Point of No Return by N.R. Walker (Turning Point Series : Book #1)

Title: ⟫ Point of No Return (Turning Point Series: Book One)

Author: ⟫ N.R. Walker

Rating: ⟫ 4/5

Blurb: ⟫ Matthew Elliot is one of LA's best detectives. He's been labelled the golden boy of the Fab Four; a team of four detectives who've closed down drug-rings all over the city. He’s smart, tough and exceptionally good at his job.

He's also a closeted gay man.

Enter Kira Takeo Franco, the new boxing coach at the gym. Matthew can't deny his immediate attraction to the man his fellow cops know as Frankie. But in allowing himself to fall in love with a man known to his colleagues, Matthew risks outing them both. Matt and Kira work to keep their relationship and private lives hidden from Matt's very public life, fearing it would be detrimental to their careers.

But it's not the other cops who Matthew should be worried about finding out his deepest, darkest secret... it's the bad guys.

Review: ⟫ When you’re less than 33% through a book and I love yous have been exchanged, you know things are about to get gnarly. And, boy, did they get gnarly in this book.

I really liked both Kira and Matt – they were both in an extremely difficult position with regards to their careers so it made perfect sense that they didn’t want to risk being caught initially. And I really loved how they both respected that for each other, communicated about it, and found ways to be together anyway.

The romance was quick but it made sense, and seeing them together was really sweet and lovely, especially once Kira’s parents were on the scene. However, when the bad guys came into play, things got really scary and nasty and I was almost biting my nails. The manner in which they were outed was really scary and worked very well, and I thought the reactions of Matt’s colleagues was realistic.

I hated what happened to Kira and was with Matt all the way in wanting to kill the bad guy – he definitely deserved a good killing. I also really loved the way the fabulous four put everything aside to figure things out and the way it all happened was masterful – I was practically cheering when I read it.

What I didn’t like? I didn’t like Kira flirting with someone else to pay Matt back for something, although I could understand why he was mad. I also didn’t like the ending because it felt like a HFN rather than a HEA. I’m just really glad that I don’t have to wait to read the next book because I would probably be seething. I would definitely recommend giving this a read if you are looking for something hot, sweet and thrilling and am planning on heading into book two as soon as my TBR pile goes down a little!

Learning Curve by N.R. Walker (Franklin U #6)

Title: ⟫ Learning Curve (Franklin U Book #6) 

Author: ⟫ N.R. Walker 

Rating: ⟫ 5/5 

Blurb: ⟫ Cobey Green 

 There I was, moving into the dorms at Franklin U, and not into the shared party house I’d lived in my freshman year. Last year had been all about football and parties, not schoolwork. Which was why my grades tanked, and why I was one failed class away from being kicked off the team. Why I needed to live on campus, and find myself a tutor. 

 

Funny that my new roommate just happened to be a tutor. Funny that he was oblivious to how hot he is. 

For a smart guy, he was pretty clueless. Maybe I could tutor him in how to be more outgoing in exchange for help with calculus? I could teach him how to talk to people, how to make new friends. Hell, maybe I could even help him punch his V card. 

Actually, now that I thought about it... that was a really good idea. 

Vincent Brandt 

And there I was, happy to be back at college, happy to be where I was most comfortable. Happy to be starting another school year, happy to start tutoring again so I could earn some money. 

And yes, there I was, equal parts excited and dreading to see who my new roommate would be... Until Cobey Green’s smiling face appeared at the door. 

A huge football player, loved by everyone, gorgeous, rich, and out of the closet. Everything I was not. 

It didn’t help that he was genuinely a really nice guy. It didn’t help that I could make him laugh, and we could talk so easily, and it certainly didn’t help that we started having private tutorials which ended up way more private than I’d ever dared imagine. I’d ranked top of my class in every subject since the first grade yet there I was falling stupidly in love with him. 

This was going to be a hell of a year. 

And one very steep learning curve for both of us. 

Review: ⟫ Do you know what it’s like when you read a new (to you) author and as soon as you finish, you have to go and find their entire back-catalogue because you need to read everything they’ve ever written immediately? Yeah, that was this book for me. 

I have been seriously enjoying the Franklin U series of books, not least because it has introduced me to authors I haven’t read before. As far as I know, I haven’t read any N.R. Walker books before and for that, I can only give past-me a smack to the back of the head. 

This was absolutely brilliant – witty, fun, touching, sexy – the relationship that grew between Cobey and Vincent was just everything! 

I picked this book up just after midnight and finished it just before 2 a.m. because despite being exhausted, I couldn’t bring myself to put it down. 

This book was so normal and ordinary in so many ways – it was boy meets boy, boy embarrasses the heck out of himself in front of boy, boys decide to help each other out and in the process fall in love. 

But it was also extraordinary in how it told their story – it showed how they fell in love, it showed how much they cared about each other in the little things that they did, how protective they were of each other and their relationship. 

I adored Nate and Jayda, as well as seeing glimpses of characters from other books in the Franklin U universe, and the epilogue made me laugh out loud. 

I would suggest flipping over a page after the epilogue so that you can see the newspaper clipping which literally made me say ‘awwww’ because it was just so sweet.