Anthony Talbot is in Anchor Point to visit family, but after two days of strife, he needs a break. A local gay bar is calling his name.When Chief Noah Jackson sees that red head stroll into the club, he immediately wants him. They’re perfectly matched, and before long, they’re burning up the sheets. Noah can’t get enough. Anthony can’t stay in Oregon for long, but as soon as he leaves, he’s … he’s counting down the days until he can fly back for more. And between his increasingly frequent visits, there’s always phone sex, sexting, webcams . . . anything they can get.
But Noah’s got a carefully crafted façade, and Anthony can’t help noticing the slowly forming cracks. The scent of alcohol in the middle of the day. The extra drinks at dinner. The hint of red in his eyes. Anthony knows what it means. He doesn’t want to believe it, but he’s seen this before, and there’s no denying it. If Noah doesn’t get his downward spiral under control, he’s going to lose both his career and the first man he’s ever really loved.
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Anthony & Noah meet when Anthony is visiting his ex brother in law with his nieces & nephews. They hit it off, & begin a relationship of sorts where they get together for some fun. However, as time goes on, Anthony notices that Noah seems to drink a lot, maybe more than he should. After seeing his ex BIL having problems with alcohol (he had other issues, but alcohol made it worse), he gets a little worried.
It was interesting to see the ways in which Noah hid how much he drank while in Anthony’s presence, as well as how he explained this away.
This author’s books are often a bit similar in the way they reach a HEA, but there’s always something a bit different about them (in this case, dealing with alcoholism). The ending seemed a bit quick, not sure finding the solution for this particular problem would be so easy to find, but that’s fine, considering everything else seemed to be quite realistic.
If you are into reading a porn story, this is for you. The story line is poor, I hope this is not how most people view a gay relationship.
This was my first time reading this author. While I enjoyed the book, I didn’t love it. Not sure if it was the style or if I just couldn’t fully embrace the characters. It was a decent read.
So what I got out of Chief’s Mess is sex. Sex. Sex. And drinking. There’s not much else. And that’s ok, but only because the sex is seriously steamy hot. Chief’s Mess is not what I’d call deep literature. I wanted it to be, though. And I thought it would be from the blurb. I thought it would be a serious look at addiction. But the addiction part isn’t addressed, or realized by Anthony, until nearly the very end. Why? Because they were too busy having hot sex for Anthony to realize that Noah had a serious problem.
And the conclusion, the moment when it all changes? Dealt with in a neat, wrapped up quickly kind of way. Which is not very realistic. As someone who has lots of alcoholism in my family tree, I know that addiction and dealing with sobering up is not neat or pretty or easily dealt with. So I don’t appreciate that LA Witt wrapped it up so prettily and neatly.
I do, however, appreciate the hot sex in this book, cuz honestly that’s about all that it has going for it, unfortunately.
Tams gives this one 5 Stars…
“Sexy Mess”
Anthony meets Noah in a gay bar and the two proceed to have what they deem a week long one night stand. But once Anthony is back in Denver, he can’t stop thinking about Noah and the time they spent together. Noah can’t stop thinking about Anthony and how well the relative stranger could play him like a well tuned guitar. That week turns into sexting, then skyping and eventually, weekend trips back and forth between Denver and Anchor Point. Lust slowly becomes so much more, starts to look like love. But there’s one thing Anthony cannot tolerate and it’s the one thing that threatens to tear them apart.
Aside from the white, hot passion these two share I really enjoyed the way Witt wrote the alcoholic aspect of the story. It’s almost like the alcoholism was a third person in the relationship, an affair that Noah keeps hidden just out of sight, but Anthony can see it’s shadow lurking in the dark corners. The progression from the week long one night stand that continually grew into more was perfectly paced as well.
Russo did an amazing job with the story and bringing these two men to life, making them so much more than words on paper. Witt is really good with descriptives and world building, she has a talent for pulling the reader into the atmosphere of the story. Add to that Russo’s talented vocal skills and you have a rich, in depth story with depth and personality.
A must listen for anyone that likes their guys versatile and sexy.