From the Bookshelf of Turning Pages At Midnight…

Ball & Chain (Cut & Run, #8)

Abigail Roux

Start date: October 14, 2018

Finish date: October 20, 2018

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 25, 2013 Jennifer☠Pher☠ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq, m-m, favorites, more-like-this-please, re-read-2024

Re-Read, 2024

To be fair, I think I'll stand by my original review but...

Well, I wasn't as interested in the mystery this go round, even with me sort of forgetting all the ins and outs of it. No wait, that's not true. I was interested in it but a lot of it just didn't make sense to me. Plus, there were just too many different things happening. I don't know. Poor Zane.

Nick kind of pissed me off a bit and I found him valid but also tiring.

I think I'd still rate this all the stars though. There is Re-Read, 2024

To be fair, I think I'll stand by my original review but...

Well, I wasn't as interested in the mystery this go round, even with me sort of forgetting all the ins and outs of it. No wait, that's not true. I was interested in it but a lot of it just didn't make sense to me. Plus, there were just too many different things happening. I don't know. Poor Zane.

Nick kind of pissed me off a bit and I found him valid but also tiring.

I think I'd still rate this all the stars though. There is something very special about this book to me and if you've read it, you all know what that is. That alone makes it perfect.

Off to read more about Nick before the giant finale!
*******
I am probably one of those crazy fan girls and I know it. Well, I know I am but I don’t for one second believe that I loved this book because of that. I am sure my love makes me more forgiving but I didn’t really dislike anything about this. I can see the things that could have bothered me. I can see how this almost seemed like a Cut & Run book AND a Sidewinder book, I really can. But again, it did not bother me. Maybe I’ll take what I can get? Maybe I love all these boys so much that something is better than nothing? I am sure that is some of it but really, I think my love, to me is completely justified. So, let’s break it down.

Ty and Zane, every single look, touch and conversation to me was beautiful perfection. It was a relief, it was a comfort and it was just so beautiful to see them together again and happy. So very happy. The reunion scene was so fucking beautiful and I read it a few times before moving on. The end? My God, the end. I keep re-reading that too. So, why was it enough for me and not for others? I guess because this to me is the calm before the storm. I’ll get back to that thought.

Nick and Kelly, I love these boys and I know, I know, I know, they have their own series, they have their own pages to fill, I know and I get it, but…to me, with what I think is coming in the last book, this was very, very necessary. I honestly think what is going to happen in the last book is going to be an epic battle and we needed to understand the depth of Ty and Nick, it needed to be put out there and it needed to be resolved because all these guys are going to need to be together, with trust to fight what is to come. But yes, Nick had a lot of pages, I just was ok with it and was thankful to understand him and Ty better.

The mystery…Clue anyone? Now, this I wavered on. There was a shit ton of people and a Hell of a lot going on. It was slightly confusing and again, there was a lot going on. I felt as if a lot of these people weren’t as shocked as they should have been? So yeah, this wasn’t the best mystery of this series but I didn’t hate it and as long as I paid attention and really cared mostly about the boys I was good with this too. It really did shock me. I had it seems a different suspect for every murder and in the end, wow, I had it all wrong. So ok, good.

All that being said, I truly believe this is just one of those books, it is as I said, the calm before the storm. As a fan, I needed to see Ty and Zane at the place I wanted them. I needed to see the depths of the devotion Ty has with his team. And really, I needed to see that the depth of that devotion was going to cover Zane too. What is coming, well, Sidewinder is going to have to be there for both Ty and Zane in what I think is going to be a crazy, crazy conclusion to the series. There is a lot to be done before the series ends so there had to be a lot of extra in this book. There are a lot of connections that have to be made and real, freaking serious foundations built. Through the entire series we knew Sidewinder was Ty’s foundation but as the series moved on we all learned that foundation wasn’t quite as solid as it needs to be for what is to come. So, this book may have been focused on a lot of things that weren’t just Ty and Zane but really, all of it revolves around them. Of course, I am just hypothesizing but really, this series only has one place left to go to get to the HEA we all deserve and everyone is going to have to be on the same team in order for that to happen.

So, I loved it. All of it. It all mattered to me, it all made me smile or made me cry and I have no complaints. I am leaving out all the things I absolutely LOVED about it so I don’t spoil anything but for those of you who have read it, you know what all those things are because I know, if you love Ty and Zane the way I do you loved all that too. Read. ...more

34 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2013 Sheri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: luv-2-reread, alltime-fav-mc, boyz-luvin-boyz, fave, still-smiling, obsessed, murder-mystery, 1-2014

Mission complete. Sidewinder is stateside again. Ooh-rah.

There are so many things I would love to tell you; I have been on the verge of bursting for days… But, I can’t. I refuse to spoil some dynamite scenes, and trust me, there are some doozies. What I can tell you is my heart was fluttering at full-tilt the entire time. I promise to do my best to tiptoe around stellar moments.

