Recent Reads: The Family Man and Feral

I have two contemporary stories on my reading blog today, a romantic suspense thriller from AJ Rose and a gritty urban coming of age story by Kate Sherwood. And best of all, both these books are series starters!

I found The Family Man to be an excellent thriller! This story by AJ Rose is based around the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, often deployed to help track down the instigators of the most serious crimes. Agent Tracey Smith is the newbie to the team, fresh faced and eager and armed with people skills that make him the perfect interviewer. In contrast, team leader Jon Anderson is known as “the Ice Man”, rarely showing his feelings.

I thoroughly enjoyed the premise of this intense procedural, and the attraction and chemistry between agents Jon and Tracey only added to the tension and pace of The Family Man. A great read! I’m already looking forward to the next in the Mind Hacker series. What a fabulous start to this new MM romantic suspense series from AJ Rose!

Kate Sherwood is fast becoming a one-click author for me and so I was eager to read Feral, the first in Shelter, her urban contemporary series with an ensemble cast.

This captivating coming-of-age story is about two very different young men, middle-class would-be vet Noah and homeless Shane, brought together due to a mutual love of animals.

As usual with Kate Sherwood‘s books, the combination of character and situational development is compelling. There are no easy answers here but a gradual progression as Noah realises there’s a whole scary and brutal world out there he was previously unaware of and Shane hesitantly learns to trust, bit by bit.

The slow burn was absolutely right for these characters and I completely bought into the vivid and meticulous world building. I found Feral a hugely satisfying read. I can also highly recommend the rest of the excellent Shelter series!