Lynn, Eva Clancy, Rhidian Brenig Jones, Anna Butler, Caitlin Ricci, S.H. Allan, Rob Rosen, River Clair, Nico Jaye, A.C. Valentine

Review: A Hunted Man by Jaime Reese

A Hunted Man (The Men of Halfway House) - Jaime Reese

I was so disappointed with this book. It could have been a five star read but it missed. It was good, even great in parts, but nothing like the first one. This was way too instalovey. Their attraction was solely physical and it took a long time before they got to know each other at all and by then both were smitten. Despite that, though, I definitely felt their love and wanted them to work out.

 

But first the good: The book was touching, exciting, and funny, too. I did like the characters (with the exception of some behavior I'll describe below). They were real to me. There were secondary characters, too, that I liked a lot, even heterosexual ones! They were all distinct individuals and mostly realistic to me. I loved Cole and hope the next book is about him.

 

The author did excellent research on what it would be like for man who just got out of prison after a long term. Cam's been in for ten years and at one point he complains about "these damn sippy cup things for coffee everyone had in their hand." That's the kind of detail that would never occur to me but makes total sense on top of being funny.

 

The first kiss was so effing hot it made my toes curl.

 

There was a lot more action in this book than the previous one, which I liked a lot.

 

The plot was reasonable if predictable and unnecessarily convoluted in parts. (The final explanation part of it, though, was silly.)

 

Hunter's dad was hilarious and completely believable. One of my favorite scenes is when Hunter is talking to his father about wanting to ask Cam out. Here are parts of it. (It happens early on in the book while they're still trying to ask each other out, but I'm putting it in spoiler tags in case you don't want to read it.)

 

On what Hunter really needs:

"You're married to that job. You need to go out, find yourself a nice young man, and settle down." Hunter stared at his father in disbelief. "Fine, then find yourself a guy and go fuck like bunnies." "I'm so not having this conversation with you."

 

On how hard it is for Hunter to approach Cam:

[Hunter says], "I don't know what to say." "That's a new one. Knowing you, you're probably doing that stare thing rather than talking to him." Hunter shook his head as he chewed. "You're a stubborn ass. You don't even know you're doing it. You're probably freaking him out." "What the hell am I supposed to say, Dad? 'Hey, Cam, I like you--let's go fuck like bunnies?' You can't be serious." Hunter almost spilled his milk when his father slapped him across the back of the head. "What the hell, Dad! Those were your word snot mine," he said, rubbing the back of his head." "I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you." His father pressed his palms to his eyes.

 

On the age difference:

"What are you worried about?" Hunter shrugged. "He's younger than I am." "Is he legal?" Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose. "For fuck's sake, Dad. Really?" ... "Has he called you an old fart or something?" Hunter shook his head at the direction the conversation had taken. He couldn't believe he was sitting in his father's kitchen, having cardboard sugarless tasteless wafers with milk, talking about his love life or lack thereof. "He calls me sir." "So. Some people are into that stuff." "Oh hell, Dad."

 

On instalove:

"I knew I loved your mom on that first day and married her a few months later. Same thing happened to your grandpa and his. It's part of our DNA." "What are we? Werewolves?" "I have heard you growl on an occasion or two." Silence. "You're not old, Son." "I'm forty." "That's not old you stubborn mule," his father said, exasperated. "I thought I was a werewolf.

(show spoiler)

 

Julian is a jerk in this book. We were told that he was in the last book but I never saw it. It's full blown in this one and sometimes he's out of line.

 

When Cameron gets to the halfway house, they tell him he's a guest. That's ridiculous. They should want him to feel like it's his home. They do expect him to do his part.

 

Nobody in these books has brown eyes. In this one, one MC's eyes are silver. Seriously.

 

Cam's room walls are painted steel gray. Gray. Like prison walls. Sounds comforting.

 

The older MC keeps going on and on about the age gap like he's an old man, but it's 27 to 40. It's more than I like, but he's far from old and it's perfectly reasonable.

 

For convenience, the older MC out of the blue decides

 

he doesn't want to be an attorney anymore. He's a top notch attorney. If he's tired of the public sector (and he would make a hell of a lot more money than they say he makes) he could go into private practice. And this is before they know what is going to happen with Cam.

(show spoiler)

 

Cam frequently acts like a stereotypical weak woman not like someone who's been hardened by ten years in prison. Matt went from a strong guy in the first book, to a wilting flower that needs protecting, too, and he's also an ex-con.

 

Hunter was constantly, and I mean over and over, holding Cam's face in his hands. They touch each other too much, even in times when it's not really appropriate. It's like Cam's that woman that needs constant reassurance and protection.

 

In the major action scene about 2/3rds of the way through,

 

the MCs are each lured away or tied up before killing them instead of simply being shot. The bad guys also bring at least eight to ten people to a nighttime assassination when the MCs should be asleep in bed.

(show spoiler)

 

It went on WAY too long after the climax, and then the end there's a scene

 

of one MC just letting go of things important to him which was just silly.

(show spoiler)

 

A cop believes it immediately when he's told there's

 

corruption in his own precinct

(show spoiler)

 

and doesn't even get mad at either those who tell him or the ones they're talking about, just annoyed if anything.

 

MAJOR MAJOR VERY END RESOLUTION spoiler (don't read if you don't want to know what happens at the very end of the book, how they get their HEA.):

 

Explanations of how things are done in WITSEC, like allowing someone to turn their hobby into their job, were ridiculous.

(show spoiler)

 

 

There were other things, but that's enough.