Beto Hernandez’s objective: Break the human trafficking ring plaguing Skagit once and for all. He’s not in Skagit to make friends—his kicking ass first and taking names later. Maybe. He crosses paths with an intriguing and sexy man, the first man in years to spark Beto’s interest. It’s ultimate bad timing, though; no one in Skagit can be trusted. Who is Carsten Quinn, and where does he fit in … Beto’s investigation? Beto tries to stay away from Carsten but their undeniable chemistry keeps him close.
Carsten Quinn survived years in hell to return to “normal life,” and he his own mission in Skagit. The only problem is he’s hiding, not living anything like a normal life. When his closest friend is severely injured it’s up to Carsten to finish gathering evidence to put some very bad people behind bars and he knows all too well he can’t trust anyone, especially not the law.
Ironically, the law appears anyway, in the form of a sexy cop he can’t stop thinking about; when Carsten’s past comes back with a vengeance, he has no one else to turn to. Is happiness too much to hope for? Are Beto and Carsten too different and too broken to trust anyone, much less each other?
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I recommend the whole series
I couldn’t put it down until sleep forced me to.
When It Rains has left me nearly speechless. I’m in awe of this fantastic story. There was a tiny bit of hmm? going on for me right at the beginning but that was soon resolved and forgotten (the first two chapters take place in the past).
While this is book 8 in the series you don’t need to have read the others to understand or enjoy it. I think it might tie in a bit to other books in the series but, honestly, it’s been so long since I’ve read them that I can’t remember for sure. That’s why I’m confident in telling you that you don’t need to have read the other books before reading this one if you don’t want to. I have to say, though, that this is a really great series and if you like stories with mystery, suspense and romance I’d advise you to read them all.
When It Rains deals with tough subject matter: human trafficking, but Elle Keaton handles the subject well giving us just enough information to know what’s going on without getting really graphic about it. Carsten and Beto are both broken, albeit in different ways. Beto was forced to hide who he is because his former lover wasn’t out and now he’s having a difficult time getting over his death.
Carsten Quinn doesn’t really exist. He takes jobs where he can be paid in cash because he has no ID to prove who he is. When he meets Beto in a local bar there’s a spark of attraction but nothing happens. When they meet again later, under circumstances that aren’t good, Carsten eventually realizes that he needs to trust Beto in order to finish what he and his injured friend started.
When It Rains is definitely a slow-burn romance. There are some very sexy scenes but they don’t happen until about two-thirds of the way through the book. This didn’t bother me a bit because I love a good slow-burn story.
I just can’t say enough good things about this story and my words here don’t do it justice. If MM romantic suspense is your jam you should love When It Rains.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***
This is an interesting story, with some mistery and some action that make it quite entertaining.
I really enjoyed this book! The characters were exciting to follow. I couldn’t stop reading it!
When it Rains had both positives and negatives for me, but overall, I found myself wishing it was… just more. I enjoyed Carsten’s character. I found him to be strong and stubborn in an impactful way. I also enjoyed the idea of the story plot; Carsten, a victim of human trafficking and Beto, an undercover police officer, come together to bring down the human trafficking ring that brutalized Carsten and many others and fall in love along the way. Unfortunately for me, that’s where the positives end. The book includes bizarre formatting that detracted from my ability to pay attention (it seemed to change from bold text to regular throughout the story). And I never felt truly connected to the relationship between Beto and Carsten or the story. Additionally, the fact that the human traffickers, Carsten, and his friend who unconsciously supplied Carsten to his human trafficking family all lived in the same area yet never crossed paths was hard for me to get behind. All in all, between the way the story is both choppy and meandering, and difficult to imagine in parts, I found myself skipping ahead. Had I not received an ARC for this book, I’m not sure that I would have finished it.
With that said, if you enjoyed the previous books in this series, you’ll probably like this story. For me, I’m glad it’s the last book in the series and not the first because I would likely not read any additional books after this one.
This was a great story.
The plot picks up from a human trafficking scheme that was not resolved in the previous books. The author gave us helpful, brief descriptions of the characters that helped a lot. However, I would suggest at least a brief reread of the series to remember the details of the crime that were already described.
The chemistry between the characters was wonderful. I liked that the danger of the characters’ situations aided with the development of their emotions, but was not the source of them. The physical intimacy came later in the story than expected, which made it more realistic to me.
My hesitation came from the way each chapter had multiple gaps. It made the reading process more choppy, and broke up the flow of the story a bit. However, it only got to me enough to take a half star off, as I truly enjoyed the book.