I’ll be straight: the last book hurt me…bad. It cut me deep, and I was afraid those wounds would never heal. Needless t ...more

21 likes · Like · see review

Feb 21, 2020 Jennifer☠Pher☠ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq, m-m, audio-re-read, re-read-2020

**Audio Re-Read**

I'm just going to stand by my original review but...

I can see how a lot of people felt this was a little too much Nick and maybe not enough Ty and Zane. I'm guessing it is because I'm reading them all back to back and fairly quickly, but yeah, this read really opened my eyes a little more to that.

I'm still ok with it though. ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2014 Lasha rated it liked it

Shelves: coming-out, military, suicide-murder-violence, reunited-lovers

I went back and forth on what to rate this, but when I looked at my previous ratings for the other Cut & Run novels, I decided that I actually liked this better than Touch & Geaux (Book 7), so I'm giving it 3 stars. My favorite book in this series will always be Fish & Chips.

As other reviewers have stated there are multiple problems with this book. First, it really isn't a Cut & Run novel, its a Sidewinder book. Ty and Zane are lost in the awesomeness that is Nick in this book. And while I might I went back and forth on what to rate this, but when I looked at my previous ratings for the other Cut & Run novels, I decided that I actually liked this better than Touch & Geaux (Book 7), so I'm giving it 3 stars. My favorite book in this series will always be Fish & Chips.

As other reviewers have stated there are multiple problems with this book. First, it really isn't a Cut & Run novel, its a Sidewinder book. Ty and Zane are lost in the awesomeness that is Nick in this book. And while I might be in the minority, I really liked Nick and Kelly in Shock & Awe, especially Kelly. I think he's my favorite from both series!

But this wasn't a Sidewinder novel, it was a Ty and Zane book, so I expected more of Ty and Zane, less of Nick. However, we just got a lot of Nick. His backstory, especially the stuff with his father should have been explored in the next Sidewinder book, not this one. While I loved Kelly, he was mostly the comic relief, which again should have been left in a Sidewinder book.

There were lots of missed opportunities here. No reunion sex when Ty came back from deployment, no duscussions of their relationship, or what happened to Ty overseas. There was a lots of telling, not showing about Ty's PTSD...just plain bad story telling which wasn't present in the first six books. I won't even get started on the "mystery" aspect, as I always handwave the law enforcement stuff in the C&R books. But is was bad and uninteresting for me. I wanted relationship stuff, and got an episode of "Harpers Island" instead.

For me, most of the fun of these novels left when Ms. Urban stopped writing the series with Ms. Roux. Her insight into Zane's characterization was pivotal and was sorely lacking in this installment. While I do want to see Ty and Zane get their HEA in the last and final book, I think its good this series is ending. Its fairly obvious the author likes writing Kelly and Nick more these days than Ty and Zane (which is fine with me as a Kelly fangirl), but to the die-hard Ty and Zane fans, Ball & Chain was a diservice to them. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2014 Diane Dannenfeldt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: have-audio, m-m

Dang I should have read Shock & Awe before this one as it slips in right after Touch & Geaux, at least for Nick & Kelly. Oh well it's all good. Anyway, one of the issues that I have is that no one addresses the elephant in the room, they all have PTSD. I'm sadden with the death that happens in this one. OMG Chester I love him so very much!!! Overall this was another great read. Only one book to go before the end :( ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 13, 2017 Lisa Cullinan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Amazing!!

I think I’ve held my breath for the entire time I read this one. Ty and Zane, along with Nick and Kelly, Ty’s Sidewinder Recon brothers, head to Scotland to a remote island for Ty’s brother’s wedding. A gothic-looking mansion, numerous murders, no cell service, a storm that takes out the island’s electricity, hidden chambers behind walls, all turn this wedding excursion into complete chaos. The twists and turns made my head spin. On to the next!

1 like · Like · see review

May 24, 2014 Wende rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, 000-sh-recommendation

I have had this book on my kindle for two months. I was afraid I would not like it. Ty and Zane are a wonderful couple but the last book just didn't do it for me. I started reading this book and it was great. The chemistry between them was hot. The laughter and fun was back. The mystery was over the top good. Plus the one thing I have been waiting for to happen for years, the author did not disappoint. For me this is the best of the series. ...more

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Feb 02, 2018 Joyce rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: alpha-male, m-m, erotica, military, crime, romance, contemporary-romance, series-to-continue-soon, glbt, wedding

Lots going on but our two favorite FBI guys finally take the plunge. I won’t go into details but it was so good! Lots of crazy drama, no wild animals and they didn’t even get lost this time!

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Apr 08, 2015 Stephanie rated it liked it

Everything that made this series so great, the story of Ty and Zane, is missing from these latter books. The convoluted everything is a conspiracy against Ty and Zane and the introduction of the sidewinder team is really starting to ruin these.

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