The Novel Approach

Trust Me If You Dare (Romano & Albright, Book #2) by L.B. Gregg

“It takes two to get one in trouble.” – Mae West

I’m going to come right out and say it: the beginning of this book made me laugh so hard that my little people looked at me as if their sinister plot to loosen the barely-there-fingertip-grasp I have on my wee shred of sanity had finally succeeded. Wahoo, Mom’s finally cracked! Cookies and Gummy Bears for breakfast! ::sigh::

I’ve never really given much thought to the importance of the opening sequence of a book and how well—or sometimes negatively—that can influence my opinion of the rest of the story. I try not to judge a book by its beginning any more than I judge it by its cover because really you just never know what surprises might be lurking on the next page. I never thought about it much, that is, until L.B. Gregg made me do it, with her mad-evil-genius-storytelling ways—now it’s sort of all I think about when I think of Trust Me If You Dare.

Dan Green Albright and Caesar Romano are six weeks into their relationship. Of that time together, five weeks, six days, twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes have seen Ce’s life to go from zero to trouble—the first minute they met didn’t really account for much because Ce didn’t realize he was in trouble yet. Caesar was the self-professed most boring gay man in all of Manhattan up to that point, after all, but then a certain private investigator came steamrolling into his life and turned Ce into a dirty-talk-loving, public-sex-having trouble magnet. Now his life is anything but mundane.

Ce’s working in the catering biz with his preggers BFF Poppy, and their next gig is one Caesar’d just as soon avoid because it once again puts him in too close proximity to his ex-closeted, ex-lover Shep McNamara, and by virtue of association, with soap opera star Gunter Heidelbach, who’s keeping more secrets and telling more lies, the variety of which Ce really, really hates but can’t seem to avoid these days. Turns out the catering job Ce’s arranging puts Dan on security detail, as well, and in rather close proximity to Gunter, who may or may not be the biggest player ever, and who may or may not have a threatening stalker-psycho ex-assistant who’d like to out Gunter, but not in the way you might expect.

Homicidal high performance vehicles, the bottom feeding media, a gimpy fingered stranger, and a red haired pixie woman with a grudge and a gift for flying under everyone’s radar but Cearsar’s are just a few of the things that put the capital T in Trouble for him in this installment of the Romano & Albright series. Of course, the usual cast of characters is also along on this stellar ride and shines every bit as brightly as they did the first time around, with their witty banter and shady ways.

I am so loving this relationship that’s just beginning to get its sea legs, am loving the building trust and the growing realization by both men that this is a long haul proposition. I’m also loving this May/December romance that’s not a significant part of their story. I love that L.B. Gregg has made the twelve year age difference between Dan and Caesar a complete non-issue even though I know it’s there. I love that the forty-year-old Dan is so confident in who he is that he doesn’t give a second thought as to whether he’s everything Ce could possibly need.

This series has become an instant favorite for me and if I could, I’d beg L.B. Gregg to write faster. I’m so looking forward to seeing what hijinks and mayhem and mystery she has in store for me next.

Buy Trust Me If You Dare HERE.