The Brothers Grime Book 1 One man’s tough job is a path to love.The Brothers Grime is Jack Masterson’s way of helping people in crisis after disability ends his career as a firefighter. Jack’s people get to a scene long after the physical trauma ends. They don’t solve crime or rescue the victims. They help people move on. The new job is all Jack wants or needs, until he gets the call about old … until he gets the call about old flame Nick Foasberg’s suicide.
Ryan Halloran’s cousin Nick has been on a downhill slide for a long time. Despite that, Ryan does everything he knows to help. Ryan only understands part of what happened between Nick and Jack in high school, but after Nick’s suicide, Ryan agrees both he and Jack need closure. They work together to clean the scene and despite the situation, heat flares between them.
Jack is keeping a painful secret and fighting his attraction to Nick’s lookalike cousin, Ryan. Ryan calls himself a magnet for lost causes and worries Jack might be the next in a long line of losers.
Despite his misgivings, despite the past and the mistakes they’ve both made, Jack gives Ryan something to look forward to, and Ryan gives Jack a reason to stop looking back, in Grime and Punishment.
This is a rerelease of the 2013 novel with bonus stories in the Grime-verse!!!
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I’ve read this author before. I listened to audiobook. MM romance with main characters Jack and Ryan. Jack is a injured retired firefighter how has a forensic clean up business with his cousin Eddie. Ryan is a nurse. Great story. Off to listen to book 2.
Audible Escape. This was a sweet, short, relatively low-angst book. Obviously there was some drama/conflict but it didn’t drag on forever like some books. I don’t really feel like I was “wowed” into a 4 or 5 star rating, but it was good. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
Joe Arden is generally a favorite narrator of mine, but he felt off here. Delineation of characters voices was lacking at times. The worst was that it was difficult to tell when Jack was switching from internal musings to conversation with others in the story. It’s not like the narration was terrible, but it could have been better.
I’m a big fan of ZA Maxfield. She was one of the first gay romance authors i read, years before she became a good friend. For some reason, i shied away from this series. Maybe the crime scene cleanup background made me hesitate. LOL. I’d always admired the clever title, but despite its tongue-in-cheek play on words, i couldn’t quite place what the tone of the book would be. In fact, it’s quite serious and very romantic. The story includes ZAM’s wonderful, dimensional characters who sustain the book. They kept me engaged all the way through and hoping for their happy outcome. The fact that Jack starts with one guy and ends up with another could have been sticky, but ZAM handles it well. Plus, the book includes a really great cat! I listened to it in audio, and the narrator does a creditable job. Definitely one to put on your list!
After a slow start I was sucked in and couldn’t put this story down. Jack and Ryan are adorable together. I love the two epilogs as well. This was a great story of love and forgiving yourself with a great supporting cast of characters. I really liked this story and will be looking for the next in the series.
This one was okay. I did not love it. I just really did not fully connect to the MCs. I found myself caring more about the side characters. First, you have Jack, who you just want to give a big hug and just love him so dearly. I did like Jack. I did not really care for Ryan all that much and honestly I just did not get their relationship. I thought them getting together was kind of cringey…it just wasn’t the best. I am rooting for them to work out, and I am really excited to see the other characters get development in their own books, so will definitely be continuing on with this series. Joe Arden is an amazing narrator, so I am happy to listen to him any time.
This is the first book by ZA Maxfield I have engrossed myself with. I didn’t hate this book, but I did not love it either. I was a little sedate, low angst, but it was sweet.
I picked this one up on Audible Escape because the play on words with Grimm to Grime and it being a crime scene cleanup business had me curious. I wasn’t sure how the two could go hand in hand with romance so I was pleasantly surprised by the storyline of this book and will be reading the rest because now I feel invested in the side characters. There’s a lot going on in this book (which should come with a suicide warning bc that’s what kicks everything off) and there’s a lot of work to be done for both main characters in learning to forgive and not look back but forward. I enjoyed the book but the narrator was a little bland and sometimes it took me out of the book because it was hard to differentiate whether someone was speaking aloud or inner monologuing. Overall a good read and good start to a new series.