Release Day Review ~ Atonement (The Protectors Book 6) by Sloane Kennedy
Title: Atonement
Series: The Protectors Series
Author: Sloane Kennedy
Release Day: January 17, 2017
Cover Design: Jay Aheer
Blurb:
“Once a fuck up, always a fuck up.”
Words twenty-six-year-old Dante Thorne has had to live with for more years than he can count and a title he finally earned at the tender age of sixteen when one careless decision led to tragedy. And since he can’t deny the truth of the words, why not live by them instead? Fucking up, fucking, it doesn’t matter; as long as it feels good and makes him forget the day he failed the one person he’d always sworn to protect. A good philosophy to live by until Dante meets the one man who might actually having him wishing he was something more…
Because everything about Dante Thorne is wrong for Magnus. His arrogance, his cocky attitude, every single unfiltered word that falls unchecked out of his mouth and, of course, the fact that he’s a man.
But when his well-meaning friends send Dante with him as a bodyguard when he returns to Texas to testify in a high-profile case, Magnus begins to see beyond the brash words and endless sexual innuendo. And when he starts to discover that what he sees isn’t all that bad, suddenly the fact that that Dante is a man instead of a woman no longer seems like such a big sticking point anymore…
5+ Stars!
Magnus does not like the idea that he has to have personal protection and to add fuel to the flames, the man watching his back is Dante. Dante, the man who has been dominating his thoughts since the very first time they met. It hasn't seemed to matter that he isn't gay and hasn't ever been with a man. That's not the problem, it's the fact that Dante sleeps with anyone who catches his eye. Whether male or female it doesn't seem as if Dante has any preference and Magnus is too old now to play those types of games.
Dante only takes one thing seriously in his life, his job. At least that's the way people see him. He's a screw-up and he knows it. He failed the most important person in his life when he was A teenager and it destroyed everything. Now he only has room in his life for his job and his search for answers. Magnus stirs something inside him he doesn't want to identify but he knows it will never happen. Magnus hates him and can't stand to be around him.
When they are forced to be attached at the hip it starts off disastrous. These two men have no idea how to deal with the other, especially as they're trying to tamp down their attraction. A tentative truce between them leads to the two of them letting down some of their walls and realizing they may have similar desires.
But it only takes one phone call to change everything. Dante and Magnus will have to depend on the other to get through what they now face and there's no guarantee they'll survive.
I adore this series so much and I am so so grateful that I got the opportunity to review an ARC. I didn't know how I was going to feel about Dante in the very beginning but I quickly grew to care about his character and by the end of the book, I loved him. My heart broke for him, for his past and his present and at some point, his future. I wanted him to fall in love with Magnus and to get a happy ending because he certainly needed one.
Magnus was a great character from the very beginning. I knew from the brief glances of him before that I'd love him and I definitely did. He's got that reserved strength and even-keeled personality but at the same time, he was sweet and funny. I felt like he was the kind of man that would be able to change the way Dante felt about himself. Which is something he really needs.
The chemistry between the men is explosive and as always, Sloane Kennedy definitely knows how to write those steamy bedroom scenes. At one point I thought I might need a cigarette afterward, it was so hot. I loved these men together in and out of the bedroom.
I also loved the story itself, I cried and I laughed and I felt the tension at wondering what would happen. This is the type of book you don't put down until you've read the very last page. I needed to know what demons Dante was hiding, what happened in his past to make him the man he was. Through the whole thing, I was completely engrossed in every word and getting more and more anxious for that happily ever after. I got exactly what I was hoping for with this book and I definitely recommend it as well as the rest of the series. This is a "Must Read".
Now, of course, I'm sitting here not so patiently waiting for Sloane Kennedy's next book.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
5 Stars
Not quite of the same background as the rest of The Protectors tales, but one that WOWED me just the same.
I was lucky enough to beta this book for SK and I went into it knowing that Dante, the bad boy of Ronan's organisation, had been tasked with guarding Magnus, Matty's 41yo grandfather, expecting sparks, sass and hot sex. I expected a tale with a proper storyline, with one guy that I knew I liked and admired, and with one who I knew would need rehabbing and redeeming, right? Nope!! SK turned the tables on me in the sense that yes, I got the stuff I needed, expected and wanted from her, but not the way I'd anticipated. I was stunned by the depth and sadness of the storyline and characters she introduced, and the reveals about Dante that broke my heart.