-Jess
Mysterious, action-packed, Beautiful MCs
I am loving the way the story started, it gives us the background details of what we are about to read. It gives us the background story of the main characters. I am a very conscious reader, I like to know the characters, so normally I will spend time reading ( and rereading sometimes) the description of each character. The way Ms. Keaton described them were so thorough and I didn’t get bored reading it (because let’s admit it sometimes we do get bored with long descriptions), Beto and Carsten, two people who have gone through heartaches and suffering individually, fate had them crossing each other’s path, but Skagit is fairly small, so most people would know each other because small towns are just like that.
Action, suspense, on-the-edge-of-my-seat vibes all throughout the story. When one action-packed scene finishes, another one begins, you feel like the MCs just can’t have a break, to meet, to strategize, to take a breather! So intense, and I love how Beto and Carsten got to know each other through all these. A totally action-packed story full of lovable characters and enough mystery that you don’t want to put the book down.
Congratulations Ms. Elle Keaton for a well written, action-packed, mysterious story and characters you will root for and fall in love with. A bestseller!
The small town of Skagit has its problems but it also seems to have a magnetic pull that bring opposites together.
FBI Agent Beto Hernandez has never been able to have the life that he’s dreamed of. He gave up his freedom to keep his relationship behind closed doors. Now he finds himself in the small town of Skagit with one goal.
Carsten Quinn a young survivor of an abusive life has finally found his freedom but he’s not totally free. He finds himself helping Troy Bakker who has some information that would rock the town of Skagit. When Troy is seriously hurt and in the hospital Carsten realizes he has to finish what was started.
Both Beto and Carsten are broken and think they will never find the missing piece to happiness. There’s also an issue of who can be trusted. But they find themselves risking their lives for one goal and that’s to find the evil people who are behind the human trafficking ring and bring it to a halt.
“When It Rains” is exciting, loaded with suspense, danger and lot’s of fast paced action. There’s high drama, very emotional moments and some humor too. As far as the mystery, Elle Keaton has the pieces falling like dominoes and I don’t want to give anything away. One thing that was really outstanding was the description of the constant rains that plagued Skagit.
My only regret is that we couldn’t spend more time with all the characters mentioned from previous novels. Beto and Carsten turned out to be a surprise and reminded me of Klay and Micah. Of course, grumpy Klay always makes an appearance but I was hoping for Micah to get equal time. It was hard to decide who was more grumpy Klay or Beto. It was interesting to get a sneak peak at the growing relationship between Soren and Dany. Hopefully somewhere along the line we might get their full story.
“When It Rains” is the final book in “The Accidental Roots” series by Elle Keaton.
I have to say, she didn’t disappoint. From the first book published in 2017, I was hooked and always jumped at the chance to review all the books in-between. If you haven’t had a chance, grab a copy of “Storm Season” and get started visiting the town of Skagit and all the great characters that come to live and love in this small town. You’re bound to find characters you like throughout this series. Great final story with a great ending!
This is another great addition to this series and the last one in this series. I definitely couldn’t put this book down. Beto and Carsten’s story had action and drama that I just love. A great ending to this series.
For full disclosure, I received a copy for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
If you are looking for a light-hearted sexy read? This is not that book. This is Drama!
Two individuals seeking to hunt down a circle of human traffickers, only they aren’t working together. One is an FBI agent on the hunt for the scum in high places that protect the ring and its operators. The other a survivor from the ring trying to expose and remove the ring from his town.
More than a decade ago Carsten’s life was stolen from him. He was taken and sold as property. His best day was when the hospital called looking for next of kin for his owner. He leaves the cabin and his name behind. Now, his friend is missing/injured and the cop who’s following up is someone Carsten knows he should avoid, but can’t help but feel drawn to.
Beto is tired of rain, homophobic coworkers, and hunting for the human scum trafficking people, he wants a break with at least one of them. A night out for a drink leads to a conversation with an interesting local about countries starting with”I.” While responding to an accident he finds a dog that leads him to a victim in the dark. When tracking the victim’s next of kin down, he winds up at Carsten’s door.
The story is woven in a way that maximizes drama and tension. I would have loved for more sexy times, but that would have been a stretch and would not have fit the structure. But she also includes moments of levity. Definitely worth a read.
When you invest a lot of time in a series and of comes to an end I as a reader always worry about how the author will end that series. I have to say that author Elle Keaton did a wonderful job wrapping up her Accidental Roots series.
It was by sheer accident that I came across the first book but I’m so glad I did. I was hooked on Skagit, the characters and their stories and the best part for me was all the suspense wrapped into it.
I can’t strongly suggest this series enough and this book, Beto and Carsten’s story will have you devouring every single page in one sitting.
An absolute perfect conclusion!
The book, the last in the series, features Carsten Quinn a sex traffic survivor, and Beto Hernández a undercover FBI agent still recovering from the death of his lover of ten years two years prior.
