The Last Guy BreathingStory Rating: 3.75 stars
Audio Rating: 4.25 stars

Narrator: Matt Baca
Length: 8 hours, 53 minutes

Audiobook Buy Links: Audible
Book Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance


Henry has returned to Glamour, Arizona to help his mother. Henry always does the right thing. Being back in his hometown brings up all kinds of bad memories of being an overweight child and having a father who constantly put him down. Leaving his job at the IRS meant taking a corporate job at a local firm in town. Henry longs for love and a little excitement in his life. Excitement finds him when he is tasked by the local sheriff’s department to help out on an ongoing investigation of fraud at the company Henry works for. Henry is totally on board until he finds out his partner will be none other than Deputy Locke, the same Deputy Locke whose new favorite hobby is giving Henry speeding tickets.

Deputy Locke is new to Glamour and determined to work his way up. After a rough childhood, which included being responsible for his younger brother, Locke is tough, closed off, and keeps his private life private. Locke thinks Henry is spoiled and privileged, but connects to what a truly nice guy Henry is, and although Henry thinks Locke is arrogant, he also thinks the man is hot. Locke doesn’t do relationships and certainly doesn’t talk about his feelings, and Henry knows he is in for a world of hurt, but the attraction between the men just won’t go away.

This is the third book in The Guy series and brings us back to Glamour where it all started. Although Henry has lost weight, he is still insecure about his looks and has low self esteem in general. He’s the nice guy, the good friend, the good son, always trying to please. Locke likes to be in control. He has a rough, aggressive exterior, but he has a caring relationship with his younger brother, which shows a different side to him.

The story is partly about Locke and Henry’s growing relationship and partly about the case they are working on. While I appreciated that this book had more movement to it than the other two, I was constantly pulled in and out of the story with areas that were working and then not working for me. I liked Locke a whole lot more than I liked Henry. Locke had the whole closed off, bad boy thing going for him, but, he’s on the right side of the law and devoted to his brother. The scenes with him and his brother bantering back and forth and working through some family issues really added a lot to the overall story. It took a long time for Henry to grow on me. He was so nice as to be bland. Locke saw security in him, but there were many times that I just did not see them as a real couple. The mystery surrounding them forces them to work together. The case started out interesting, but when it became more dangerous, we had one deputy sheriff working with a civilian that worked in the financial arena and the believability did not always hang together for me. Back again on the other side, the relationship between Locke and Henry really had the chance to grow and evolve, and they took their frustrations out on each other through several heated scenes.

We do get to see Anthony and Dean from the other books as well and it was fun to reconnect with them. However, every time we saw them, they were having some deeply personal conversation in front of everyone. It felt like the author wanted to show us how they were doing, but did not want to take too much time away from Locke and Henry. So, again, mixed feelings all the way around.  The ending, however, was well done, sweet, and exactly what Locke and Henry needed. The books in this series are a solid choice overall for low angst with a mix of love, family, and finally finding the right guy.

Matt Baca continues to narrate this book as he has the entire series. Overall, he is quite enjoyable to listen to. His voice for Locke was well done and matched his character, and the scenes between Locke and his brother were well voiced and thoroughly entertaining with their verbal banter. Baca is emotional during the intimate scenes, but continues to remain subdued. When the men are up close and personal and have their “hearts pounding,” Baca remains smooth and quiet and relaxed. And, it was noticeable that the same characters’ voices from the other books in this series did not remain consistent from one audio to the next. As a whole, from start to finish, the audio and Baca’s delivery added something extra to the written word.

A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.

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