Skin and Bone

For anyone who pays attention or somewhat knows me, knows I read ALMOST anything. But one thing I love more than any of the rest, is a good murder mystery/whodunnit/thriller. However you want to classify it. I love books that make you think. Trying to figure everything out and why and hopefully before it’s revealed. And this book checks all my boxes. I could not put it down. And I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to read book 1 first. But that’s my fault. Trust me when I say, I will be going back. Now not having read book 1 yet, I don’t know what all I’ve missed, but for the most part I could figure it out. It is an ongoing series with the same characters, though, so I would recommend reading book 1 first. Hell, I just recommend period.

K-9 cop Cloister and his beloved shepherd, Bourneville, get called out one horrendously stormy night to try to find a missing woman. With the rain pouring the way it is, it’s hard to hope for a trace of anything, but they try anyway. They finally find her a ways away from her car, beaten, bloody and unconscious. When Cloister tries to check her, he’s almost killed himself when the assailant does a hit and run, leaving Cloister broken and bloody as well. When he wakes up, something about things aren’t adding up and Cloister has to figure out why. With the help of his lover, if you can call him that (it’s complicated), FBI agent Javi Merlo, they start digging at what’s going on and find themselves up to their eyeballs in corruption, cover-ups, and more. They are trying to figure out what’s happening before the girl and themselves ends up dead for real this time.

Men are the most stubborn mules lol. Ah, who am I kidding? Women are just as bad. The more I read about Cloister and Javi, the more I wanted to shake them both so bad. They both obviously care so much about each other, but understandably, their pasts make them hesitant. And after learning some of those pasts, yeah, I definitely don’t blame them. Cloister ended up in this line of work after things that happened in his childhood and I felt so bad for him. I can’t go into detail…spoilers..but because of what happened, he was shunned a lot and treated very wrongly. It’s heartbreaking. Doing the work he does is hard too. I don’t know if I could do it. I’ve seen k-9’s that look for missing or dead people and it’s not always as glamorous as tv makes it out to be. People aren’t found as often as you think and it’s not just hard on the cop but the dog as well. They feel all that. So I greatly admire people who do that work. That’s what made me love this book even more.

And for Javi, for him to have even remotely kept working after things that happened to him, damn. I can’t blame him for the guilt and pain he’s going through. After reading what his part in things were, I don’t know if I could be quick to forgive. It’s not horribly bad, but he did use someone in a way he shouldn’t have which lead to something horrible. That part wasn’t his fault. It’s a fine line. Javi’s a good guy, though. I probably would help him move, because, hey, well all make mistakes.

The case they are working on it’s helping. They are dragging some old corruption out in what they are digging. Things that still have a lingering effect on many people. Cops included. The more they dig into the case, the more their own lives seem to resurfacing and making things much harder. And the secrets spilled are some doozies.

I can’t wait to go back and see how this all started. And I can’t wait to see if there is a book 3. Oh I hope lol. This could go so many ways and I’m excited to see any of them lol. Go read these!

4 Hearts Reviewed by Shorty

Cloister and Javi both have issues that they deal with on a daily bases. I liked these two together as it seemed they both needed the others help at times. Javi is injured and decides to invite Cloister over because of it. The men closer as the story deepens.

Although I did enjoy this addition I felt there were too many unanswered questions left at the end. I wanted more about the murder/mystery going on and what the details were surrounding it. This story focused more on Javi and Cloister’s issues rather than the mystery at times which was fine but I wanted a balance.

Never the less it was still an entertaining and engaging read and I have to hope the unanswered questions will be answered at some point.

Great read.

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this book.

This is book TWO in the Digging Up Bones series, and you really SHOULD read book one, Bone To Pick, before you read this one. You'll need it to get a feel for Javi and Cloister before this book.

I'm not gonna write a blurby bit, cos if I'm honest (and I'm ALL about the honest!) I got a bit lost with the Janet Morrow storyline, and once I decided I would just read those bits, and not pay much attention, I liked this a lot better. Also being honest, this is highly likely to be ME (since I'm a bit of a mess at the moment) rather than this book, because I really did LOVE catching up with Javi, Cloister and Bournville!

They are such damaged, broken men, and it really is a pleasure watching them fall. Because they HAVE fallen, they just can't admit, not even to themselves, how much the other man means to him. Javi nearly does, but he shuts that thought down right quick! Cloister does admit he LIKES Javi, but I read far more into that, than was actually said.

