LAY IT DOWN (Desert Dogs #1) by Cara McKenna-a review

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RELEASE DATE: August 5, 2014

Backbreaking days, wild nights, and the hard hum of steel between your thighs…

That’s a life well lived, according to the Desert Dogs—four friends who call Fortuity, Nevada, their badlands home.

Vince Grossier is the self-crowned outlaw king around here. But when Fortuity’s slick new mayor invites a casino development to town, greed isn’t far behind—and it claims Vince’s good friend as its first casualty. With the law turning a blind eye to the mysterious death, Vince must seek his own brand of justice. The pretty photographer hired by the developers might be the key to uncovering the truth. And she’s a temptation too good to pass up.

Finally free of a controlling ex, Kim Paget’s not looking to be taken for a ride—not on the back of some tattooed roughneck’s bike and definitely not in his bed. But when she uncovers evidence supporting Vince’s suspicions of murder, Kim must entrust her safety to a man whose body threatens danger of a whole different kind.

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REVIEW: LAY IT DOWN is the first instalment in Cara McKenna’s new contemporary, adult Desert Dogs romantic suspense series focusing on a close-knit group of friends and family from Fortuity, Nevada who call themselves the ‘Desert Dogs’.

Eclipse Resort and Casinos has made more enemies than friends with their local construction and plans for the future in Fortuity, Nevada. As the casino development proceeds, local police officer Alex Dunn makes an ominous drunk call to his best friend Vince Grossier rambling about bones at the local construction site. When Alex is killed in a drunk driving accident, Vince isn’t convinced about the circumstances surrounding his best friend’s death and begins to investigate the possibility that Alex’s discovery is tied to his untimely demise-Alex would never drive drunk.

The storyline follows Vince, his brother Casey, friend Miah and professional photographer Kim Paget as they begin to uncover the truth and potential murder of Alex Dunn. Kim is a woman who was hired by Eclipse to take pictures of the local scenery but finds herself front and center when she mistakenly overhears what could very well be an admittance of murder and misdeeds.

The relationship between Vince and Kim is one of sensuality, sex and exploration. Vince’s motorcycle riding, hard driving alpha personality goes into overdrive when he realizes that Kim could be the next potential victim after she is confronted about what she heard and whom she saw. To protect Kim, Vince is willing to send Kim away for an extended period of time knowing that the woman who has stolen his heart may never return-like so many people before.

We are introduced to several secondary characters who all have a hidden past and a possible future in Fortuity, Nevada. Casey Grossier, Vince’s mysterious and long absent brother whose past is secreted from family and friends; Raina, the local tavern owner whose sex appeal is greatly appreciated by the locals and Vince’s buddy Miah. Miah and Raina have a history together that has only been glossed over but Miah’s attraction to Raina is evident and obvious to everyone concerned. We are also introduced to Duncan Welch-a solicitor for Eclipse Resorts and a man who will be pulled into Vince’s circle of friends as they endeavor to uncover the truth. Duncan’s role was questionable in the beginning but he is a man who is worthy of a second chance.

The world building brings the reader up close and personal to a small town’s struggle to survive in the wake of a new resort and casino that promises wealth, riches and local jobs. What the resort brings is controversy, heartache, death and dissolution.

Cara McKenna pulls the reader into a suspense filled and romantic storyline that investigates the death of friend who was loved by the people of Fortuity, Nevada. LAY IT DOWN is a story about friendship and loss; romance and love; passion and pain. Cara McKenna combines mystery, suspense, romance and a HEA into an emotional storyline about family and friendships that crosses miles and years, and the people pulled together by the murder of someone they know.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy