4 Stars!

Source: eARC for Honest Review Courtesy of Riptide Publishing
Genre: MM Romantic Suspense
Part 1 of 4

Mini Review:

Jericho comes back to the one place he never thought he would return even though he left his heart there. Now back because he heard his dad was hurt only to find out that all is not what it seems and his dad's not hurt but dead. With this new turn of events, he now has a new step mom and step siblings he knew nothing.

Jericho Crewe and Wade Granger were life time friends and first loves. But Jericho needed to leave
Mosely, Montana. And by doing that he also left his heart. Now Jericho whom is on the right side of crimes comes face to face with his past, whom seems to have chosen the other side of the law.

"By 'business,' I assume you mean 'crime'?"

I loved Jericho and Wade's hostile yet potent tension between each other.

"You always did have a tendency toward seeing things in black and white. Not a fan of ambiguity, are you?"

Jericho didn't start on the right of the law. He was once a boy on the wrong side of the law and now he has to find the balance between right and wrong.

Jericho's homecoming is nothing but eventful and now the kids are kidnapped and the only person Jericho can turn to is Wade. But can he trust him?

Can't wait for Embers!
Post Live May 25 at 12am cst

Jay Crewe left Mosley, Montana and never looked back, he hasn't talked to his father in over 10 years, but when he gets a mysterious phone call that his father was hurt and he needs to hurry home, he never expects to go home and walk into the mess he finds.

Wade Granger got left behind when Jay left Mosley, he has taken over his uncles' bar and work on the shady side with Jay's father. Jay is still attracted to Wade, but knows that he shouldn't act on his attraction to Wade.

This was an interesting book, Wade and Jay had serious unresolved sexual attraction, that never really got acted on. This book almost seemed to be setting up the rest of the books in the series, while it takes place in the present, you get a lot of background history on Wade, Jay, Jay's father and other characters that make appearances in the book.

Am I the only person who wants to run my hands up that man’s chest and sweep that tee right over his head? I think there’s a roller coaster ride of abs beneath that cotton, and I want a peek. OK. Now that I have that out of my system…oh my word. I fell for Jericho at lightning speed. He was freaking hilarious, and I love how he deals with authority - he loves to mess with law enforcement even though he’s one of them, and yeah. It's sexy as hell. This is a trio ‘local boy makes good,’ ‘rushing home to save the day,’ and (fingers crossed) ‘rekindled romance’ story.

Long Shadows gripped me from the start. Just Jericho’s memories before he even came into contact with anyone in his hometown were interesting, and you could feel the chemistry between Jericho and Wade before they even met up again. It was so hot, and I just know when they finally get together, it’s going to be hot. They didn’t in this first installment, which is good, because the story really didn’t allow for it. But I am, first and foremost, a romance reader, and I want the sex. BUT I’m willing to wait for the right moment. The suspense part of this story, while a bit predictable, was still good - who can you trust? Who has it out for you? These are things that, even if the reader can solve part of the mystery, they can’t solve it all.

I picked Long Shadows up because I had previously read Sacrati by this author, and I really enjoyed it. So of course I was on the lookout for more. I wasn’t disappointed. Long Shadows is part of a serial, but it seems as though each story will have one smaller arc to go along with the larger one. While there are things to still be resolved, this book had a satisfactory ending that wasn’t jarring in the last. I loved this installment, and I can’t wait to cuddle up with Embers and see what else Jericho has up his sleeve!

3.5*


'Dark Horse' was the first m/m book I ever read and it was amazing, I've lost track of the number of times I've actually re-read that series.
So my expectations were high going into this book and it's safe to say it wasn't at all what I'd expected, while it has good well developed characters I never fully connected with them always feeling slightly removed.
It's an interesting introduction to this series and the scene is set for the next book but while this works well as an introduction and it's a steady interesting story there was no romance, no sex and no real drama.
I suspected this would be a slow burn but I had hoped there'd be more heat or some heat in this book.
Jericho Crewe left Mosley fifteen years ago aged seventeen, he left behind the love of his young life Wade, his good friend Kayla and his father Eli, his history since leaving town is impressive:

"Eight years in the Marines, four tours of Afghanistan, several commendations including a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. You earned your bachelor’s degree while serving. After your honorable discharge you joined the LAPD and are currently a detective in their robbery and homicide division.”

After receiving an urgent call informing him his father had suffered a fall and to hurry Jericho finds himself back where he thought he'd never be, back in Mosley.
It's hard being back, it turns out his father is dead, the town seems so much smaller and he has conflicting feelings on seeing Wade again.

Despite the fact that this book wasn't what I'd hoped it would be I'm looking forward to 'Embers' which I'm starting next.

I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley and Riptide Publishing.

Raised in Mosely, a small Montana town near the Canadian border, Jericho Crewe and Wade Granger were boyhood friends and lovers. "He and Wade had both been raw and exposed, and it had only made sense for them to press themselves together, offering less tender flesh to the outside world." When they were 17, Jericho left ... and Wade stayed. 15 years later - during which Jericho spent 8 years in the Marines (four tours in Afghanistan) and 5 years as a beat cop in LA - he returns to Mosely after the death of his father, only to be surprised by a step-mom and two young half-sibs ... and a whole mess of trouble.

Wade seems to be running drugs, guns, and god-knows-what to the border and back, and he's got his fingers in every scheme in town. But when push comes to shove, does he have Jericho's back? Is the pull of their past love strong enough after all these years?

This story sucked me in from page one and held my interest every last page of the way. Kate Sherwood spins an intriguing mystery with dirty cops, kidnapping and shoot-outs and balances it with the slowly-unwinding story of the relationship between Wade and Jericho. There is not ONE sex scene in this book - just one kiss - yet the tension between Wade and Jericho is heady and potent with possibility.

The end of the book brings about a resolution of the kidnapping, but leaves a whole bunch of questions. Is Wade involved with Jericho's father's death? Did they catch all the dirty cops? Wade and Jericho are pretty much on opposite sides of the law - who's planning to change sides? This is a great start to a new Kate Sherwood series and I give it 4.5 stars.

Many things change, but some things remain the same.

When Jericho Crewe gets a call from a stranger telling him that his father is ill, he returns home to Mosely, Montana only to discover his father is dead, leaving behind a widow and children, and his childhood love and friend Wade Granger is actually one of the suspects. When the children are kidnapped Jericho joins forces with Wade to rescue them only to realise that while many things have changed some things remain the same.

This is an excellent start to a new series.

Jericho has changed so much and is no longer the young man existing on the borderline of criminality. He is now on the side of law and order, but coming home to Mosley shows him that not much has changed and in some ways he hasn't changed either.

He is still attracted to his childhood friend and first love but Wade doesn't walk legal straight lines.

Jericho puts all this behind him so that he can solve the mystery of the missing children but touches and glances linger in his mind and his memory, and at the end he will have to make new choices, and step into this new future, marching to the echoes of the past.

The writing here is solid and a very satisfying read. The story unfolds quite slowly but in a way that grips the reader. As we are drawn into the story we get to see how much has changed for Jericho and the feelings he is forced to deal with as he returns to his home town after fifteen years. He has changed so much but he is still that scrappy young man within and even deeper within this is the feeling he has for his first love.

It is a great introduction to the new series but it doesn't feel like an introduction because of the way you are pulled into the story from the beginning and the end of the story brings us to the cusp of the next episode without feeling that we are left hanging.

A great read and an excellent beginning. Onwards to part two!

Copy provided by Riptide Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

A cop who comes back to the town he escaped when he was a teenager. A friend/ex-lover who never left but blurs the lines of right and wrong on a regular basis. Oh, this series is going to be fun. ;)

Jericho had no intention of spending a lot of time in the town he ran from. He didn't expect to find out his father was dead under questionable circumstances or family members he didn't know he had either. To say things got interesting would be an understatement.

Long Shadows had plenty of mystery, action and suspense. Although there was little or no romance, there was plenty of romantic tension. There was also an added connection between Wade, Jericho and Kayla, the current Sheriff. Which made things even more interesting.

There are at least 3 more books in the Common Law series - Embers, Darkness and Home Fires. I'm pretty sure things are going to heat up... no pun attended. ;)

One thing that you don't tend to get with m/m books is a sequel with the same characters, so I'd like to start this off by saying that Long Shadows has a sequel (not out yet) and I'm so excited. If that doesn't tell you how much I enjoyed Long Shadows, then I guess I'll have to write some more.

Something else that's different from most m/m novels is that there is no physical relationship in this one. It's first and foremost about Jericho Crewe coming back home because he thinks he's father's had a bad fall and he's planning on finding someone to care for him so he can get back to his new life in L.A. Upon his arrival, he realizes that his dad is actually dead and his old friend, and more, Wade Granger is on the top of the suspect list as Wade and Jericho's father did illegal dealings together.

Jericho also learns his father remarried and has two other kids, and they are definitely in danger, meaning Jericho has to stick around and try and keep them safe. He also works with Wade, and another old friend - and new sheriff- to figure out just what happened to his father and why. It's a bit of a mystery, full of suspense and intrigue. It's also about going home to a place you wanted to run away from and wondering if things have changed enough to stay. It's about old friends, and old loves, and trying to make things work. Like I said before, there is no physical relationship, but I have a feeling that might change a bit in the sequel.

