Author: Harper Fox
Tags: MM Romance, Drama, Mystery, Good, Review, Fox, Contemporary
Length: 176 pages
Rating: Four
Blurb: A cop and a recovering addict – no chance for romance there.
Yet Vince, a street-hardened narcotics officer, is having to reassess his life. Six months ago, he hit rock-bottom. A bullet brought him down, and his beloved partner Jack betrayed him. Badly disabled and in constant pain, Vince is flying a desk these days, and it doesn't suit him at all. His world is looking grim when he meets Rowan Clyde, sole surviving witness to a vicious drugs-related killing.
Rowan doesn't want to talk. He's vulnerable, trying to hold his own life together in the wake of a crippling addiction. Vince should have no time for him, and Rowan certainly shouldn't trust a cop with an agenda to get him onto the witness stand at any cost.
Yet despite their differences, there's an instant pull of attraction between these two damaged men. Their new bond is put to the ultimate test on the tough streets of Newcastle during a dark northern winter, as each turns out to hold the keys to the others survival – and to his destruction.
I put off reading this title for a while, mostly because I wanted to make myself wait to enjoy it. Often before I write down my own reactions to books, I take some time to browse through some other reviews. To see how other people responded to the book. One of the things that struck me the most about the reviews for 'Half Moon Chambers', was the variety of them. People's reactions ran the whole gambit from "Love it, it's great", to "I found it a bit flat," among others.
One of the things that I enjoy about Harper Fox's stories is that she often seems to bring together things or people from different places in life, different backgrounds and make them work. 'Half Moon Chambers', isn't what I could call an easy romance. There are a lot of problems, setbacks and personal baggage that is being carried around by both characters. Neither, is at a good point in their lives and it takes bumps along the road to bring them together in any lasting way. If this were a superficial romance, it wouldn't last. Instead this is a story that has dirt, grim, and baggage. For me it worked but I'm a sucker for some angst, troubles, bruises and a happy ending.
As with most of Harper Fox's work, I walk away from it wanting more. Thus, the reason I put off reading when it first came out.