Book Review: Partners by Lex Valentine & VJ Summers

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Partners
Author: Lex Valentine/VJ Summers
Series: Shadows & Kink #1
Heroes: Travis/Ian
Genre: M/M Dystopian
Length: 100 Pages
Publisher: Winterheart Books
Release Date: April 18, 2014
Available at: Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: TDA agents Travis Wilder and Ian Hawke are fuck ups. As members of a covert organization that battles terrorism in a world that’s lost its political, economic and social infrastructure, their job is to find and neutralize dangerous terrorists. But, neither Travis nor Ian have been able to complete a mission successfully in recent months. Travis kills his targets while Ian beds his. In an effort to save his two best agents, their handler makes them partners.

Ian, with his upper-crust British accent and flirty behavior is everything that attracts Travis and repels him at the same time. For Ian, the taciturn, domineering former Force Recon officer represents a temptation he knows better than to succumb to. But working and living together builds a unique bond between the two. As sexual tension spirals higher between them, as their secrets and kinks are revealed, their need for each other becomes undeniable. They’re two broken men forced into a partnership neither of them wants…a partnership guaranteed to be their salvation or their destruction.

Review:

This pulled me in pretty quickly. I’m not normally a huge fan of futuristic stories, but I didn’t have any trouble with this one. It takes place about 20 years in the future after the world has been turn upside down. Travis and Ian are operatives with 15 year contracts working for a covert organization whose main goal is to take out and/or neutralize terrorists that have basically taken over.

Unfortunately, both Ian and Travis have been having a difficult time lately and been screwing up their respective missions. As a last chance effort, their handlers decide to take a different route with them. They can either learn to live and work as a team with them both succeeding, or they will both be put on desk jobs for the rest of their contracts.

Both guys have bad history, though Ian seems to have gotten the worst of it. His violent past causes him to shy away from weapons while, at the same time, uses sex and seduction to disassociate from relationships. Travis is extremely smart, but a bit of a loose cannon, using excessive force to get the job done. Essentially, Travis must keep Ian from using sex to accomplish their missions while Ian must keep Travis from killing everyone. In the meantime, it seems their handlers (who have a much more personal connection with these guys) believe that Travis and Ian becoming partners in every sense may be their only chance. Of course, they both fight the idea.

Even though Ian has been a bit of a man whore up to this point, we get glimpses into his past explaining a bit into why this is the case. Oh, and he is also a submissive, but there’s glimpses into that as well. Some of the flashbacks are quite brutal and definitely had me cheering for Ian through the whole story. He is such a damaged individual; it is hard not to feel for him.

Travis hasn’t had the best of things either, though nothing compares to Ian’s troubles. He has had a few failed relationships where he now believes men only want him for his brawn and abilities as a Dom. Again, there is more to this story as well. I really hope the plan works, and that these two are able to heal each other, though I’m afraid it isn’t going to be that easy.

There is a lot of backstory being told here, unfortunately through flashbacks, which I am really not fond of. There were also a few things that felt off, like them being pushed to screw each other, but, all in all, I was intrigued to the end which, by the way, is when they finally do have sex. There wasn’t really any BDSM stuff in this segment other than segments from Ian’s past and hints of it the future. This ends with the set up that they are now starting a relationship and going to work as a team, still under the watchful eyes of their handlers. I read this in just about one sitting, wasn’t quite ready for it to end, and am excited for the next one.

Overall Impression: I really liked it

*I received a copy from the authors in exchange for a fair and honest review.*