Rating: 5 ‘Ghost’ Stars

Publisher: Cambria Hebert Books, LLC

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Dark (ish), Found Family, Humor, Insta-Love, Opposites Attract, Second Chance Romance, Series

Length: 517 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

This review has spoilers from The Hazard and the Hitman, the first book in the series.

Blurb –

I’m about thirty seconds from a toe tag and my own freezer at the mortuary when he materializes from the shadows and fights like hell to keep me breathing.
I had no idea homeless disasters like me got guardian angels—or that guardian angels punch people and smoke—but suddenly, there he is: a hero dressed all in black who ghosts me so hard I consider calling a medium.
But that would be a waste of money I don’t have.
I thought I’d never see him again, but just as I’m about to eat a bullet, he appears, using his body to protect mine. I might have swooned—okay, fine, I do but only on the inside—if it weren’t for the fact he thinks bleeding is an adequate apology for implying I’m a prostitute and running off with my heart.
Spoiler alert: It’s not.
Now the man with a PhD in vanishing, a tattoo that totally offends me, and eyes with their own force of gravity is suddenly stuck to me like glue and being wildly inconvenient about it.
And he won’t stop calling me a pipgeek. What even is that?
He insists I trust him, but I can’t trust anyone, not even my own body. Unfortunately, when the resident drug lord calls in that favor I foolishly owe, things go from bad to catastrophic with alarming enthusiasm.
On the upside, having a hero with a villain complex for a stalker means staying alive will be easy.
But not getting hurt again is a whole other story.

Tropes:
Hero with a villain complex
Rescue Fantasy
Touch him and d!e
Pocket-sized geek
Homeless MC
Plant daddy
Auto-immune disorder rep
Dude in distress aka suspense
Snarky Banter

Review –

“I’d never accept death when life has you.”

The first 11 chapters of The Geek and the Ghost take place two years before The Hazard and the Hitman. From chapter 12 on, the story picks up immediately after that one ended, not including the epilogue that gave a glimpse of Kieran and Haz six months later. I normally despise books that go back in time, even for a little bit, but it was necessary in this case.

After reading the first book, the reader is left wondering how in the world Rett, Haz’s shy neighbor and not-best-friend, and Ghost, Kieran’s fellow hitman and not-best-friend, know each other.

Ghost and Rett both get caught up in a shoot-out with people trying to kill Haz when Haz just wants to eat pizza and spend time with his friend. Ghost takes a bullet meant for Rett, who Ghost calls Pip. It was obvious they knew each other before, but how? Rett’s a shy bookworm, and Ghost, as I said, is a hitman. Not only do we learn how they met, but it will break your heart a little because it was when Rett was homeless.

What a geek.

Not a pipsqueak – a pipgeek.

Ah, and the geek had a name. Garrett Redding.

The first time was when Ghost came out of the shadows to save Rett during a robbery. He took him to a motel and watched over him, with Rett remembering very little of it. The next morning Ghost was gone. There were other times Ghost jumped in to rescue him, with the last time happening when Rett was seriously ill. After Ghost nursed him back to health, they hooked up, but it was so much more than just sex for both men. There was a serious connection that was forced to be broken when Ghost left during the night while Rett was sleeping. He didn’t leave him without gifts, however, something that warmed Rett’s heart at the same time it was being broken.

Rett knew he was leaving. There were no promises made.

That didn’t stop both men from being heartbroken by it anyway.

“Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

It’s now two years later and their first time seeing each other since that night occurs during the above-mentioned shoot-out. After that, everything between them happens at warp speed. Ghost wants to fix what he broke the last time they saw each other. Rett is understandably terrified. Ghost left him once and it destroyed him. He has no desire to be put in the position of going through that again, not that he ever got over him to begin with. So, he does the only thing he can… he runs.

