Review: Broken Protocol by A. R. Barley

14 March of 2018 by ButtonsMom2003

Reviewer's Rating: 5

5.0Overall score

Fosters brothers in love, but one is fighting it.

Broken Protocol By A. R. Barley

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: March 5, 2018

Publisher: Carina Press

Series: Smoke & Bullets, Book 2

Synopsis

Dante Green’s a police officer with a solid career—a career that for the past ten years has kept him far away from the one temptation he won’t let himself give in to: his younger foster brother. But when he bumps into the now-out-and-proud firefighter at Smoke & Bullets, he finds himself wrestling with fantasies and desires he thought were long behind him.

Luke Parsons fell in lust with Dante when he was thirteen years old, but he’s not a kid anymore. He’s a New York City firefighter, and he’s done chasing after things he can’t have. Until he and Dante witness a hate crime, and it becomes clear that Dante might not be as straight as Luke always thought.

With Luke to introduce him to the local gay scene, Dante dives into an unsanctioned investigation as the attraction between them grows. Unfortunately, Luke is completely and totally off-limits. Dating him would be a betrayal of their foster father’s trust. But Luke isn’t about to let anything get in the way of their happily-ever-after—even Dante’s fear of commitment.

This book is approximately 60,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

Carina Press acknowledges the editorial services of Alissa Davis

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

Fosters brothers in love, but one is fighting it.

Broken Protocol is the second book in the Smoke & Bullets series by A. R. Barley but you don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy this one. Characters from book one, On Duty, make brief appearances but you won’t be lost if you haven’t read it first.

NYC Detective Dante Green and NYC Firefighter Luke Parsons were foster brothers 10 years ago. Luke had a crush on Dante when he was young but didn’t know that Dante shared his feelings; he’s always thought that Dante is straight. Dante has kept himself far away from Luke over the past 10 years to avoid temptation; he’s sure that his foster father wouldn’t be happy if he learned that he’s been lusting after Luke.

I really liked this story a lot. It’s not told in a taboo relationship way (I usually hate those kinds of stories). There is no blood relationship between Dante and Luke and they were teens when Dante came to live with Luke’s family.

Dante hates that he can’t seem to control his feelings when he runs into Luke at the Smoke & Bullets bar. When he and Luke start working together, off the books, to try and find out who is targeting gay men, he finally has to admit defeat when he realizes that Luke also has feelings for him.

This was a very compelling story and I couldn’t put it down. My feelings were fully engaged while reading this and the mystery surrounding the gay basher and the secret that Luke has been keeping from Dante had me on the edge of my seat in places.

I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Shift’s End, which the publish says will be out later in 2018.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

Smoke & Bullets Series

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About Author

A.R. Barley is a writer of humorous (she hopes) contemporary romance for everyone. She writes M/M romance under the name A.R. Barley and M/F romance under the name Aleah Barley. After living all over the United States, she recently moved to Motor City with a fluffy Maine Coon Cat who is constantly trying to appropriate her computer. She also lives with a rambunctious Labrador and a sexy engineer who can wiggle his ears. She is preparing for the zombie apocalypse while she works on her next book.

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