Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Rich aches for more than a book boyfriend to love. But is the mysterious, rugged admirer he serves at the coffee shop too dangerous to consider?

After declaring his love life officially dead, Rich wonders if maybe he should stick with his shifter book boyfriends instead. It’s not as if he has much free time to date anyway. Between working long hours at a coffee shop, guarding his sodas from his hygienically challenged roommates, and running the programming at the Vegas LGBTQ teen shelter he founded—how could there ever be space for romance?

Diego enjoys taking his downtime from working Search and Rescue at The Lucky Cup coffee shop. He can set up his laptop, peruse good sport-climbing spots, and observe the blond barista he’s been pining over for a while. He imagines that the pretty boy has more offers than he knows what to do with, so it takes Diego time to work up the nerve to approach him.

Rich isn’t so sure about the rough-looking Diego, no matter how hot the guy is. But once he gives Diego a chance, there’s an immediate heat and connection that takes him by surprise. As they learn more about each other and try to find the way to a future together, strange and scary events begin to happen.

After Rich is injured in a bizarre accident, it becomes clear that there’s someone out there who not only doesn’t want Rich to find love—they want him dead.

 

 

First edition published at Pride Publishing, December 2015.

Second edition published at Pride Publishing, January 2020.

 

Book Review

The book blurb summarizes the plot quite well so I won’t resummarize.

I will also note, I did not realize this was book six in a series (Sin City Uniforms) when I requested it. However, I am quite pleased to say that I had no problems reading this as a standalone. There are references to couples from previous books, but I didn’t feel as though I was missing any vital worldbuilding information and could enjoy the story on its own merit.

So coming into this series as a newbie, I quite enjoyed the setting and characters. Having bounced around Las Vegas, Hendrickson, and the greater Paradise area, it was enjoyable to follow along. There were just enough visual cues that I knew where the characters were moving around but not so many that it bogged down the plot. I love reading about an area I know.

Speaking of characters, Rich and Diego were different enough in personality to keep the budding relationship fresh and I quite applaud the author for writing in some (humorous) assumptions at the beginning of the book. It was a lovely way to say we all make assumptions based upon appearances, and how we can move beyond our assumptions. Rich is self-assured and strong in his own way, but he is full of doubts and uncertainty. Diego is self-assured and strong in his own way, but he too has his own doubts and insecurities. Combine these character traits with the light suspense/mystery, Rich and Diego nicely supported each other as complementary characters.

Just a couple of niggling points for me – personally, I found the sex scenes too long. While I understand these can be relationship building points, character development, and, yeah, hot and steamy, I lose interest when they go on for pages. Which here they did. Completely my quirk.

Again, for myself, this toed the line for being almost too sweet, Diego being almost too perfect in his attentiveness and care with Rich. Diego’s character kind of straddled the fence in believability – after the instance during the rescue (being bit vague here on purpose), Diego talked to Rich about it briefly, then… that was it. A bit incongruous.

Lastly, I do need to mention the humor. I loved the humor in this, with Rich coping with the HazMat house, his questionable roommates, and things that squish under his brand-new Converse shoes. Rich’s sense of humor was absolutely delightful.

In conclusion, despite having come into this series at book number six, this was an enjoyable, sweet read with enough suspense to provide an engaging plot. Based on this book alone, I would go back and read the earlier books in the series.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. The first edition of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 181 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	04-June-2024
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Searching-Shelter-Romance-City-Uniforms-ebook/dp/B0D1T3MCWG