Locked and Loaded (Death and Destruction, #4)

by Aj Corza and Patricia Logan

[bookperson]

Dnf 75%.

As much as I liked previous books I don't connect with this on any levels.

First of all. This series tries to be Cut and Run very hard. You have your two agents working for yhe government, one of them is from south, ex-marine, other was under cover; now they work together, what a twist!
Also both of them are "macho but make it vulnerable", obvs w/great bodies, working out every day and having tons of hot sex (debatable).

Second. This series fails as Cut and Run wannabe. And here is why:
- all the characters are bland. And books told from both Jarrett and Thayne POV, so it's hard to understand who is who when author- makes them so alike and at the same time so basic. Secondary characters are also forgettable.
- romance is bad. Not problematic, just badly written. Both MC don't have unique enough voice or personality, they think the same shit and do things that the other does. All of their quirks and unique traits are told but not shown.
- sex is also bad. Cut and Run is one of the series that have done sex scenes well - different enough to be excited about them every time I read it, but real enough for it to be believable. Ty and Zane are the hottest couple, fight me. Thayne and Jarrett are sooooo boring! In one of my updates I wrote that book itself said that oil as a lube was different. I'm sorry for everyone that thinks that's true, maybe it's time to spice things up.
- love triangle (????) Ok, so Jarrett have an ex, Adael, who we met in previous book. He was introduced as a potential couple breaker because it seemed like he had feelings for Jarret, but in this book author decided that he is going to be that shitty ex that was going to get you back at all costs. But why? What's the reason?a Where is character development and his motive? Idk that's bullshit.
- living together. Wtf was this all about? That scene was most absurd thing I've ever read.
"Move in with me" "Nope" "But it's important for me" *wtf does he hiding in his apt??? not gonna ask* "uhhhhh" "ok I'm not mad I'm just disappointed" "yeah ok I'll move in" >>> later >>> *why it took me so long to move in? 🤔*
- everything is going on inside mc brains. I think if we cut every scene where one character thought something about other, or basic descriptions (his eyes were so blue blah blah) book would have been half a size. They don't add aything to the story, author's job is to show us characters through the posture, through their relationships witg others, through the little things. In this book we only see J in the T eyes and vice versa.
- book is romance and suspense/detective (I guess) but both of those parts are so boring. Nothing happens, only J and T worrying about each other through the whole book and doing nothing about it (even talking), but having lots of sex apparently.

Well, that was a disappointment. I was so excited for this series and it started so good... Oh well... Guess audiobooks were better for me since I didn't saw these flaws in previous works.