Reviewed by Ami
Title: That Rat, Carter Janson
Author: Amy Spector
Series: State of Love
Heroes: Felix/Peake/Carter Janson
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 106 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 19, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Every man has secrets, but some are bigger than others….
Felix Peake escaped a shady past to carve out a successful career as an expert in Mesopotamian art and gain the respect of the Chicago art community. But when an assistant curator—a man Felix could easily see himself falling for—asks him to reauthenticate a cuneiform tablet to avoid a looming scandal, Felix’s carefully constructed life could crumble.
The tablet is a fake, and Felix is intimately familiar with the artist. Master forger Carter Janson—Felix’s ex and first love—disappeared from his life six years before without a word of explanation. Now, to hold his world together, Felix must find the original tablet, steal it back, and replace the forgery—all before the museum exhibit debuts. It’ll mean slipping back into a role Felix wanted to leave behind and risking his promising future. But even then, he can’t do it alone. He’ll have to confront that rat, Carter Janson.
States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.
Review: That Rat, Carter Janson, from new-to-me author, Amy Spector, intrigued me first and foremost by its title – then the blurb. What can I say, I LOVE second-chance romance; it’s practically my catnip.
Well, this is one of those novellas that I STRONGLY wishe was written as something longer!! Why? Because there were so much potential here, and some plot-threads that I thought were probably being ‘sacrificed’ for the length limitation.
I mean, Felix’s past was very interesting, as well as Carter’s reason to leave Felix all those years ago. I felt like that part wasn’t fully explored. Then the getting-back together was also a bit too fast.
I was also still baffled by the motivation behind the fake tablet. It was unclear to me why the person involved would do it. There were only assumptions on Felix’s part, not exactly a clear explanation.
Despite it all, I enjoyed this novella! Spector’s writing just clicked with me. I really liked both Felix and Carter as characters. Felix who was determined to leave his shady past behind; when he explained who he was, my jaw dropped by the way. And Carter, whom I was ready to dislike because he took an easy road and left Felix behind, but it turned out that it was a bit more complicated and it wasn’t like it didn’t leave emotional scars.
The secondary characters were also wonderful! Like Felix’s friend, Hettie, who can deal with Felix’s sometime delusional grandeur (you’ll know what I mean when you read this). *laugh* Or Carter’s maid who also becomes his only best friend, Cabbage. They were lovely addition to the story.
Overall Impression: I really liked it!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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