Review – Hard to be Good by Laura Kaye

Hard to Be Good by Laura Kaye
Series: Hard Ink #3.5
Series Rating:
Published by Harper Collins on April 14th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 82
Format: eBook
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Two damaged men.One dangerous mission.One healing love.These are the men of Hard Ink.Hard Ink Tattoo owner Jeremy Rixey has taken on his brother's stateside fight against the enemies that nearly killed Nick and his Special Forces team a year ago. Now Jeremy's whole world has been turned upside down by the chaos—and by a brilliant, quiet blond man who tempts him to settle down for the first time ever.Recent kidnapping victim Charlie Merritt has always been better with computers than with people, so when he's drawn into the SF team's investigation of his army colonel father's corruption, he's surprised to find acceptance and friendship—especially since his father never accepted who he was. Even more surprising is the heated tension he feels with sexy, tattooed Jeremy, Charlie's opposite in almost every way.With tragedy and chaos all around them, temptation flashes hot, and Jeremy and Charlie can't help but wonder why they're trying so hard to be good …

Hard Ink Tattoo owner Jeremy Rixey has taken on his brother’s stateside fight against the enemies that nearly killed Nick and his Special Forces team a year ago. Now Jeremy’s whole world has been turned upside down by the chaos—and by a brilliant, quiet blond man who tempts him to settle down for the first time ever.

Recent kidnapping victim Charlie Merritt has always been better with computers than with people, so when he’s drawn into the team’s investigation of his army colonel father’s corruption, he’s surprised to find acceptance and friendship—especially since his father never accepted who he was. Even more surprising is the heated tension he feels with sexy, tattooed Jeremy.

With tragedy and chaos all around them, temptation flashes hot, and Jeremy and Charlie can’t help but wonder why they’re trying so hard to be good …

Oh, Jeremy. I’ve been waiting not very patiently for Jeremy’s story, and it’s finally here! This whole series is so good. You could probably read this one as a standalone as far as the overall story goes, but it helps to have some background, because there are a lot of characters. However, I think you’re doing Jeremy and Charlie a disservice if you do. Their relationship has been developed in each book, and watching it grow, watching both of them want the other while thinking they were alone in their feelings, was excruciating in the best way.

Jeremy and Charlie have had a strong bond since Charlie was rescued at the end of the first book. They’re complete opposites – Jeremy pierced and tattooed, outgoing, making friends with everyone, Charlie a shy, bookish computer geek – but the chemistry between them is undeniable. They both try to fight their connection, though why they bother becomes less and less clear as time goes on. This book opens right after the last one ended, and Jeremy and Charlie have apparently both decided at the same time that they’re going to act on their feelings. Even so, they aren’t sure if any move they make will be reciprocated.

I love that Charlie was the one who made the first move. It was such a departure for him to do so. He’s out, but he’s faced a lot of rejection over being gay, mainly from his father, and it’s made him more reserved about it than Jeremy is. Jeremy is unapologetically bi and gives exactly zero fucks about anyone’s opinion on the matter. He was so great with Charlie, though, doing and saying all of the right things to ease Charlie’s mind and make it as easy for him as possible. He knew from the beginning that Charlie was different than most of the men he’s dated, mainly because all of those relationships have been casual. Charlie isn’t casual at all, and he makes sure Charlie knows it.

This book was short enough that there isn’t really much to say about it without just copying pieces of it, which I’m not going to do. But I will say that these two men are so hot together. There’s one scene involving a tattoo table and a blow job that is one of the hottest things I’ve read in recent memory. Because of its length and because it only seems to cover a day or two, the “I want you”s seem to morph into “I love you”s really quickly. Normally that would bug me, but there’s been enough of a foundation laid in the previous books that I could buy it.

It looks like there’s only one more novel and one more novella in this series, and I already have them both preordered. If you haven’t read anything by Laura Kaye before, do yourself a favor and start this series immediately!

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