Ghost, aka Hiro Maxfield, has the nickname Ghost for a reason. He’s a hitman for the government, and he’s known for getting in, getting the job done, and getting gone quickly. He stays in the shadows, and is able to get in and out of situations without being seen. With that being said, he’s not going to let Rett go this time. He’s regretted walking out of that motel room since the moment he walked through the door. He won’t be making the same mistake twice. Granted, he had to leave at the time because he had to do a job, but he left without leaving contact information. He did leave gifts of sorts for Rett, as I said, but it wasn’t nearly enough. One of those gifts was something that made my little romantic heart go, “Aww!” Not that it mattered much. Ghost was gone, leaving Rett feeling like he’d been nothing more than a guy paid for sex and ghosted (get it?).  😉

For the record… Rett may have been homeless, but he never sold himself for money.

There’s growly possessive, and there’s Kieran and Ghost. Kieran is a little less growly – he’s more of an eye-twitching kind of guy – but he’s no less possessive. Ghost takes possessive to the extreme. Poor Rett didn’t stand a chance once Ghost set his sights on him again.

Everything, like I said above, happens super fast with these guys once they’re reunited. I think everything happens within two days? Even so, I never felt like it was rushed. At one point, after Rett runs the first time, he’s put in a bad situation by the neighborhood drug lord. Thankfully, Ghost didn’t listen when he was told to stay away or things might have ended horribly for Rett.

Then there’s the mafia, who played a big part in the first book. The mafia had actually tried to hire Kieran to kill Haz, not knowing they were together. The why came out in that book, which carried over in a sense to this one. Only this time, the mafia isn’t necessarily the enemy. Well, they are, but in a somewhat different way.

With the exception of something minor, I loved everything about this book, just like I did the first one. There’s a lot of funny banter, some major insta-love and lust, and a couple that really shouldn’t work, but they do.

Rett was a sweetheart. He had an autoimmune disease that he tried to keep hidden. He had a horrible childhood, which put him on the streets at a relatively young age. Ghost was a blast. One minute he was throwing out these sweet and poetic quotes. The next, he was threatening everybody who dared even look at Rett. This included Kieran, his not-bestie, and Haz, Rett’s not-bestie.

The not-bestie thing is from Kieran seeing Ghost as family, not a friend. For Haz, it was him not really seeing his neighbor – that would be Rett – as a friend. They were friends, but none of them saw it.

Another thing that cracked me up was Ghost and his rules. There were rules for cuddling, house rules, and rules for pretty much everything. Every single one involved keeping Rett near him at all times.

“What’s life rule number one?” I asked.

Kieran and Ghost made a rude sound as if it were obvious.

“Touch him and die,” they both deadpanned.

There were also the plant children – Harold, Jr., Spike, and Hercules, and later, an angel fish that was appropriately named Ghost, Jr. Ghost was a much better plant daddy than Kieran was.

“Being a husband is stressful.”

Haz’s mouth dropped wide. “You got married?”

“Practically,” I replied. “Got three kids now too.”

“Oh my god! You met Harold, Jr., Hercules, and Spike!”

The Geek and the Ghost was 517 pages. I am the first one to complain about the length of romance books these days, but it worked for these guys. I was enjoying the book so much that I breezed right through it, not one time cursing the length. It was the same thing with The Hazard and the Hitman, that was 447 pages. I loved them both so much that I was eager for more, honestly.

The one thing that did bug me some was the little bit of breeding talk. It didn’t take away from the story, but I just wasn’t a fan.

The Hazard and the Hitman is one of my new favorite comfort reads, so I was so happy to see the second book was out. I found out by accident when I saw it as a recommendation from Amazon. I’m really glad I wasn’t in the middle of another book because I would’ve walked away from that one so quick.

I laughed, I got teary-eyed a few times, and I absolutely loved these guys together. I love that Kieran and Haz were in it a lot because they’re one of my favorite fictional couples.

We already know there will be a third book, and we know who the love interests will be. I will read it as soon as it comes out. I just hope the author gives us more of Kieran and Haz and Ghost and Rett.

There’s a link to a bonus short at the end of the book, which I read as soon as I was done with this one. It tells a little more about Rett’s autoimmune disease and what he’s having to live with as they work on getting him treated properly. It also has Ghost doing Ghost things, so there’s that as well.

There’s a PS at the end. I would’ve loved to have seen that play out in graphic detail.

A very easy 5 stars.

“It doesn’t matter where you go, Pip. I’ll always be right behind you, and I’ll be sure to bring snacks.”