Adrenaline by BA Tortuga

Blurb:
Big time country singer Travis Reed has impulse control issues. He’s known for crazy stunts and good music, but someone has been making threats on his life, which his management thinks is a bit too much. They hire Wyatt Chastain as Travis’ new personal security, a man who can keep Travis safe from his stalker, and from himself.

Travis doesn’t think he needs a babysitter, but the attraction between him and Wyatt is white hot from the first. He’s happy enough to play, and Wyatt has a few impulses of his own, but when things start to get crazy, they have to learn to trust each other as much as they want each other. Can they get their adrenaline rush in and keep Travis alive?

 

Review:

I have a bit of a thing for cowboys and so when reading the blurb I figured with a cowboy bodyguard—that works for me. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of cowboy or bodyguard that factors into the story and it is very classic BA Tortuga. Almost entirely composed of dialogue and incredibly short descriptions, this is a very fast read that focuses on sex first and the plot a much distant second. Fans of the author may enjoy the offering but I found it not to be as good or even as much a guilty pleasure as previous works. While decent enough, this particular story failed to give that fun enjoyment that the author usually delivers.

Part of this is due to the almost non-existent plot. Supposedly star singer Travis has been receiving threats that only his management know about, but these death threats show that the person could be a member of Travis’ rather large inner circle. Not only was this rather weak as supposedly Travis knew nothing about any threats, but it’s a bit of a stretch to believe a stalker with intimate access to Travis would instead threaten him through his management. Even if you can ignore this, the actual stalking and threats are ignored for most of the book and used as an excuse for Travis and Wyatt to be alone for more sex. The resolution to the threats comes at the end with an utterly ridiculous resolution that is eye-rolling.

But at the same time, that’s not actually the point of the story. The main focus is on the sex (not relationship) between Wyatt and Travis. There is very little in the way of development or characterization other than the obvious that Travis is a small, bouncy, energetic, attention hopping ball of nerves while Wyatt is your typical tall, strong, drawling bodyguard. They get involved almost immediately and there is no drama or angst on either part, instead they throw themselves into sex vigorously and often. Each scene would begin with a sentence or two setting up the new place or scene and then onto the sex. Rinse and repeat for the majority of the book until they declare their love and the culprit of the threats is dramatically exposed.

This type of relationship always seems to be based on convenience and familiarity as the sex is too good to give up and the guys are easy going and likeable—so why not stay together? It’s enjoyable enough as an easy read without much depth although the sex scene after sex scene ran long in this particular book because even the characters felt more empty than usual. Not to mention Wyatt’s habit of calling Travis “honey” every other sentence was slightly annoying.

For what this is, a quick mostly sex based read with fun dialogue and lots of sex, the story is ok though not good. It’s not really romance or even erotica and straddles the line between the two. I’ve read better from the author but fans may enjoy this mostly for Travis’ stream of consciousness thought pattern, which was entertaining. Definitely not great literature but if you’re a fan of BA Tortuga and are looking for a quick, fast read that was surprisingly lacking in editing errors with all her classic prose—you might consider checking this out. Even though it has no correlation to games within the "Games People Play" line.

Get it HERE!