Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Links:  Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

Calvin Summers and Ethan Hobbs have been best friends since they were kids, but things have taken a turn from friendship into more. Calvin has decided he is ready to move on to a romantic relationship with Ethan, but Ethan is still having some trouble moving forward. He knows he cares for and is attracted to Calvin, but he worries about what it means for their friendship. This is compounded by Ethan’s emotional issues as he suffers from Selective Mutism and Social Anxiety Disorder. But Ethan knows Calvin is ready for more, and he is going go to have to step up and take a chance if he doesn’t want to risk hurting him.

The two are part of the same team as Defense Agents for THIRDS, and as always the team faces many challenges. With a bomb threat and a hostage situation, both Calvin’s sniper skills and Ethan’s bomb training are being called into play. On top of that, the team has been brought in for some specialized training that is exhausting them all, but no one quite knows what they are training for. The guys are faced with lots of challenges at work, but their close friendship is what has always gotten them through the difficulties. Now they have to figure out if they can make the transition from best friends to something much more.

Yay! I have been eagerly awaiting Calvin and Ethan’s (aka Hobb’s) story and I think Cochet really did them justice in Catch a Tiger by the Tail. This is a friendship we have been following since the start of the series and a relationship we have seen growing over the past few books. So I loved finally getting a book devoted to these guys and their relationship.

This is a friends to lovers story in all its glory. The closeness between these two guys is so intense. We can tell how much they love each other, not just in a romantic sense, but in the form of a deep connection that can only come from growing up together and being bonded in friendship for so many years. They are a pair, always together and taking care of one another. I particularly love the juxtaposition of the small, fiery Calvin who is so protective of his big, tiger-shifter partner. Ethan’s emotional issues make it hard for him in many situations and Calvin is determined to be Ethan’s shield whenever he needs it. The relationship is so lovely — romantic, sexy, sweet, and so caring. I particularly loved that we don’t have to wait forever to see these guys together. Even though Ethan has some hesitancy, they move into the romantic end of things pretty quickly, which nicely befits a couple whose relationship we have already been following for a while.

As with the other books in the series, this story follows both the relationship end and the job end of things. We see the team training under Sparks’ direction, but we still don’t know what they are training for. These scenes provide some interesting dynamics among the team members that I really liked watching. We also see the guys facing the bombings, hostage situation, and ultimate fallout, which has an impact on Calvin in particular. Unlike some of the earlier books in the series, the suspense end of things didn’t really connect with a larger, overarching plot across other books. I actually liked that because it was a nice break from the more complicated plot aspects of some of the other books as this one is more self contained. However, I did feel the suspense end of things was not quite as intense as some of the others in the series. In addition, a lot of the ending shifts focus to other couples and other issues besides our main characters, which I found kind of distracting and that made things not quite as exciting at the end.

Overall though I think this was a great installment in the Cochet’s fabulous THIRDS series. This is a series that I think everyone should be reading. It is creative and exciting with great world building and lots of wonderful characters. The team is fabulous and I love watching them interact and Cochet has done a great job bringing in a variety of characters without making the series overwhelming. I am enjoying it so much and can’t wait for more!

P.S. OMG, so many fun scenes here but the one with all the shifters playing in the moving boxes? Hysterical!

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