S.E.X. Review~ A Mended Man by Jaime Reese

Detective Aidan Calloway is rock-solid strong. He's a man of justice—loyal to his friends, family, and job—even if it requires bending a law…or two. He shields himself behind an abrasive, fearless facade, until a phone call one night chips his armor and throws his perfectly planned, hollow life into a tailspin.

Jessie Vega is the epitome of optimism. His carefully crafted attitude of hope and positivity protects him from a past filled with too much pain. When a ghost from a dark time resurfaces and nearly breaks him, he must tap into his inner strength or risk losing everything he's worked so hard to build.

But Jessie can't do it alone. He must fight to break through Aidan's ironclad defenses to reveal the heart of the man hiding beneath the tough surface and mend his damaged spirit. Only then can they truly heal and become strong enough to battle the demons that haunt them and threaten their chance to finally be together.

With every Jaime Reese book in The Men of Halfway House series, I fell in love with a new set of characters and their story. I have waited long and maybe not-so-patiently for Aidan and Jessie, and my tortuous wait is now over~ thank you Jaime Reese!

A Mended Man was everything that I hoped for and so much more. Aidan won my heart in Ty and Cole’s book as the sullen, no nonsense older Calloway with a penchant for sarcasm. I just knew that he had to and deserved his happily ever after.

As a member of the homicide force and now a new task force, Aidan had seen a lot of horrible things. But what occurred in his own past could not prepare him for the physical, physiological and emotional scars he would carry to this day.

Jessie, always optimistic, even when life’s a bitch and evil things happen, was the anchor in Aidan’s sinking ship. ~ Warning~ the opening scene of the book was hard to read and emotional.

Ms. Reese took the reader on an emotional roller coaster of happiness to the depths of sadness. Never could I have envisioned what Aidan and Jessie endured to bring them to the defining moment in their lives~ a crossroad. A crossroad naught without trials and turbulence, but if not for the tenacious attitude of Jessie would they not have come out better men on the other side.

Ms. Reese wrote Aidan and Jessie as loving men with scars bone-deep, but with the gumption and forthright to forge forward in the face of danger and evil. The psychological elements and police drama added to the authenticity of A Mended Man and gave credence to the Ms. Reese’s writing.

I was glad the author infused the characters from the other books and gave enough of a back story that A Mended Man could be read as a stand-alone. But why would you want to do that? RUN don’t’ walk and let your fingers fly and read the entire series. You will not be disappointed. From Matt and Julian in A Better Man, each couple has had an impact on the lives around them and together the men of Halfway House have formed a bond which no man could break.

Ms. Reese, you may make us wait for another of your creations, but worth the wait they are.

Book provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review

Definite S.E.X.

A five handcuff review

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2016 ©Evelise Archer All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.