Review: 4.5 Stars Kick Starting a New Life and Career
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 2, 2013
Blurb: Will and Taylor have left the Diplomatic Services and are starting their own security consultancy, but it isn't all caviar and champagne starting a new business, becoming business partners, and life partners. Throw family dynamics into mix as well and you have a great set up for the next chapter in our dynamic duo's new life.What I enjoy about a Josh Lanyon story is his ability to actually write a story and not rely on gimmicks like frequent action sequences, gratuitous sex, or continual emotional torment of the main characters (he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me...ad nauseam).While reading "Kick Start" what becomes clear, is the laying of a foundation or bridge to the next stage in Will and Taylor's life. I loved how Will and Taylor begin to really understand their personal boundaries in context of their relationship - the understanding that here be our end if they do not respect each others' emotional limits. In "Kick Start" we get a glimpse of Will and Taylor's families and what helped form their adult characters - I absolutely loved Will's father - he's the rock of the family and steady influence whose guidance allows him to grow into the man he is with Taylor. I thought it was an absolutely realistic choice to have the younger brother react in a less than favorable light. Grant idolizes his older brother; however, his core beliefs and assumptions about him are suddenly shaken. It didn't make him a bad guy - it made him young and less mature as I would expect from a young man in his twenties. It adds nuance and complexity into the story and gives Taylor an opportunity reach out to him as well.I think "Kick Start" is as the title suggests - the launching of the next phase of Will and Taylor's career and bond as partners and lovers.  My criticism is also my greed for more...yes, I would love a longer story, but it doesn't mean this story is incomplete or lacking - I'm just greedy for more from my favorite author.Dangerous GroundOld Poison (Dangerous Ground)Armed and Dangerous: Four Dangerous Ground Novellas (Volume 1)Dead Run (Dangerous Ground)