Rating: 4.75 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel


Something New Under the Sun reunites us with Liam and Daniel who we first meet in L.A. Witt’s A Chip in his Shoulder.  Although Chip does have a discrete ending, the books essentially flow one into the other so I’d recommend reading them as a set if you can (I loved them both, so definitely worth it).  Check out my review of the first book for a full summary, but in the meantime, here is the quick and dirty you need to know to catch up (so this review will have some spoilers for the first book, obvs).  Ok, so Liam is a cyber-modified, vampire assassin.  So yeah, already you know it is awesome, right?  He is Daniel’s ex and was hired by Daniel’s father to kill him in order to prevent Daniel from disclosing all the shady dealings his dad and the other cyber corporate bigwigs are up to.  Daniel and Liam reunite, make their heart pounding escape from the baddies, and rekindle their love.

But of course, the bad guys are still out there and Daniel and Liam are determined not to let these guys continue to get away with the corruption and other misdeeds.  Something New Under the Sun picks up the next morning after their escape.  The guys decide that the only way to bring down the corporations and Daniel’s dad is to get proof that they have been deceiving the public all along and expose all their lies.  Of course, this means risking their lives to break and enter, face down armed gunmen, and make it out alive to tell the world what is happening.  All while both of them are fugitives and can barely show their faces in public.  Of course, as soon as they are safe, more things go wrong and the guys must fight for their lives to bring down the bad guys and live to tell about it.

So whew, this was another exciting one!  This book is action from pretty much minute one and the guys are in near constant danger as they develop plans and sneak in and out of buildings, leaving a string of explosions in their wake.  Daniel is a top notch hacker and handles the computer codes, security breaches, and getting all the schematics and high tech plans. And Liam has had years to perfect his skills with ammunition, explosions, and lock picking. So this book kept me on the edge of my seat as the guys go from one crisis to another, trying to see their plans through and keep themselves alive.  It is high adrenaline and super exciting.

I continue to love Daniel and Liam, both individually and as a couple.  Daniel has been raised in a wealth and privilege, but is determined to look out for the people his father steps on to make his money.  Daniel has worked hard to expose the corporate corruption, at the expense of alienating himself from his family and risking jail.  But he is determined to see his cause through even if it puts his life at risk.  And Liam too has been dropped by his family, in his case for being gay. After being kicked out of his family home in the Sky, he spent five years living in the Gutter, taking jobs that made him sick but were necessary for survival. But despite the bad things he has done, he is such a good guy underneath and is as committed as Daniel to seeing justice done.  So these are two hard core, alpha guys who know how to handle themselves and are willing to risk their lives for what they believe in.  They bicker and banter and give each other a hard time, but at the same time they are very sweet and the love they have for each other is clear.  Witt manages to avoid the dreaded “have sex while running from the bad guys” problem that often plagues adventure stories, but the guys do manage to have a few breaks in the action for a little loving.

One interesting theme that runs through both books is the issue of cyber modification.  All the rich folks living up in the Sky rely on various mods to enhance their bodies.  Everything from nanobots to aid healing, to ocular implants that enhance vision and provide other cool tricks.  Daniel is part of the anti-mod movement, both because of the corruption in the corporations and because he feels it makes people less human to modify themselves.  So he definitely has trouble that Liam has had so many mods installed, even though they are primarily to help him survive his dangerous life in the Gutter.  But during the course of their adventures, Daniel is forced to confront his feelings about the mods.  Both to re-evaluate if his position has been right all along, and to determine if he is willing to sacrifice some of his ideals in order to protect those he cares about.  I don’t want to get into too much detail for fear of spoiling, but I thought this part was very well done and added a nice additional dimension to the story.

So yes, I really liked this one. Super exciting, really interesting world building, and sweet and heartwarming enough to soften the edges.  As I said, I’d suggest reading these as a set because the stories interconnect so fluidly.  But definitely pick them up if you are looking for a great thriller with really likable characters, excellent world building, and a nice touch of romance.

Cover Review: Another beautiful cover for this series.  This one features Daniel which works well as the POV switches to him for this book.  Perfect imagery of the world Witt creates and a nice hunky hero. Yum