AUDIOBOOK REVIEW TOUR
Book Title: Tainted Life
Author: Mel Gough
Publisher: Self-Published
Narrator: Brian Meslar
Release Date: September 6, 2019
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: One-night-stand turns into more
Themes: Angst, injuries, some violence
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 3 hours and 33 minutes
A one-night-stand turns into a love story full of dark secrets.
Metropolitan Police detective Pete Tucker’s world comes crashing down when his wife sues for divorce and sole custody of their only son.
Desperate to forget his sorrows for a while, Pete seeks refuge in a Soho bar where he is approached by a sexy, funny, and clearly interested stranger. Photographer Liam Jackson is just the ticket for one oblivious night of perfect passion.
However, their attraction proves too intense for a one-night-stand. To his surprise, Pete finds that he’s game for something more – but his baggage soon gets in the way. Then Liam’s own dangerous secrets claw their way to the surface, and threaten to derail the budding romance.
Is their growing bond strong enough to weather the violent storms ahead?
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A detective and a rent boy. Sounds like the perfect combination for and emotional storm when they can't stay away from each other. Except that's the really the direction taken in Tainted Life. Instead, there's a whole lot going on all at once, but then everything gets resolved very quickly. Some things are a little over the top and could've made for a gripping story, but there's just a bit too much going on. It felt like the story couldn't really settle on a plot, so it took several routes to get to the end and all of them got a little short-changed.
That said, I really liked both Pete and Liam. They're both wounded and in need of some comfort, and they just work together regardless of the differences in their lifestyles. Mel Gough does an excellent job of making their chemistry shine even when they're at odds with each other. The dialogue is another shining star for this emotional story. It's well done and flows wonderfully.
Narrator Brian Meslar did an excellent job with the performance on this one. The accents and voices are distinctive and add that something extra to the listening experience. He did a brilliant job of bringing Pete and Liam to life as well as the secondary characters who popped in along the way.
In the end, there were things I liked and things I didn't, but I did like the characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed Meslar's narration. The story left me somewhere in the fair to midlin range, but it was certainly worth the listen.
About the Author
Mel Gough loves writing about love – but with a twist. Nominated for the 2019 Selfies Awards, her bisexual romantic suspense novel He is Mine is a typical Mel Gough story. She needs her HEA fix, but on the way there will be thorns and fire, and sometimes brimstone. All right, that might be over the top, especially since her stories are firmly based in the real world - though not always in the here and now.
Born in Germany, exploring other realities has been Mel’s siren call since she was young. Books opened up a plethora of worlds, and soon gave her a strong love of the English language. After an MA in Anthropology, field work in the middle of nowhere seemed like one adventure too far, so Mel settled in London, which, to misquote Dr. Johnson, she will never tire of.
Mel loves to bend genres – her romances are gritty and dark, and sometimes there’s a dead body. She’s been told that her prose is beautiful yet disturbingly real. She’s curious about bygone times, and hopes to speculate about the future in one of her next books.
She was once asked “How to tell you're in a Mel Gough novel”
You were either sick or in an accident, or you’re caring for someone who was
You're bisexual (or your partner is)
Your partner has unusual eyes (probably grey)
Life sucks a lot, but then you meet someone, and things get better
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