Michael: Two years ago I made a mistake, a big one. Then I added a couple more just for good measure. I screwed up my life, but I survived. Now, I have the opportunity for a fresh start. Two years in New Zealand. Away from the LA gossip, a chance to breathe, to rebuild my life. But I’m taking my new set of rules with me. I don’t do relationships. I don’t do commitment. I don’t do white picket fences. And I especially don’t do arrogant, holier-than-thou, smoking hot K9 officers who walk into my ER and rock my world. Josh: One thing for certain, Dr. Michael Oliver is an arrogant, untrustworthy player, and I barely survived the last one of those. He might be gorgeous, but my daughter takes number one priority. I won’t risk her being hurt, again. I’m a solo dad, a K9 cop and a son to pain-in-the-ass parents. I don’t have time for games. I don’t have time for taking chances. I don’t have time for more complications in my life. And I sure as hell don’t have time for the infuriating Dr. Michael Oliver, however damn sexy he is.

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How was it?

I wanted to read this book for a while, a friend of mine even gifted it to me since she saw it on my wish lis, but I didn’t have time to sit and read it. Instead I turned to the audiobook when I saw that Gary Furlong was narrating it because I’ve only experienced his work on the Soulbound series so I was curious, and he totally delivers.

As for the story, there’s a gentle mix of genres that works. There’s a mystery crime element in it, which I liked, that could have been the main theme / focus of the book. But Michael being who is he, meaning that he does all that he can to help then kind of lets it go, and Josh’s lack of direct involvement with the investigation makes the mystery crime thriller aspects of the story more of a set-up for their relationship and characterization than the focus.
We also really get to know the characters through their actions more than anything else. Going back to the way Michael handles the crime and investigation that follows says a lot about about him. It’s that very attitude that is how he got himself in a tight spot in the past. Not being able to cope with the feeling of not having done everything that he could have with the information available to him. The story is field with little acts like this that gives you a clear idea of who these men are.

Speaking of the main characters, I love Josh and Michael’s rich history. They’ve both been through some though things and it makes them more interesting to me in particular when we see how they’re dealing with their past. There’s also an emphasis on each them as individuals that I appreciate, because too often in books when there’s a romantic pairing they kind of become one, or defined by each other and have little to no individuality. The fact that they start of as friends with benefits, which is so hot in this book, helps. The strong secondary characters do that as well, painting a good picture of what Josh and Michael’s individual lives are like apart from each other.

There’s a bit of angst in this story, enough to flirt with my threshold but it didn’t get to a point that it annoyed me too much. Giving how serious most of the events Josh and Michael went through the author does a great job at not rushing things for the most part, asking real questions about a viability of their relationship.

The Auckland Med series starts off strong, the characters are great, the story feels real and not looked at through rose-tinted glasses. I’m hungry for grittier, down to earth mm romance novels and this book delivers.

First Impressions is available on The Book Depository, Amazon, Audible and other book retailers near you.

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