Fair Play

3.5 stars. Unfortunately I just finished reading the Adrien English series by the same author, so I don't think any other m/m couple is going to measure up to their passion and angst. I like a lot about this series, including the Pacific Northwest setting and university classroom scenes. The series is distinctive in that Elliot is something more than just an average joe who gets involved in crime cases, although he's not a professional anymore either. I also appreciated the contrasting parent/child dynamics between Eliot and his dad, and Tucker and his long-lost mother.

But m/m books succeed and fail on the strength of the primary relationship, and while I like Elliot and Tucker, I don't love them. I appreciate the way they try (and sometimes fail) to work out their relationship issues, but I don't necessarily buy the depth of their feelings for each other. I also don't like the way their sex life has been ret-conned from the first book, which was fairly standard, to more of a D/S dynamic in this book. Was that really necessary or is it just trendy?

I'll read just about anything by Josh Lanyon, but I won't be on the edge of my seat waiting for the next release in the All's Fair series.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.