Review: Awesome first M/M from this author!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2013
I love a good book high and that's exactly what I had when I finished Lexxie Couper's Guarded Desires.  First off man love stories are high on my list of favorite genres, I can't help it...to me there is nothing sexier than two men exploring each other physically and emotionally and when they are hunkalicious well the visuals in my brain work over time.  That being said, I'm always curious when an obviously straight man falls for another man.  That's not to say it doesn't happen, it does, but it's one of those things that makes me very curious.  So, I set out to "interview" my gay friends because everyone I know personally knew at a young age they were gay and quite a few have never had an encounter with a woman and never wanted to or they did once and that convinced them it wasn't for them.  However, one of my good friends said that his partner who had been in long term relationship with a woman, had been married, and had kids said that the day they met it was like a switch was flipped in his brain.  That everything fell into place and they finally realized why they'd never been completely happy.  This is exactly what happens to Chris Huntley when he sees Liev Reynolds for the first time.  Oh, he tries to deny it but it eventually becomes too much to ignore and their passion boils over and makes a big splash right into the headlines.If you read Muscle for Hire then you've met hero number one in this book, Chris.  He is the sit-com actor turned action movie star who was filming his first movie in the last book.  He's done his share of running around, he's been linked to a lot of women so when he starts to feel something for Liev the minute he sees him, he blows it off.  Decides it's nothing, but when they meet and they shake hands it becomes way more interesting and sends Chris into a tailspin.Hero number two, Liev, had a small part MFH as well but the two never met. Have no doubts Liev is well aware of what he feels for Chris, bisexual since his teens he feels an undeniable pull towards Chris.  But, he's there to do a job...to protect Chris on his press junket.  A job his good friend and Chris' brother in law, Aslin, has trusted him with.  He's determined to keep things on a professional level but sometimes the best of intentions fall by the wayside.From the first scene I knew this book was going to be special.  The denial, the uncertainty, and the absolute fear that Chris was feeling was written so well I immediately welled up with emotions for this man.  He began to question everything about himself and his life and I can't even imagine how scared he felt.  Liev on the other hand hoped that the attraction he felt before was just a passing thing, but the minute he was in Chris' presence he knew this job was going to be one of the toughest of his life.I loved the progression of this story; they didn't immediately jump into bed together.  They shared a few brief moments in time but it took Chris' assistant, Bethany, to finally push them into taking action by taking some pretty bold action herself.  Throughout this story we are privy to the private thoughts of both men and I found these to be entertaining, enlightening, and sometimes humorous.Emotional, funny, intense, sexy, brave, and touching are just a few adjectives that describe Guarded Desires.  From the first page until the last, I was blown away by this story, these men and I can only hope we'll see more of them in future books in this series!