It's the little things that tell a lot, you know? Like how Javi looks after Clositer when he gets hit by the truck. Like how Cloister tells Javi not to get shot. The random thoughts that make you giggle how they come out of nowhere, about they think about the other, about how they feel. They DO admit to feeling, at least to themselves, sorta, kinds, and it's those out of nowhere things I LOVE about these two! There is no way to predict where the comments and thoughts will come from. Love being kept on my toes.

We get more of Cloister's history, about his family and some of my questions (that I had after book one) are answered here. We get why Javi was sent to town, to work, after what happened in Phoenix.

I hope there is at least one more book, I really do! These guys NEED to be happy, like REALLY happy with each other and at the moment, while . . . . . content . . . .they aren't really happy. And you know, we don't know what's going to happen to Javi when his replacement comes to twon, a woman who does NOT have happy thoughts about Javi! And there is something going on in Javi's head about higher ups in the food chain, so I need to know about that!

So, thank you, Ms Moore, for my copy, I'm sorry I got a bit lost, but I'm still giving it the rating it deserves.

5 stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**

Sometimes the past refuses to die, and sometimes it comes back to destroy what was left behind...
After finding an unconscious girl in a storm, Deputy Cloister Witte finds himself paired with Special Agent Javier Merlo again, trying to discover the reasons behind the apparently random attack. But navigating the mysteries of the past is as difficult as trying to understand the nature of a relationship that none of them can deny any longer...
The second instalment to the Digging Up Bones series is as enticing as the first one, or even more… Now we already know that Plenty, California, is a place where nothing is what seems to be, and the corruption some people thought over is still easy to find if you only scratch the shiny surface. An injured trans girl becomes the door that opens a past of corrupt cops and ruthless lawyers. But as difficult as it is to untangle the web of lies and deceptions that conforms the recent story of Plenty, it is not as complicated as what lies behind the hot chemistry and somehow twisted relationship that the main characters share. I must recognise Javi is not my favourite character yet, I do not like him very much, but the more I find out about him, the more I seem to forgive… And yet, there are so many things to discover from these two… That makes them both really enticing characters, the kind that always leaves you wishing there was one more chapter to this book….
Highly recommendable

I remember feeling slightly disappointed at the ending of ‘Bone to Pick’ because the romance between Cloister and Javi was really up in the air, as in “will they or won’t they”, and the author hadn’t indicated this was going to be a series. I hoped that it would become one because as fabulous as I found the first installment, I truly felt this duo - a San Diego County Deputy and K-9 specialist and an FBI Special Agent – had so many more stories to tell. Not only are these men extremely damaged and not inclined to trust anyone, but their differences seem to bring out the best in each of them especially if they’re working a case together. Regardless, I was very interested to see what the author was going to bring to me this time around.

This book begins with Cloister and Bon (his dog) looking for a missing woman. What they find is a potential murder, a possible hate crime, a lot of politics, and a colleague of Javi’s who wants him ousted as an FBI agent. Basically the usual, at least from my experience with the first book and a bit of an understanding of this author’s writing style. As much as I enjoyed the mystery and suspense portion of this story, I have to be completely honest and admit that the more time the author spent on Cloister and Javi’s “relationship” plus the intensity with which I learned more about each of them, definitely held me enthralled.

“Someone nicer would apologize to Cloister. If Javi went out, he’d just say the wrong thing again, even knowing it was the wrong thing. Cloister just… scared him sometimes. No one should care that little about themselves, especially not someone who deserved… well… at least someone nicer. Javi swallowed the “sorry” and went to bed instead.”

Cloister has very little concern about his own personal well-being but will go to the extreme to save someone he doesn’t know. Javi doesn’t like himself much and any emotions that revolve around “feelings” are ones he truly dislikes having and attempts to ignore at any and all times. Listening, so to speak, to these men as they chastised themselves mentally was beyond fascinating for me and I was drawn to both of them even more than I had been the first time around. Throw all of that together with a captivating murder mystery, Javi’s job difficulties, and his asshole ex, and I was spellbound.

‘Skin and Bone’ is an exciting, thrilling, and positively sexy installment in the ‘Digging Up Bones’ series by TA Moore. I couldn’t put it down and I actually loved this book more than the first in the series. The ending has left me hanging about the status of Javi and Cloister and what is going to happen to Javi when the new SSA begins at the FBI Field Office. I have so much to look forward to and I can’t wait!

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews