Making it Happen: Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: SINGLE MALT by Layla Reyne (Agents Irish & Whiskey #1)

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: SINGLE MALT by Layla Reyne (Agents Irish & Whiskey #1)

SINGLE MALT (Agents Irish & Whiskey)
by Layla Reyne

The heart’s a resilient beast…

Widower Aidan Talley refuses to love again. Enter handsome younger cyberagent, Jameson Walker. As they investigate cybercrimes and his late husband’s murder, Aidan falls hard for Jamie, putting their jobs, lives and hearts on the line. SINGLE MALT is perfect for fans of Mr. & Mr. Smith by HelenKay Dimon and the Cut & Run series by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban.

Advanced praise for Single Malt:

A sexy, action-packed read that had me wanting the next book! --HelenKay Dimon, author of Mr. & Mr. Smith

With sharp writing, compelling characters, and an engaging plot, Single Malt is the M/M romantic suspense series I've been waiting for. - Santino Hassell, award-winning author of the FIVE BOROUGHS series

"Single Malt is full of explosive chemistry, captivating characters, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. A must read for any romantic suspense fan!" -- Megan Erickson, USA Today Bestselling author

Single Malt

Author: Layla Reyne

Series: Agents Irish & Whiskey

Genre: M/M Romantic Suspense

Release Date: February 27, 2017

Publisher: Carina Press

Synopsis

Eight months after the car crash that changed everything, FBI agent Aidan Talley is back at work. New department, new case and a new partner. Smart, athletic and handsome, Jameson Walker is twelve years his junior. Even if Aidan was ready to move on—and he's not—Jamie is off-limits.

Jamie's lusted after Aidan for three years, and the chance to work with San Francisco's top agent directly is too good to pass up. Aidan is prickly—to put it mildly—but a growing cyber threat soon proves Jamie's skills invaluable.

Jamie's talents paint a target on his back, and Aidan is determined to protect him. But with hack after hack threatening a high-security bio-containment facility, time is running out to thwart a deadly terrorist attack. They'll have to filter out distractions, on the case and in their partnership, to identify the real enemy, solve the case and save thousands of lives, including their own.

Excerpt

Wrenching the steering wheel, Jamie fought the skid, stopping them from spinning out and aiming them down the next alley instead. “We’ve got company.” He kept one eye on the road ahead and one on the rearview mirror. The SUV on their tail accelerated, gaining faster in the path Jamie cleared for them. Impact was inevitable. “Sh*t, hold on!”

The other car rammed them again, hurtling the Rover forward, he and Aidan straining their seat belts. He switched the LR4 into manual and tapped the shifter paddles, gaining some separation from their pursuer.

He cleared the alley, finding they’d been diverted away from the Port.

“What the f*ck is going on?” Aidan was white-knuckling the oh-sh*t handle above his door, torso twisted to look behind them, his face paler than Jamie had ever seen it.

“Someone doesn’t want us at the Port.” Pulling a hard right, Jamie aimed them down another street leading right back there.

And into the path of a second oncoming SUV.

A horrified “Oh God, no” escaped from his partner just as Jamie saw an under-construction on-ramp ahead on the left, orange-and-white-striped barrels blocking the entrance. He pressed the gas pedal to the floor and headed straight for the oncoming truck.

“Whiskey!” Aidan cried, head spinning forward and back. “What the f*ck are you doing?”

Their pursuers were closing in on either side, as bypassed alleys flew by left and right.

“You’re headed straight for them. Turn, goddammit!”

But turning down one of those alleys would leave them cornered. There was only one path to escape.

Jamie grabbed the back of Aidan’s head and pushed it toward his knees, screaming, “Hold on!”

At the last possible second, he veered left, out of the path of the oncoming SUVs and into the barrels. The SUVs in front and behind plowed into each other, exploding in their wake, the blast momentum propelling the Rover farther than Jamie had intended.

Through the barrels and past the unfinished on-ramp.

Through the guardrail.

And down the cliff on the other side.

Carra's Review

Excitement, action, tension of every kind, and intense emotion and heat? Yes please...and thank you! I loved Single Malt-it reached out and snatched my attention right from the start and just would not let go. The characters were very well rounded and had plenty of depth, you can easily see there is so much more to these men. Then the case itself had me guessing all along, first thinking one person was the leak on the team, but then thinking it was someone else...only to go back to the first person again. It's the kind of story that really pulls you so far in you think you're riding along right alongside the characters.

I felt for Aidan from the moment I knew his story, and hurt together with him. Jamie was fantastic-incredibly intelligent and really amazing at his job, and he matches up so well with Aidan. The heat and undeniable chemistry between them is evident immediately, and it leads to some torturous sexual tension that adds to the suspense of the cases to keep you on the edge of your seat. And you know what happens when all of that comes to a head, right? Jamie and Aidan are completely explosive together, and even though Aidan tries to hold Jamie at a distance you can see exactly where the two of them will end up. The fun part of it is how the author gets you there-by dangling your heart from a crazy thin wire while the action just continues to get more and more intense.

Everything about this book kept me guessing, and with the bit of a cliffhanger at the end I am so far past hooked for this series! Aidan and Jamie together are not to be missed, it's a rollercoaster ride through every page and I don't think I could have enjoyed this story more. I'm already counting down the days until the next book in the series comes out. The only thing I was a tad unsure about was the role Aidan's brother Danny played later in the story when the climax of the case was playing out at the port since he's not an agent and that fell under my heading of "would it really happen like that in the real world?"...but otherwise this story was one of the most engaging, exciting reads I've had so far this year.

Single Malt was a fantastic 5-star read for me, and I highly recommend this to any fan of M/M romantic suspense-it will certainly add some excitement to your reading time! This book is meant for readers 18+ for adult language and M/M sexual content.

Coming May 1, 2017

CASK STRENGTH (Agents Irish & Whiskey)

Professionally, the FBI team of Aidan "Irish" Talley and Jameson "Whiskey" Walker is as good as it gets, closing cases faster than any team at the Bureau. Personally, it’s a different story. Aidan’s feelings for Jamie scare the hell out of him: he won’t risk losing another love no matter how heart-tripping the intimacy between them. And loss is a grim reality with the terrorist Renaud still on their trail, leaving a pile of bodies in his wake.

Going undercover on a new case gets them out of town and off the killer's radar. They're assigned to investigate an identity theft ring involving a college basketball team in Jamie's home state, where Jamie's past makes him perfect for the role of coach. But returning to the court brings more than old memories.

As secrets and shocking betrayals abound, none may be more dangerous than the one Jamie’s been keeping: a secret about the death of Aidan’s husband that could blow his partner's world apart and destroy forever the fragile bonds of trust and love building between them.

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About Layla Reyne

2016 RWA® Golden Heart® Finalist, Layla Reyne, was raised in North Carolina but now calls San Francisco home. She enjoys weaving her bi-coastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline fueled suspense and heart pounding romance. When she’s not writing stories to excite her readers, she downloads too many books, watches too much television, and cooks too much food with her scientist husband, much to the delight of their smushed-face, leftover-loving dogs. You can find her online at http://www.laylareyne.com/.