They first meet in one of the small towns two gay-friendly bars. The second time they meet when Beto shows up outside of Carsten’s door asking question about his roommate.
They quickly learn they are fighting for the the same thing, to take down the trafficking ring with it’s base in Skagit.
That’s about it. They win, of course, seeing as it’s the last book and all.
I don’t think I find anything likable about this book. It’s not funny, the sex scenes are unrealistic, the characters are one-dimensional, there are no chemistry between them and the constant ragging on a dead man made me want to punch someone.
The word f***t is used four times in the book
A slur used by Beto’s first partner at SkPD on their way to an accident scene. “F***t had it coming”. It’s impossible to tell who he’s referring to as two people died in that accident, so it could be either or them, or maybe he means the man the two crash victims shot do death in a robbery. Either way it doesn’t make a lick of sense why he’d use that word. None. I’m sure it’s to show us readers how horrible homophobic he is, but it’s just stupid
Beto repeats the words of his partner to explain to his Captain why he threw him out of the car.
Brakker, a leader for some Megachurch or whatever calls Beto and Carsten this when they catches him as part of the trafficking ring. And while they are gay, he doesn’t know this (as far as I could tell) and randomly throws out a slur
When they make another arrest the apprehended yells it at them. Again, they are and maybe this time he’s aware of it, but seeing as English isn’t his first language and he’d just yelled in Croatian (I think) it make very little sense for him to use that word
To me this is just signs of lazy writing. Instead of actually showing the homophobia the author’s have them use a bad word. Good job. Or not
He ‘accidentally’ pray at a church before he remembers that the church hates gays. Ummmm? What? 1. You don’t pray to the church, you pray to God. 2. Not all churches are that narrow minded. Sounds like ignorance to
The use of Beto’d instead of Beta had made me cringe sooo hard. It sounded like a verb instead of his name.
Body’s keep floating up on shore. “The fourth body in two weeks, if he included the toddler who’d fallen in and been swept away.” “The bodies, apart from the toddler’s, were being considered suspicious deaths”
No. Just no. Seriously!
No grieving parents. No mentions of the child again. Nothing
How dare you kill a child for no reason
Beto was in a relationship with his partner for ten years before he passed away. It was a secret relationship. The partner, Jerry, wanted to remain in the closet so no one from his family knew about them.
Now, I’m not denying it must have sucked to be a secret, but if you stayed with the guy for 10 years you only have yourself to blame. And how dare your friend rack on a dead man for his choices. Who is he, or you, or anyone to judge him for it? It doesn’t matter what kind of situation you are in, it’s not always easy to be open about who you are
I’m not gay, or a guy, but when I started writing slashy fanfiction I talked to friends, strangers and researched, just so I wouldn’t make the mistakes I’d heard/read many do. A big one seems to be how uncomfortable, almost torturous it can be to have sex after you’ve already come once. Guess the author didn’t know that
The so called dirty talk is stiff and long-winded
They’re both cold characters, making their ‘connection’ feel forced instead of something coming naturally
Carsten Quinn is a taken name, but they locates a birth certificate and he gets a passport in the end. But in which name? I didn’t find anything about a name change so I assume it would be as Casey Olsen, but why would he go back to that name?
This book just made me mad, and my two stars is only because of the honor I see it as.
Okay. Here goes…I was a little disappointed in this one. Especially since it is the last book in the Accidental Roots series. It starts off extremely slow and doesn’t get into the nitty gritty of the story until just past halfway through. I found myself skimming sections which I hardly ever do and have never done with any of the other books in the series. Once the action does get going, it’s good and held my attention through the end.
As far as the characters are concerned. Carsten was very likable. Beto I had a hard time liking. I tolerated him for the most part. He came across as someone I wouldn’t want to have a beer with. The sudden addition of Sacha and Adam seemed rushed, though I adore both characters. Sacha seemed like a last minute addition. None of the other characters from the series are mentioned until the end and then there are a bunch of them as if, again, it was a last minute decision or an “OH crap! I forgot!”
I wanted so much more of Soren and Dany’s relationship and feel cheated for the sliver that was tossed to the readers. I was hoping he’d get his own story or at least be more involved.
All in all, it wasn’t bad. Not something I’d read again.
I love the way the author used rain as a constant theme in the book . Because rain falls down hard over Skagit and brings out dead bodies over the river banks, but maybe it will help cleans the county of the last traces of evil.
Beto and Carsten meet while seeking cover from the rain. Both troubled and sad,with deep scars on their hearts,they try fighting their connection and the need for each other because it’s hard to put down the walls they’ve built around their hearts.
But rain falls over them,washing away their fear of falling in love. When the clouds clear,they’re an united front,stronger together despite their weaknesses.
When it Rains is the perfect ending to a perfect series.