Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

“I like you, kid.” Jake grinned despite the name calling. “Kid? I’m twenty-nine!” “Anyone younger than me is a kid. Sorry. I don’t make the rules.”

This is my.. fourth or fifth time reading this? Possibly? Who knows. What I do know is that I adore the story. There’s a few awful and graphic subjects in this so I would look at the list of content warnings. It’s relatively low heat (not fade to black or closed door, just not a lot of it), and the romance is a slow burn, even though the plot only happens over a few days. I think it’s an absolutely lovely story of grief, loneliness, and learning to live and love again after loss.

Sure, he scowled a lot and his resting bitch face was more of a don’t-fucking-speak-to-me face, but Jacob saw through that. There was more to August Shaw than met the eye.

August is 41 years old and lost his boyfriend 8 years ago. He basically has no friends anymore, and has closed himself off, trying to solve cold cases. I love how Jake, the younger police officer, is super toppy and a little dominant and just pulls August out of his lonely comfort zone and slowly but surely makes him realize that there’s more to life, and that he’s allowed to live it. Jake is a fantastic character, and has a ton of patience and compassion with August. You maybe wouldn’t think these two work together, but they really really do. There’s no D/s dynamic here, but Jake does sort of take charge sometimes, and August really thrives on that, maybe without even realizing.

“You need a hot shower and a change of clothes.” “I’m fine,” he grumbled. Jake pulled into his drive, shut the engine off, looked at August, and raised one eyebrow. “Don’t argue with me.” August stared at him. “Speaking of rank . . .” “Speaking of pneumonia . . .” August sighed. “Is there any point in arguing?” “Absolutely none whatsoever.”

The murder mystery is well thought out and well done. I think it’s more sad than anything, really, but there’s also a couple properly suspenseful moments too, which I adore. If you enjoy romantic suspense and any of the other tropes, definitely give it a go.

“You’re not broken,” Jake whispered. And August began to cry.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Law enforcement
Cold cases
Murder mystery
Grumpy/sunshine
Slow burn (in the book, not in irl timeline)
Serial killer
Life after loss (8years)
Interracial relationship
Age gap
Romantic suspense
Low heat

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Death of a loved one (past, violent)
Attempted murder
Mentions of suicide
Drugging
Explicit sexual content
Homophobia
Queer men being targeted
Serial killer
Bigotry
Graphic crime scenes (detailed)
Possible suicides (detailed)
Grief
Murder made to look like suicide
Hospitalization
Injured MC

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
OM/OW drama: No
Third-act breakup: No
POV: 1st person, dual POV
Genre: Romantic suspense, M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Versatile
MCs age: 29 and 41

“I’m getting it!” Porter replied as he opened a cupboard, but now the cat was glaring at August. He put his hands up. “I’m guilty by association, apparently. But I had no hand in your obvious neglect.”

“Oh, and I’d leave the bedroom door open. I mean, it’s completely up to you, but just so you know, Scarlett has a no-closed-door policy. So if you do shut it, she will scratch and meow at the door until you open it. And if she wants it open and you don’t open it, she’ll shit in your shoe. Well . . .” He considered. “That could have been a coincidence, but given it’s happened twice and she did that twice, I’m thinking not.”

“Um, Scarlett and I can both see the bottom of her bowl. Despite the presence of and build-up of cat biscuits around the inside of the bowl, there is clear evidence of the bottom of the bowl. And she’d like you to know, quite frankly, it’s not good enough.”