A Marine with honor.After surviving a horrific chemical attack that turned him into a metahuman, Captain Jamie Callahan got a second lease on life. For three years he’s been working for the Metahuman Defense Force and leading Alpha Team—all against the wishes of his family. The job requires his full dedication, so it’s no surprise Jamie doesn’t have time for a relationship. An enticing one-night … enticing one-night stand with a gorgeous stranger is all it takes to show Jamie exactly what he’s been missing. When a mission to take down a terrorist cell brings that same stranger back into his world, Jamie’s life gets complicated.
A soldier with secrets.
Staff Sergeant Kyle Brannigan was only looking to relieve some stress after a long mission. He didn’t know the hot guy he picked up at a bar was the leader of the MDF’s top field team. When Kyle and his partner get seconded to Alpha Team to help fight a terrorist threat, he has to balance his desire for Jamie against his duty to keep his secrets safe. That gets harder and harder to do amidst regulations both are tempted to break.
Two men trying to survive.
Giving into passion could cost both their careers. Abiding by the rules will only result in heartache. An attack on MDF headquarters brings with it a choice Jamie and Kyle can’t escape—duty, or love?
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Strong world-building, seriously charming and appealing characters, slaptastic wit, and a steamy undercurrent and love story. Great military scifi action and awesome scifi elements. Love the whole series.
All the stars!!! The narration wrecked me! It was just perfect! I’m a huge fan of the Soulbound series and I regret not reading this until now.
Jamie and Kyle are so hot together. As in explosive in bed. This book has one of the hottest and longest sex scenes I’ve ever read. And Greg’s voice just makes it even better.
The world building is fantastic and I really couldn’t put this down. I loved the whole Alpha team, especially Katie. It was fascinating to see the differences in the world andeach of their powers in action.
I adore Alexei! He’s my favourite character. I need more of him please. If you haven’t read this, get it now!!! Highly recommended!
Amazing world-building! Action-packed and full of kinky, steamy goodness that will light your screen on fire. I love all the books in this series and can’t wait for the last installment coming out next month!
KU. Solid 4 stars. I love military romance. I like well written MM. I can like dystopian/sci-fi/paranormal. Hailey Turner does these really well.
Turner does a good job of introducing us to a LOT of characters and helping the reader keep them as well as their military call signs and all the military acronyms straight. This can sometimes bog down a story but she executed it almost perfectly. Though I read a LOT of military (Fiction & NonFiction), so maybe it was easier for me to grasp than someone new to the genre.
There was an excellent mix of world building, action, mystery, and sex. I feel invested in Alpha Team’s missions as well as the members personally.
My only complaint and the reason for 4 stars, is that while Jamie & Kyle burn it up in the bedroom whew!, their time on the page connecting personally is minimal. So, the “falling in love” felt based purely in sex, not so much romance IYKWIM.
I am absolutely reading the next book and looking forward to the series as a whole.
6/24/20 update: Audio!!!! Just as good, maybe better because Greg Boudreaux! He does a great job differentiating characters with pitch & accents.
Writer Hailey Turner turns up the heat with her Metahuman Files series. Her story takes place almost two hundred years in the future. Courtesy of global warming, many cities bordering the oceans is fully surrounded by water. Adding to the thoroughly changed landmass that is the United States, a terrible chemical used during a war to kill both civilians and combatants has resulted in a small percentage of survivors. Those who survived are transformed into metahumans who can possess a wide range of supernormal skills.
Captain Jamie Callahan is one such survivor of Splice who is currently working for the Metahuman Defense Force and leading Alpha Team, against the wishes of his extremely wealthy, politically connected family. His team, comprised of several other metahumans, is tasked with taking down a terrorist cell. In need of a sniper and spotter team, the members of Alpha are joined by Staff Sergeant Kyle Brannigan and his adopted Russian brother Staff Sergeant Alexei Dvorkin. Much to their chagrin, Jamie and Kyle enjoyed a totally hot, off-the-chain hook-up several evenings prior that happened to be much more than they ever thought they’d have with another man.
When they get captured and teleported away on their mission, things seem absolutely impossible until Kyle and Alexei demonstrate their own very special skills. They save the day in a major way, resulting in their permanent assignment to the Metahuman Defense Force in general and the Alpha team in particular. With Kyle as Jamie’s subordinate, regulations forbid any intimate relationship between the two. Both men decide to chance their careers on their romance, knowing full well they are in love with each other.
Be prepared for hotter-than-hell sex but there’s more to the book than mere copulation. The writer pens scenes that demonstrate genuine affection and respect between Jamie and Kyle. Though there is a sadistic/masochistic quality to their coupling, the acts are consensual and agree upon by both. In addition, the world-building for the series is truly incredible with character development one would expect from a protagonist who puts in a surprise appearance then demonstrate unanticipated skills. The secondary characters in the novel are dead AWESOME in metahuman capabilities and personalities. Lastly, the rationale for the existence of metahumans is included in the narrative, given readers a reasonably credible tale.
