I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Part & Parcel
by
Abigail Roux
It is part of the Sidewinder #3 series and is a in a Kindle edition that was published by Riptide Publishing on December 19, 2015 and has 270 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Cut & Run, Sticks & Stones, Fish & Chips, Divide & Conquer, Armed & Dangerous, Stars & Stripes, Touch & Geaux, Ball & Chain, Shock & Awe, Cross & Crown, "Bait & Switch", Crash & Burn, "Brick & Mortar Books", "Dine & Dash", "High & Tight", "Shake and Bake", Past & Presents, "Shake and Bake"
Third in the Sidewinder LGBT romantic suspense series (and tenth in the overall Cut & Run universe) revolving around Nick O’Flaherty and his Force Recon team. The couple focus is on Nick and Kelly Abbot, starting with Miami in February 2013. It’s been five years of being together, but now it’ll be their first date.
My Take
This is an emotional story that I did enjoy for the back history and spending time with the boys, but that also drove me nuts for all the angst! And Roux may want to fact check for consistency.
Part & Parcel leans back into Crash & Burn, 9, with Nick getting knifed as he’s trying to free Ty and Zane.
Jesus, then Roux slides into that funeral, and my heart choked up. Nick has given more to his family than a son should have to, especially when he has a father like Brian. What. A. Jerk. All his dad’s friends knew what life was like in that house, and they never did anything.
It’s in third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Kelly’s and Nick’s perspectives, as they reflect on their past with Sidewinder, and Roux brings this out in the letters that Elias left for them. It’s a grief that’s tied up with Nick’s recovery process and Kelly not telling Nick that he loves him.
What Part & Parcel is really about takes a long time to lead into and goes back to 2002 when their team was wound up. It was a road trip the boys took that Kelly feels such guilt over. A road trip they’ll repeat when Eli’s letter to the team insists they relive it.
These guys do crack me up. Sleeping in puppy piles. Cuddling. Talk about a brotherhood. They’re there for each other in so very many ways, you can’t help but love it and smile.
There’s miscommunication here as well as misinterpretation that adds to the emotional traumas of the past. Kelly’s guilt about breaking up the team. Nick’s sadness that he’s no longer needed. The deal Eli, Nick, and Ty make to stick together. No matter what.
This second trip helps them see how important Nick had been, and still is, to them all. That Nick was and is their linchpin. That Nick’s strength came from what he was doing for all of them. View Spoiler »
The CIA is rebuilding the bookstore with lots of Company-issue toys, including an elevator. They’ll open the shop on Memorial weekend that 2013. And Ty is putting his new kittens through SERE training. He claims they’re really good at evasion techniques, lol.
I don’t understand why Nick doesn’t think he’s entitled to being thanked for his service? There’s all this guilt going on. And I can’t blame Kelly for being angry about all the secrets. As for emotions, dang it. There’s nothing anyone can do about what they feel. The fear, the anger. The thinking that one of you is a monster. A thought that began with the story behind the shrapnel in Nick’s knee…and why Ty can never have kids. Oy.
Oh, man…Eli’s last request is that each man tell the others a secret he’s never told.
And Nick finds his way back…
The Story
Recovering from his life-threatening injuries in Crash & Burn, Nick remembers that box Elias’ mother gave him at his funeral.
It’s time. But Doc keeps rearing up, taking care of him.
And he hasn’t told Nick he loves him since before Miami.
It’ll take a road trip down memory lane with the Sidewinder team plus Zane and the kittens.
The Characters
Nick “Irish” O’Flaherty, a.k.a., Lucky, lives on his holey yacht, Fiddler’s Green, and is passionate about the Red Sox. Kelly “Doc” Abbott had been an orphan (his parents had died in a car crash when he was ten; he was 12 in Cross & Crown, 2).
Nick has four sisters: Kat, Erin, Alana, and Nessa. The younger two don’t remember their father’s brutality. Brian O’Flaherty is a retired Boston cop. Paddy Whelan is the head of the Boston mob.
Sidewinder is…
…their Force Recon team of Marines and a Navy man also includes Ty “Six” Grady. Owen “Ozone” Johns, who is a security specialist with Caliburn Technologies in San Diego, and he’s still seeing Riley Williams. Digger lives in Louisiana and finally bought a bungalow in the Garden District. I want to know more about why every one of them suspects him of bank robberies!
“Promise him the chance to maim something or set it on fire, and he was yours for the weekend.”
Zane Garret is an honorary member married to Ty. Ty’s new kittens, Jiminy and Cricket, will be coming along.
The Liberty is a Nick’s favorite hotel in Boston. The boys rent a car for this second trip, a Suburban they christen Helen. Liam Bell is/was an agent with the NSA (used to be the NIA). Detective Alan Hagan had been Nick’s partner in the Boston PD. Aidan is a fireman Nick was interested in before he and Kelly hooked up. The Dime of Fate was found at the start of this trip and decides some moves.
1999, 2002
Elias Sanchez had been one of them. Seymour was his sock monkey who went everywhere with Force Recon, getting his picture taken, going into battle.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a blue-violet overlay on a messy pile of letters forming the background for that airmail envelope addressed to Nick with the Dime of Fate on top of it. The text is all in white starting with the author’s name at the very top. Below the envelope is the title with the series info below that.
The title is all about Nick, for he’s Part & Parcel of the team.
