Run for the Roses Circles Book # 1
LGBTQ Mystery, LGBTQ Action Adventure
Howling Corgi Press;
Oct 31, 2019
Kindle
199
Amazon
Relationships aren’t in the cards for everyone and Vladimir ‘Val’ Mihalic figures in his case it’s for the best. When his best friend, Janelle, is seriously injured in a carjacking, putting her career as a jockey on hold, Val steps up to help her through the crisis. It's not long before Janelle’s estranged father shows up at Val’s front door and Val’s life takes a hard sideways turn.
Wyatt Harig loves his daughter, but an estrangement was forced upon them. After her injury, he knows things have to be different and he’s the only one who can make that change. Arriving in Kentucky he finds Janelle and Val, a kindhearted, alluring man twenty years his junior, neck deep in an elaborate gambling scheme that’s led to murder.
Val is a little happier than he should be when Wyatt stays and starts digging deeper for the truth about Janelle’s ‘accident’. As they uncover the events leading up to that fateful day, a solid friendship, and then more, blossoms between the men. Discovering the truth, which exposes conmen and murderers, puts their love and their lives, in jeopardy.
Tags: Murder. Suspense. Romance. Older men are hot hot hot! Best friend's dad, Triple Crown, geeks are cute, race horses, gambling scheme, swindle and con, carjacking, killers, slow burn, friends to lovers, age gap, life is never dull, kidnapping, hot romance, love me love my dogs and horse.
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Vladimir “Val” Mihalic lives on the Spinning Star Farms, horse farm where he is able to board his horse and gets to enjoy watching as thoroughbred horses are trained. As an added bonus his best friend Janelle is a jockey and they have looked out for each other since college. Janelle recently broke up with her abusive boyfriend Charlie but he didn’t take it well and grabbed her in her car and drove off. Janelle may be small but she was not going to let him take her without a fight, a fight that caused an accident. Fortunately, Val was following and was there for her when the ambulance and police arrived. Charlie disappeared.
Janelle was badly hurt putting a halt to her riding and leaving her alone to care for herself. Val insisted that she move in with him and after listening to her say, no, no, no, he won. While she was in the hospital the owner of the farm insisted on locating her estranged father in spite of her refusal to even talk about him which made finding him difficult. He has a different last name than Janelle which would just compound the problems locating him.
Wyatt Harig, her dad shows up and like so many cases of divorce Janelle’s mother painted him out to be a monster. He is determined to help his daughter and prove to her that he didn’t just abandon her and to do that he comes prepared with a whole briefcase full of proof. Her mother also blamed her father for the death of her brother. Her father left because he was gay and fell in love with a man, his son like him is also gay but committed suicide and Janelle’s mom was convinced that it was his fault. Of course, being gay is not hereditary.
As Wyatt begins to build a relationship with his daughter Wyatt and Val begin building one as well. Then the police pay a visit announcing that Charlie was murdered along with a couple involved with horses. This investigation puts Wyatt on the case and he as well as I learned an awful lot about horses, owning them, training them and the ways that races can be fixed. The only thing I know about horse races is picking one with a cute name and betting my two dollars, now I have been educated.
Romance, suspense, sex, abuse, violence and kidnapping, in addition to an informed education on what happens behind the scenes at a horse farm and racetrack made this book interesting.