Single Malt

Single Malt follows Aiden ‘Irish' Talley, a 42 year old FBI agent still reeling from the loss of his partner of fifteen years and the loss of his husband in the same ‘accident', and Jameson ‘Whiskey' Walker, a 30 year old rookie who is well known in the public eye due to his days as a basketball player, and is more than he appears to be on the surface.
Aiden and Jamie have been attracted to each other for years, but have never spent considerable time with each other, until they get partnered together, and quickly find themselves falling into trouble, both professionally and personally.

I love cop shows. I watch a ton of them. I love the dynamic between partners and the high stakes and the action. When I heard about Single Malt, I couldn't wait to read it. For me, this book didn't really disappoint. There's action, there's hacking, there's betrayal, and the physically (and possibly emotionally) strongest character of them all is a woman of colour (side note: we didn't see nearly enough of her so I hope this is fixed in the upcoming books).

Single Malt takes place over the span of about four weeks. Aiden and Jamie work together in the cyber division, and after quickly closing a paedophile ring case, and rescuing some kidnapped children, they are assigned to the case which will take up the majority of the series. Essentially, Single Malt is a book about a seemingly bio-terrorist plot, but as Irish and Whiskey uncover, there is more to it than originally seems.
Everything about this book is fast paced (which includes the romance) which made it pretty easy to read. It was definitely enjoyable and fun to follow the investigation and see how at some turns, the main characters were misled. It wasn't particularly easy for them, and that made it slightly more realistic.

Now, the main romance.
Aiden acknowledges his attraction to Jamie, mostly, but thinks he's straight when they're first partnered together. I'm fairly certain he only thinks this as to make it absolutely impossible for them to ever be together. Other characters pick up on the chemistry between them, it's obvious and absolutely there, but because Aiden is still grieving Gabe, and thinks even looking at another man is betraying the memory of him, he's basically seeing what isn't there so he doesn't go after something he thinks he can't have. Things happen though, Jamie outs himself to Aiden, then they're involved in a couple of situations where they almost lose each other, and the flirting and the looks and the attraction building between them leads to more. It feels inevitable. The book was always going to lead to them hooking up, but with the decision that they make at the end (or more like Aiden's idea that Jamie kind of goes along with), Aiden basically says they should be friends with benefits because he doesn't want to lose another romantic partner he cares about there's still roadblocks for them which will complicate their partnership in their future.
The scenes between them are pretty hot though, so I'm not gonna complain. I'm fairly certain all the issues between them will be cleared up by the end of Barrel Proof (the third and final book of the series due out in August) and they will be a fully fledged couple at the end, so if possible romantic cliffhangers like this put you off then don't let it in this instance.

I love Jamie. I really really love Jamie, but did anyone else get the feeling that he knew how to do just slightly too much. He's an ex basketball pro, so he has a lot of stamina and strength. He grew up near a NASCAR track, so he knows how to handle cars incredibly well. His family was poor so he had to work in a cafe to make ends meet, so he knows how to cook incredibly well. He aced his classes in college and knows how to hack better than most other hackers. He's gorgeous and smart and charming and understanding. Basically the full package.
Do men like this truly exist? It made it easy to fall for him as a character, but there's definitely secrets lurking under the surface, there has to be. I have a feeling Cask Strength (book number two) might deal with this, which is something I'm definitely looking forward to, but it was just something niggling at the back of my mind whilst I was reading this.

I like that the book ended on a cliffhanger with Aiden's deceased husband Gabe having ties to the terrorist Renaud aka the Big Bad of the series and it certainly draws you back in for the sequel, which is luckily due out soon. This book isn't perfect, but it's definitely fun and a great read with a promising plot and romance.