V. L. Moon | Saucy Southern Readers

Broken Oaths

By V. L. Moon & J. T. Cheyanne

Synopsis

Betrayed by his peers and slandered as a traitor, Commander Thierry Donovan has nothing left. Locked away and targeted by the very men responsible for his incarceration, Thierry defies the odds and fights for the fundamental right to survive the hell-hole of his imprisonment. With no one to trust, Thierry finds solace in the last place he imagines…

The church is Ryan Flynn’s sanctuary. He craves the solitude and peace he finds in the hallowed halls. His oath to serve God is a calling Ryan has hidden behind all of his adult life; until his past catches up with him in the form of his foster brother, Special Agent Orrin Hunt…

Submerging himself within a world of danger, violence and corruption is the only way Orrin can cope with life. Rejected and tormented by the bitter remorse of unrequited love, Orrin is oblivious to the beauty of what life can offer him. If he’d only open his eyes, and maybe his heart….

Jaydan Callahan’s life is a wreck. Gangs, drugs and violence are a part of his normal day to day routine. For one so young, he’s seen it, been there, done it and gotten more than enough tee shirts as proof. Capable of smelling a cop from a mile away, it comes as no surprise to Jay when the guy he has the hots for is actually working under cover to bring down the town’s notoriously dangerous king pin.

Four men, four lives, each one of them stained by lies, corruption and doubt. Can love show them the path to redemption, or will broken oaths, fear and grief make the crosses they bear too heavy a mantle to carry.

Love is Love

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Lis’ Review

The authors of “Crimson Reign” and “Love, Life and Circumstance” have never been ones to shy away from digging deep to give their readers a story that pushes boundaries, makes the readers think and feel and clamor for more. Crimson Reign gave us the wickedly sexy vampire king and his angel in a paranormal world in upheavel. LLC gave us two men with a baby to care for in the South with all its prejudices. And now “Broken Oaths” gives us Ryan and Thierry, pushing the limits again with the story of a priest and a Navy Commander.

Thierry Donovan is a former Navy Commander falsely accused of treason and jailed in a super secure facility in solitary confinement. The only other people he sees are the guards who watch over him, including his friend A.J. who goes easy on the rules for the prisoner. Thierry has no outside contact until he asks for, and is sent, a priest, Father Ryan Flynn. Their connection is instant, but like anyone else whose life is tied up in the rules and restrictions of their chosen profession or current fall from grace, both try to deny what they feel.

We learn of their pasts right away. The opening chapters tell us why these men chose the path they did, and give us a glimpse of the obstacles they faced along the way. Thierry’s career and life have been destroyed by his imprisonment. Father Flynn’s profession is an effort to get rid of the sinner label he brought down on himself because of his and his foster brother’s teenage exploration of their growing attraction. Both hide behind these shields they use so effectively – for a while. Thrown together in the priest and penitent roles, they soon acknowledge that there is something more between them as they work to bring justice to Thierry and bring down the one who used him as a scapegoat in a treasonous plot. Their story is about learning to trust in themselves and in each other, never giving up on love no matter how hard the fight.

Orrin Hunt, Flynn’s foster brother, has loved Ryan since they were wayward teens who helped each other cope through the difficult nightmares they faced. He’s involved behind the scenes trying to find the truth behind Thierry’s imprisonment and as such, is the one who brings Father Flynn into Thierry’s life. Orrin’s love for Ryan has endured all these years, until he goes undercover in a local street gang and meets Jay Callahan, the young, smart mouthed leader of the group. Jay falls hard for Orrin, but Ryan is the white elephant in the room, the love Orrin has for Ryan a wall that blinds him to what’s staring him in the face. Their story is about letting go of the past and embracing the future, daring to take the risk for love.

And tying these two couples together is the intrigue, a plot very carefully constructed that makes the reader anxious to find out just exactly how the whole thing will be revealed. It builds like the walls of Thierry’s prison cell, brick by brick. And with four strong-willed characters, there is no doubt they will figure it out.

Unfortunately, the villains were the one area that let me down. Characterization and angst is definitely these authors’ strong suit and in this book the whole mystery was right up there with it. The plot was complex and excellently crafted, with all the characters’ actions and reactions to each other and to their situation adding to the edge of the seat reading experience. Until one particular scene that made me stop and go “Really?” I just didn’t buy it. With that one scene the villains, who up until then were wonderfully evil, became caricatures of themselves. That one scene weakened the intrigue, pushing it into campiness instead of suspense.
Everyday struggles for love, for recognition, for redemption made this book a winner, overcoming the problem with the villains. The love stories of Ryan and Thierry and of Orrin and Jay are well written and very realistic. They struggle with their feelings, each one questioning his worth, his actions, his heart. As they work through all the machinations of being together, we as readers realize right along with them that outer trappings don’t matter. It’s what’s in the heart that rules.

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Giveaway
Prize: 3 ebook copies of Broken Oaths
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About the authors

Laz and Lachi Publications is the combined writing team of J.T. Cheyanne and V.L. Moon. The two met in 2010, fell hard and fast for each other and married in April 2014. They write both independently and together in the gay erotica and gay paranormal genres. They also have a couple of contemporary romance novels under their belt.