Where Death Meets the Devil by LJ Hayward
M/M Romantic Suspense
Riptide Publishing | February 6, 2018
About the Book: Jack Reardon, former SAS soldier and current Australian Meta-State asset, has seen some messy battles. But “messy” takes on a whole new meaning when he finds himself tied to a chair in a torture shack, his cover blown wide open, all thanks to notorious killer-for-hire Ethan Blade.
Blade is everything Jack doesn’t believe in: remorseless, detached, lawless. Yet, Jack’s only chance to survive is to strike a bargain with the devil and join forces with Blade. As they trek across a hostile desert, Jack learns that Blade is much more than a dead-eyed killer—and harder to resist than he should be.
A year later, Jack is home and finally getting his life on track. Then Ethan Blade reappears and throws it all into chaos once more. It’s impossible to trust the assassin, especially when his presence casts doubts on Jack’s loyalty to his country, but Jack cannot ignore what Blade’s return means: the mess that brought them together is far from over, and Ethan might just bring back the piece of Jack’s soul he thought he’d lost forever.
I love it when impulse ARC requests are rewarding. It’s like, validating my gut feelings or something. When Death Meets the Devil was definitely validating. I based my decision to read this book off the cover and reviews, okay and the fact that it was an ex-military story had a lot to do with it. I’m a sucker for military reads.
Anyway, when I began reading I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it. It took me some time to handle the jumps back and forth from past to present. I struggled with getting invested because each chapter took you back out of the story. Once I adapted to the setup, I actually understood why the author chose this format. It was a smooth way of giving us clues about Jack and Ethan’s past right when we needed them. Every time something from ‘then’ shed light on something from ‘now’ I got a little grin on my face.
Plus, Jack and Ethan’s relationship was so slow burning that once everything started rolling I was hooked. I loved the slow, casual, ribbing that Jack wasn’t afraid to give Ethan and I loved how that is what made Ethan really notice him back. I also loved Ethan’s way of communicating. Nothing made sense, and yet it made perfect sense. Ethan was definitely my favorite.
The only negative was that it ended too abruptly. There should have been one last scene, or something that shows where Ethan and Jack were left romantically at the end of When Death Meets the Devil. With the way it ends currently, you’re mostly left with guessing. But hey, maybe the authors plans are for another book. If there is another book, that would solve everything!
Rating: 
Thank you to Riptide Publishing for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Birdie Bookworm 
Yes instincts are often right when we follow them Wendy 😉 Excellent revie and I already wish you a happy weekend as i’m leavint to London. Back to like and comment and post on Monday 😉
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Have fun in London!
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Glad the impulse paid off for you this time, Birdie! 🙂
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Thanks!
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