I loved how Magnus, despite never having been attracted to a guy before, and having rebuffed being hit on by guys in the past, had the perfect attitude towards his realisation that he liked-liked Dante. He questioned himself, he considered things, he wasn't grossed out and he asked the right stuff of the right person, and then made a decision to go for it with his whole heart and body - which was entirely evident in his actions with and towards Dante.
Dante, Dante, Dante - what an iceberg of a guy. I'd both liked and been a little irritated by him in the glimpses that I'd had from previous tales, but I knew that SK would redeem him and make him worthy of his guy and his HEA, and boy did she do this in style. I couldn't have imagined his back-story and how it had made him the guy he was today, and that hidden inside was a guy who wanted to be worthy. Worthy of love, worthy of being considered a good guy, worthy of trust and respect, and yes, he got all of that. He also ended up becoming once again the meu melhor that he'd once been to someone very important, but I can't say more so I don't spoil the tale for you, though I will tell you that this thing from his past nearly broke him, and that the boy-man did good.
My heart kind of broke for Magnus, too, over the reveals of his life with his wife and daughter, but lucky for me, Dante was there to help him pick up the pieces and I wholly believed in the pace and circumstances of their relationship; it was a little fast, but it was right for me, for them and for the tale. The tale ended with me, the reader and fan, knowing that these guys were embarking on their HEA. It was a little less cut-and-dried (only on page) than I'm used to from SK, but there wasn't a doubt in my mind that these guys were it for each other. And, I loved little Matty's part, both knowingly and unknowingly, in opening their eyes to the possibilities of more than just grudging professional respect between them. And that little Matty-Magnus payback scheme? Hilarious!!!!
I read many, many MM/MMM books a week and I'm impressed at how fresh SK's writing and tales remain after so many books in the series, though that's no surprise, as her talent speaks for itself, and her guys make me love them and want more, more, more - and this lady knows how to deliver!
I was lucky enough to beta this book for SK and I went into it knowing that Dante, the bad boy of Ronan's organisation, had been tasked with guarding Magnus, Matty's 41yo grandfather, expecting sparks, sass and hot sex. I expected a tale with a proper storyline, with one guy that I knew I liked and admired, and with one who I knew would need rehabbing and redeeming, right? Nope!! SK turned the tables on me in the sense that yes, I got the stuff I needed, expected and wanted from her, but not the way I'd anticipated. I was stunned by the depth and sadness of the storyline and characters she introduced, and the reveals about Dante that broke my heart.
I loved how Magnus, despite never having been attracted to a guy before, and having rebuffed being hit on by guys in the past, had the perfect attitude towards his realisation that he liked-liked Dante. He questioned himself, he considered things, he wasn't grossed out and he asked the right stuff of the right person, and then made a decision to go for it with his whole heart and body - which was entirely evident in his actions with and towards Dante.
Dante, Dante, Dante - what an iceberg of a guy. I'd both liked and been a little irritated by him in the glimpses that I'd had from previous tales, but I knew that SK would redeem him and make him worthy of his guy and his HEA, and boy did she do this in style. I couldn't have imagined his back-story and how it had made him the guy he was today, and that hidden inside was a guy who wanted to be worthy. Worthy of love, worthy of being considered a good guy, worthy of trust and respect, and yes, he got all of that. He also ended up becoming once again the meu melhor that he'd once been to someone very important, but I can't say more so I don't spoil the tale for you, though I will tell you that this thing from his past nearly broke him, and that the boy-man did good.
My heart kind of broke for Magnus, too, over the reveals of his life with his wife and daughter, but lucky for me, Dante was there to help him pick up the pieces and I wholly believed in the pace and circumstances of their relationship; it was a little fast, but it was right for me, for them and for the tale. The tale ended with me, the reader and fan, knowing that these guys were embarking on their HEA. It was a little less cut-and-dried (only on page) than I'm used to from SK, but there wasn't a doubt in my mind that these guys were it for each other. And, I loved little Matty's part, both knowingly and unknowingly, in opening their eyes to the possibilities of more than just grudging professional respect between them. And that little Matty-Magnus payback scheme? Hilarious!!!!
I read many, many MM/MMM books a week and I'm impressed at how fresh SK's writing and tales remain after so many books in the series, though that's no surprise, as her talent speaks for itself, and her guys make me love them and want more, more, more - and this lady knows how to deliver!
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