After having read (and re-read) and absolutely loved Hailey Turner’s other series, “Soulbound”, I knew I was going to love this too.
I bought “In the Wreckage” months ago, but I was waiting for the right moment to start it: I knew it had a high degree of angst (and I’m also very aware of how much hell the author puts her characters through). But I was finally in the mood for something angst-riddled, so I started this book expecting to love it.
And I did. A lot (minus so small details I’ll talk about).
Hailey Turner is a genius storyteller and world-builder, and even though this book was quite a few years older than her “Soulbound” ones and, in some ways, a bit less refined, the world she created (a 2284 apocalyptic society, where climate change and terrifying bio-weapons have destroyed half of the population and a big chunk of the world’s habitable places) was amazing: it’s complex and intricate, a bit hard to keep up with at first (especially with all the military slang), but then you get the hang of it. The way metahumans were created, their different abilities and (sometimes very scary, but cool) skillsets and histories.
I loved all of the characters (especially the side characters: I’d seriously die for the whole of Alpha Team) and the two MCs were pretty much amazing, however, and here is the small detail that made me lower the rating: the relationship between Jamie and Kyle is scorching hot, they have a really delicious chemestry and their dynamics are lovely, but it felt a bit too much like insta-love to me. And I’m not a fan of that: I am a (big) fan on insta-lust, sure, but insta-love… it always leaves me feeling like I’ve missed out on something. It wasn’t so bad in the second half of the book: after all they both go through a lot and that type of experience justifies the feelings they could have for one another, but in the beginning it irritated me.
However, it is a small detail and I loved them quite a bit: Kyle especially, with his unique power and broken relationship with it and his body, and his relationship with Alexei was lovely (I am SO curious to see a bit more of Alexei in the next books).
I also loved the whole found family vibe Alpha Team has going on: I’d be very interested in knowing a bit more of all of them, but mainly the girls.
Surprisingly, this first book hasn’t too much angst and torture and pain: I’m sure the next books will make up for it though.
I’ll start those very soon.
Set 260 years in the future, this 1st book in the METAHUMAN FILES series pairs two special ops soldiers, Jamie and Kyle. Hailey Turner has done some deep worldbuilding to create this series, and the work shows. But the draw for me was that delicious trope of two guys hook up at the bar, then discover the next day that one of them is the other one’s new boss (except Jamie’s more the team lead than the boss). Great conflict with a healthy dose of found family. Recommend!
In the Wreckage is the first book in the Metahuman Files series and introduces the readers to Alpha Team and a barely recognizable future where climate change has completely reshaped the way humans interact and live within their environment. Within this new future is a chemical weapon, Spice, that is so horrific almost everyone who’s exposed to it dies a gruesome death. But for those who survive the exposure, they find themselves changed to the core of their DNA. These changed humans are known as Metahumans and possess powers that would not be out of place in a X-Man comic or a superhero movie.
Captain Jamie Callahan is the leader for Alpha Team, the elite military unit comprised of Metahumans. Jamie’s life revolves around his dedication to duty—much to the disappointment of his politically focused father and worried mother. Staff Sergeant Kyle Brannigan is an elite sniper who gets transferred onto Alpha Team against his wishes. But Kyle soon finds a second family with Alpha Team and the attraction between him and Jamie is the type of love that can move worlds.
I adore this book (and the entire series) and I can’t believe it took me so long to read it. As someone who has served in the military and in law enforcement, I really appreciate the intricate and fascinating details Hailey Turner put into her sci-fi military unit. In this strange alternate universe of future, the military structure, chain of command, and team dynamics all felt real and plausible. I am a huge fan of Hailey Turner’s world building and loved every moment of this story. Plus, the romance between Jamie and Kyle is hot and kinky while also tender and sweet. The sex scenes were delicious and the connection these men had with each other made my heart melt.
The audiobook was narrated by Greg Boudreaux who did an incredible job with the narration. This is a book that demands an energetic performance, and Greg met that challenge and exceeded it. He voiced all the characters with wonderful distinction and made it really easy to follow along in the story. The audiobook was well produced. I highly recommend it.
This is a recommendation for the entire series. Hailey’s Metahumans series is one of my favorite. The near-future world she’s created feels totally real. The characters are amazing, the sex is super hot, and the action sucks you in. She makes every character, no matter how minor, unique and interesting. Don’t start too close to bedtime, because you’ll want to read the whole book all the way through.
The first gay romance I’ve read (I normally stick to lesbian romance) and it wasn’t half bad. Had a decent plot, characters were believable, nice sci-fi twis
Being a lesbian I’m not really into sex scenes much… that don’t involve lesbians LOL beyond that really good storyline good characters good pace
Loved It!!