-
BLOG TOUR: Down the River by J. Scott Coatsworth (Excerpt)
-
REVIEW: His Coveted Obsession by Courtney W. Dixon
The District: His Coveted Obsession – Courtney W. Dixon
PLEASE READ THE BLURB AND WARNINGS IF YOU’RE SENSITIVE TO TRIGGERS! And please, please be careful of spoilers and giving away endings of books. Use spoiler tags.
When obsession and possessiveness collide…
Thomas Lauder
Easton is my hero, and I’m obsessed. He comes into my life like a knight in shining armor, saving me from a horrible customer at the coffee shop. Then, out of the blue, he asks me out on a date. How could I say no to the mysterious, handsome man? My life revolves around surviving my lying, gambling-addicted father and taking care of my younger sister while trying to earn my degree. Easton gives me the stability and honesty I didn’t know I needed. He’s straightforward and knows exactly what he wants. I do, too. I want Easton in my life forever.
Easton Virgil
I have a new family, but my life is still incomplete. Now that I’m nineteen, I have strong needs, and the loneliness is consuming. Thomas isn’t typical, but he’s attractive, and I enjoy his worship of me. He’s obsessed, and I feed off it. It makes me hungry for him. He’s perfect for me, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him. He belongs to me and no one else. But when his useless father is the reason Thomas is ripped from me, I nearly burn the world to the ground to find him. No one better have harmed him, or they will pay.
Reading in order will add more pleasure to the reading experience and understanding the characters better, but they can technically be read as standalones.
Mentions of molestation of a child, abuse of a child, neglect, murder, torture, organ harvesting, death of a parent to cancer (off page), gambling addiction, sociopathy, violence, explicit language and sex.
The District by Courtney W. Dixon is a found family of assassins headed by Sid Virgil (His Reluctant Savior) and Malik Amin (His Bane). The youngest member is Easton, who was recruited at 15 after Sid found him newly orphaned. Later, he was officially adopted by Sid and his husband Dalton.
Like the rest of his District family, Easton survived an abusive childhood and emerged stronger and deadlier. Easton comes from wealth and, now 19, enjoys wearing suits to appear more mature. He has autism and ASPD, and his pedantic, blunt manner is off-putting to many. He was trained in all kinds of weapons; his preferred one is the knife.
Easton saved the barista, Thomas Lauder, from a rude customer, and Thomas was immediately drawn to the young man, calling him his hero. The attraction was instantaneous and mutual. Easton didn’t waste time asking for a date, and the two became exclusive right that very night.
Thomas is juggling college, work, caring for his sister, and trying to make his gambling addicted dad stop. The addiction got so bad that not only he and his sister were neglected, but they ended up as collateral when the bad guys came calling for their cash.
Easton was having none of it, and once again he’s the hero with the District family as his backup. It’s touch him and die!
With both MCs at 19, the romance has a teen cute, fluffy vibe to it mixed in with the adultier primal play and possessive-obssessive vibes. Not a fan of the naked chases in the woods because of ants, insects, poking branches, and it did feel like just sex and material gifts at first.
Easton has always been a compelling character since the beginning. He’s very self-aware and unapologetically himself, narcissistic, brutally honest, and tightly holds the reins of barely controlled rage. He can’t feel love or empathy in the typical way, but with Easton, it’s always action speaking louder than words, and he spoke volumes!
I loved that he’s willing to learn to connect with Thomas emotionally. He might not understand Thomas’ POV at first, but he listens to Sid’s or Dalton’s advice and mulls it over until he understands. Easton, being a dark knight saving his damsel, is swoony as hell!
It would have been easy to dislike Thomas as weak, but our boy is nothing if not resilient. He calls Easton “Superman,” and I loved that his complete trust in Easton never wavered, even when rescue seemed impossible. He adored Easton from the beginning, and Easton needed that kind of worship.
“He was honest about everything, even with his anger. Easton was…pure.”
My favorite part about Thomas is that he never asked Easton to change. And he appreciates his honesty, something that most people find rude. He saw Easton for what he truly is and loved him for it. Even defended East when Sid and Dalton said Easton can’t love.
Easton’s intensity and dominance play so well with Thomas’s adoration and devotion, and their chemistry is electric! Watching their relationship evolve from insta-attraction to emotional connection makes this a joy to read!
While still less disturbing than His Death Bringer, please heed the trigger warnings. Easton’s family history is pretty dark, and as a teen, he took matters into his own hands because nobody, not even his father, who knew of his mother’s abuse, did anything.
Thomas also has to deal with his mother’s illness (off-page) and his father’s neglect. Later, he also had to rely on Easton’s money because his dad sold everything of value. During their captivity, Thomas was tortured, and there are mentions of organ harvesting.
Overall, His Coveted Obsession is a captivating journey of finding one’s person. A raw and honest love story of wanting to be wanted and giving everything to give.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSountrack: Trust
Artist: Alina Baraz
Album: TrustP.S.
The District is best read in order.
His Death Bringer is Luca and his dark angel, Dante.
His Bane is Malik and his beloved psychopath, Sully.
His Reluctant Savior is Sid and his boy scout, Dalton.
If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of His Coveted Obsession. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.
HIS COVETED OBSESSION: Amazon UK | Audiobook
If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
-
SERIES TOUR: Boys’ Love by Rebecca James (Excerpt)
-
NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Essence by Mychael Black (Excerpt)
-
NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Part of Me Fell Into You by Eule Grey (Excerpt)
-
COVER REVEAL: Structure of Love by A.J. Sherwood
-
RELEASE TOUR: The Rade by Katey Hawthorne (Excerpt)
-
NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Lemniscate by Sean Ian O’Meidhir & Connal Braginsky (Excerpt)
-
REVIEW: Black and Brown by A.E. Via
Ravens: Black and Brown – A.E. Via
Grace’s composed, yet lethal disposition balances his partner Mirage’s impulsive nature, creating a duo—the second-generation Brown Ravens—with the potential for greatness.
Grace was one of the most decorated sharpshooters in the Marines. He’s fiercely committed to righting the wrongs that plague the world and protecting the innocent.
But there are too many rules and strict orders in the armed forces the Ravens don’t have.Mirage left his world without a trace.
He has a brilliant mind and more degrees in science and medicine than one person could ever hope to obtain.
Now that the Ravens are done administering their treatments, Mirage can throw knives so fast they turn into phantom blades before he disappears in a way that leaves his enemies in chaos and confusion. And Grace can hit a target from three miles away.When together, their form of silent communication in the field is astonishing. Grace’s subtle body movements speak their own language and his long, intense stares into Mirage’s grey eyes have created a special bond neither of them saw coming.
A forbidden romance that won’t stop them from being the second-best assassins in the world.Triggers: Violence
Our introduction to the Ravens was in Ex Meridian, Book 7 of Nothing Special, a book that had me waxing poetic with how GOOD it is. Ex and Meridian are the first-generation Ravens, code-named Blacks. They’re partners turned lovers in a forbidden romance that forever changed their lives.
In one of their missions, they worked with the Nothing Special cops. The book left me so intrigued, I was beyond ecstatic when I learned A.E. Via created a series about these enhanced black ops assassins.
Black and Brown opens the series with the second-generation Ravens, code-named Browns. The secret program significantly enhanced their abilities, giving Mirage super-fast, super-accurate knife-throwing skills and sharpening Grace’s already formidable sniper skills. Their unique fighting style has Grace using the big guns while Mirage is behind him in the shadows, making it seem like knives are coming out of nowhere.
Mirage was a former combat medic, surgeon, and scientist with multiple doctorates and the son of decorated army medics. He talks a lot, and nearly burned Grace’s kitchen trying to fry bacon. Grace was a former military sniper from a small town family with a deadbeat dad who killed his mom. He’s a man of few words and a Bobby Flay in the kitchen. I swooned at the many dinner dates Grace lovingly prepared for his man!
The story follows the evolution of their relationship, from when they were recruited into the program, the enhancements, trainings, and their years in the field, up until that fateful day, Grace witnesses an unguarded moment between Ex and Meridian. It changed the way he saw his partnership with Mirage, giving him hope they could be something more.
Later, they learned there’s a traitor in their organization, and it’s time they choose their own mission.
Mirage and Grace’s dynamic reminded me a lot of God and Day, with a big, taciturn man and a talkative, slightly smaller one. But Mirage and Grace are memorable and different enough. Mirage, talkative and smaller, is the top. My favorite part is how he is always greatly appreciative of Grace’s silence, wrapping it around himself like a comfort blanket.
Another thing that stood out is how the author’s writing has greatly improved. As much as I loved Nothing Special, the first books were clunky and amateurish. Happily, the series improved as it progressed.
Here, the writing is much more refined, the plot well-thought-out, and the romantic development was natural, deliciously slow burn, and hella heartmelting for a pair of deadly assassins. The sex scenes were at the right moments, compared to the poorly deployed ones in the other earlier books. The action scenes were fast-paced and suspenseful, with just the right tension and thrill to keep things exciting.
The vulnerable moments were tenderly intimate. There’s something precious about the big badass Grace being needy and touch-starved, and Mirage being the only one he showed that side of him. When they’re not being secretly sweet and cuddly, they’re intense and fiercely passionate!
It’s best to see the Blacks in action first in Ex Meridian before diving into the Ravens. Black and Brown is told in dual POVs, and also Meridian’s. I loved that we have the Blacks again. My only wish was that the POVs were more balanced. We don’t have Ex’s, and he was kinda shoved to the sidelines.
Black and Brown is a close-proximity, sci-fi-lite, forbidden romance between two assassins from a super-secret black ops program. In a life of guns and knives, it is also two men building trust, exploring intimacy, and speaking volumes in comforting silence and thoughtful gestures. Overall, a thrilling and emotional story of badass assassins and cozy husbands!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: We’re In This Together
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: The Fragile
If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of Black and Brown. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.
BLACK AND BOWN Kindle | Audiobook
If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
-
COVER REVEAL: Snowy Skies and Puppy Ice by Fae Quin
