Reviewed by Nikyta
Title: The Boy With the Painful Tattoo
Author: Josh Lanyon
Series: Holmes & Moriarity #3
Heroes: Kit/J.X.
Genre: M/M Contemporary/Mystery
Length: 228 Pages
Publisher: Just Joshin
Release Date: October 25, 2014
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: It’s moving day at Chez Holmes. Somehow, against Kit’s better instincts, he and J.X. are setting up house together. But while J.X. is off at a writing conference, Kit unpacks a crate that should contain either old books or new china. It doesn’t. Within the mounds of green Styrofoam popcorn is a dead body. A very dead body.
There goes the neighborhood.
Review:
Starting a new life with J.X. means moving to San Francisco and buying a house together. Unfortunately, the morning after they move in, J.X. is on his way to a convention, leaving Kit to unpack the house… and discover a dead body in their basement. But even with the police involved, Kit somehow still gets caught in the middle of the murder investigation with a killer still on the loose. And when J.X. comes home, will having J.X. around make Kit feel safer? Or will he still manage to be right in the middle of a creepy stalker and a crazy man hellbent on hurting him?
That little recap doesn’t really do the story justice because there’s just so much that happens to really explain it all. I will say that there’s a lot focused on the mystery AND on J.X. and Kit’s relationship. They’re still trying to figure out the relationship they have so there are arguments and make-ups and a bunch of emotions thrown in.Not to mention, the development of the story and how Kit always seemed to land himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As characters, Kit is still kind of awkward. He doesn’t know how to be the person J.X. wants as a partner or to even show J.X. how much he cares for the man. He has second thoughts about them all the time and half the time doesn’t believe they’ll last. J.X., on the other hand, wants more than anything for Kit to just believe in them. I felt a little sorry for J.X. because a lot of the things Kit would say, hurt him to hear and I just felt so bad for how it seemed like Kit was hiding things from him.
There were a few things I had issues with in this one. Mainly, I was aggravated with how much of a push-over Kit seemed to be when it came to letting people inside their house. IMO, if you don’t want people to come inside, you DON’T invite them in. So, after the third time Kit just opened the door and invited a person in who he DID NOT WANT to come in, I was extremely annoyed. Especially since he would just agree to whatever that person was saying but yet would argue so much with J.X. over what seemed like the smallest thing.
Beyond that, I found a few elements of the story pointless, such as the whole bottom/top thing (I don’t really understand why that needed to be hashed out) and also the Adrien/Jake cameo. I was actually very disappointed with that because I’m still annoyed with how their storyline ended. Also, while the mystery started out intriguing, it slowly started to grow out of control, leading Kit into more than one situation where he was running for his life when that all could have been avoided if he would have just called the police in the first place. Not to mention, I was able to guess the killer and the real reason behind the robbery almost as soon as that line of the mystery came into play.
In the end, though, I won’t deny that it was an enjoyable story. I loved being able to see more of Kit and J.X. especially now that they’re living together. They have a lot of issues they need to get through and they are nowhere near their happily ever after, IMO. As for the mystery, even with solving it so quickly, I still found it entertaining and, of course, Kit’s sense of humor throughout made for a lot of amusing moments. Needless to say, if you’ve enjoyed the first two Holmes & Moriarity books, then you’ll definitely enjoy this one.
Overall Impression: I really liked it!
*I purchased my own, personal copy of this book for review.*
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