Hello, world! Today we’ll talk about the most perfect gay romance of the year – and, as always, the competition is heavy, so this is a huge compliment, haha! I’m talking about Single Malt, from Layla Rene! This book is the first in which promises to be one of the best gay romance thriller series I’ve ever heard of, Agents Irish and Whiskey! I have received my review copy from Barclay Publicity in exchange for an honest review. THANKS SO MUCH, GUYS!
The heart’s a resilient beast
Eight months after the car crash that changed everything, FBI agent Aidan Talley is back at work. New department, new case and a new partner. Smart, athletic and handsome, Jameson Walker is twelve years his junior. Even if Aidan was ready to move on—and he’s not—Jamie is off-limits.
Jamie’s lusted after Aidan for three years, and the chance to work with San Francisco’s top agent directly is too good to pass up. Aidan is prickly—to put it mildly—but a growing cyber threat soon proves Jamie’s skills invaluable.
Jamie’s talents paint a target on his back, and Aidan is determined to protect him. But with hack after hack threatening a high-security biocontainment facility, time is running out to thwart a deadly terrorist attack. They’ll have to filter out distractions, on the case and in their partnership, to identify the real enemy, solve the case and save thousands of lives, including their own.
Me after finishing the book:
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
THIS BOOK. Seriously, this was the best gay romance I’ve read in 2017 and my counting is already in 21 gay romances so far just this year. I CAN’T GET OVER THE PERFECTION OF IT ALL: the characters, the plot, the settings, the interactions… THIS BOOK HAS NO FLAWS, PEEPS! Five big stars with shiny eyes!
The narrative was third person styled with switching points of view between Aidan and Jamie – needless to say but I’ll say it anyway because I’l a rebel panda, my favorite style. Reyne did an awesome job in both constructing both males and in her writing choices. The book is fluid and mind grabbing – it HURT to stop reading!
The plot was a work of art. I may have mentioned once or twice that, when I grab a gay romance to read, I have zero expectations of any other elements the book may bring along. If they are well executed, I’m happy because it’s a nice bonus. If they fall flat, they don’t disappoint me, because I went in for the romance, you know? Single Malt has an ingenious plot that almost made me stop whining about the romance. Almost. IT WAS THAT GOOD. I needed to know who did what and when as much as I needed the next romantic scene between Irish and Walker (aka. Aidan and Jamie ❤ ). Seriously, I just met Layla and I already want to worship her until the end of my reading days.
AND AND THERE ARE THE CHARACTERS! I usually avoid books with big age gaps between the couple like the plague, regardless of the gender of the people in the couple. It’s just not usually my thing. BOY, I’M GLAD I TOOK THE RISK! Aidan for sure has a lot of baggage, but he and Jamie work as well as my lungs on their team work! Ugh, actually, Aidan and Jamie are better in the picture, as sometimes I’m sure my lungs don’t talk to each other, but you didn’t need to know that, sorry. I’ll try to keep my lungs bromance to myself.
WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY is that Reyne gave Aidan and Jamie such personality and such vivacity that I had that cozy feeling of watching a movie inside my head each time I read the book and this is priceless. Everything was so crystal clear and magical! I didn’t expect to fall so hard for these two, but they are for sure my OTP of the year so far, hahaha!
And then there are the sex scenes. This isn’t an erotic book by no means – all scenes are connected and meaningful, but THEY ARE SO INTENSE I was left face first in the ground, trying to understand what kind of book-truck had ran my emotions over. Seriously, these guys are inspiring, to say the least.
Okay, if you think I have ravished enough about Single Malt which I totally didn’t, as there isn’t enough ravishing to make this book justice, I’ll give you a break AND LET’S GO TO QUOTES TIME! Because nothing sells the book better than itself =D
And remember, when all else fails, ponies. – Jamie, being the master lord know-it-all to solve any existential crisis. When you lose all hopes, ALWAYS bet on ponies. #justsaying #itworks
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Were all cyber nerds predisposed to vampirism? – Aidan’s thoughts
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Understandable. Not the word I thought we’d use to describe our first kiss. – Aidan
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I’m not looking for promises. I don’t need commitments. I just need you.” – Jamie
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And those killer dialogues:
Jamie: Sorry, I slept most of it away.
Aidan: Judging by your A-plus walking dead impression after the flight, I’d say you needed it.
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Jamie: This was your (Aidan’s) idiot idea.
Danny: Aidan’s got an idiot idea. Must be Tuesday.
Aidan: Love you too, baby bro.
To be honest, I think this cover is really confusing! You can see Aidan (or at least I think it’s him?) at first, but then there are all the numbers and the discreet outline of Jamie (or would THAT be Aidan??) and OMG TOO MUCH INFO! It’s not ugly, it’s just confusing. I did love the model for Aiden and the colors – blue, red, white and black 🙂
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Overall, if you love action books, thrillers, mystery, gay romance and steamy scenes, PLEASE JUST PICK UP THIS BOOK AND LET’S FANGIRL TOGETHER!!!
Click here to read an excerpt of Single Malt!
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That’s it! Thanks so much for reading this review and, once again, thanks to Barclay Publicity for the shot at reading this PERFECT book!
With love,
The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 