Good title!

Had forgotten what a good narrator Gary Furlong is. He masters Nikolas' accents. At least it seems so to me, without knowing a Danish English accent except from Borgen! Also, the book won a 2021 SOVAS award.

This is a long, slightly confusing novel (9 hours on audio) - understandable in some ways, since, who is Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen? he hardly knows himself, he's worn so many aliases. That is where the novel ends, but there is a sequel, maybe more than one - fortunately, as the novel is shocking, absorbing, intriguing, and has plenty of tension of both the sexual and thriller kind. Turns out there are at least 9 in the series, yeh! and 16 of Wiltshire's books on Audible.

Ben Rider is a gifted soldier, ex-SAS - and he's been having what seems to be an abusive sexual affair with his boss, Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen for four years, when we meet the two after Ben has experienced the horrific death of his friend/lover in a house fire.

Never heard of author John Wiltshire before this, despite regularly reading lists of recommended MM Romance reads. I think I chose this based on the cover and the rating, ie 4.1 on Hoopla - though my usual cut-off is 4.2! Ha ha.

Library Thing has this snippet about the author: John is an ex-army officer who currently lives in South Island New Zealand. He's been writing for many years and has a number of novels published. Much of his fiction is based in England, particularly Devon, where he grew up. When John isn't writing, he can usually be found at the beach, surfing.

Goodreads has this: John Wiltshire is the fictional persona of the author of the More Heat Than The Sun series. After spending twenty-two years in the military perfecting the art of looking busy whilst secretly writing, John left as a senior officer
when a hastily dug tunnel was ready for use. Now living in New Zealand (at least until enough money can be raised to leave) John has no plans to return to the army. Unless the world situation gets considerably worse, that is.

Love Is a Stranger deserves a solid four rating, ie 4.5, for the intrigue and intensity. ( )

Actual rating: 3.5 stars ( )

Complicated, complicated but interesting. Nine books in the series though. How much physical and emotional damage can two people endure? ( )

This is an exciting story, but it’s much more violent than I would have preferred, with respect to both the relationship between the two MCs and their willingness to kill and torture their enemies. These are amoral killers, not tough-on-the-outside-sweet-on-the-inside heroes, so it’s a bit difficult to really care about them. ( )

1 STAR

39% - God, this book is so slow. It seems that nothing happened, yet!

58% - Too much sex just grates after awhile. The only think they do is fight and have sex. And it’s not safe or sane, it’s just boring. I mean the blurb was misleading as hell. Where are the lies, where is the mystery? I’ll give it another 50 pages, then I’ll quit.

61% - That’s it I’m done. I just can’t read another page. I feel that I gave it a fair chance, but nothing happened yet and I passed the halfway mark. It’s time to put down this book. ( )