Long Shadows is a quick, enjoyable read!

Long Shadows was okay. I'm not crazy about the story. I wanted more between Jericho and Wade, because they were the most interesting part of the story...to me, but there was very little of them. And personally, there isn't enough in this book to entice me to read anymore in the series.

Long Shadows is the first book in the four-part Common Law mystery suspense series penned by Kate Sherwood and released by Riptide Publishing. We're introduced to the series's hero, Jericho Crewe, who left his hometown of Moseley, Montana at seventeen. A decade and a half later, he gets a phone call informing him his father has been injured. When he gets there, his estranged parent isn't lying in a hospital bed recuperating; instead, Jericho is now confronted with the suspicious death of his father, a stepmother and two half-siblings he never knew about, his best female friend now the town's sheriff, and the guy closest to him fifteen years ago, Wade Granger, the prime suspect. When his half-siblings are kidnapped, Jericho turns to the one person he probably should not trust--Wade.

This was an intriguing introduction to this new series from Kate Sherwood. Fair warning: if you're only looking for romance and sex, you're not going to get either one in this series starter. What you do get is a backgrounder as to why Jericho left and stayed away from Moseley for as long as he did. There are peeks into what he shared with Wade and what his friendship was like with Kayla Morgan. Jericho is the hero and Wade the antihero, but there's a murkiness to those labels, especially when Wade's past proves he was as much of a troublemaker as his closest friend, who became more than a friend. While there is a resolution in this first book as far as the case of Jericho's father's is concerned, Jericho and Wade have a lot more story to tell in the series. Long Shadows garners four stars. ♥

Fast paced, tightly plotted and with the right amount of UST. Jericho was a lovely surprise (given his extremely macho backstory). I'll be reading the rest of the series, no doubt.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is an eerie small town suspense story with a cast of complicated characters, none of whom appear terribly trustworthy. When Jericho, an LA detective and former US Marine, returns to his hometown, he finds himself investigating his father’s death. The only people who can help him are murder suspects themselves or law enforcement officers suspected of corruption.

Jericho is an original character. Raised in an abusive home on the wrong side of the law, he made a complete break from his past when he joined the military. But when he is pulled back into his hometown, he is dragged into old habits and relationships as the boundaries between right and wrong start to blur.

This isn’t an m/m romance. Jericho is a gay man and he does have unfinished business with an old lover, but the story is more about his family and his complicated hometown. With her honest depiction of grinding rural poverty and her refusal to offer easy boundaries between good and evil, the author has crafted a compelling series.

This is the first book in a series and it needs to be read as a series. The first book sets up the relationships and dynamics in the border town of Mosely, Montana, but it asks more questions than it answers. I finished this book and immediately started the second one but that just let me with an even bigger plot twist, waiting for the next book. I’m hooked on the series but I would have liked a few more answers in each individual story.

Jericho Crewe spent more than a decade trying to shed his past and the legacy of the father who drove him away. Though he lost a lot in the attempt, his new life in LA has made leaving his best friend and lover behind worth it. Mostly. But, a single phone call is enough to bring him running back, and, despite his efforts to reinvent himself, he quickly learns that home won’t let go so easily.

I found Long Shadows interesting in many ways, not the least of which is its main character, Jericho Crewe. He’s at once resilient, uncertain, loyal, stubborn, independent, compassionate, and so on. He’s also dealing with a sizable case of denial when it comes to being back in Mosely, Montana, and Wade Granger, in particular—which I thought were some of his best moments. While he didn’t leave as vivid an impression on me as Wade did, I think Jericho has a lot of potential to develop over the course of the series, and am looking forward to seeing how he handles his new situation.

My undeniably favorite thing about Long Shadows is the re-acquaintance of the two main characters. Rather than bogging the narrative down with regret, most of the scenes involving Jericho and Wade are touched with awareness, companionship, and a nostalgic fondness that reaffirms their story isn’t nearly as finished as Jericho would like to think it is. I’ve read a good many tales where the temptation that exists between reunited characters is laid out plainly, but this is one of the few that actually made me believe it.

While it’s a somewhat familiar situation in different genres, the author doesn’t use the “desperate times call for legal infractions” sort of economy that’s present in Mosely, Montana as the cause of every bad thing that happens in the story. But, neither is it a blanket excuse for it. Rather, most of the characters walk a wobbly line between convenience and necessity when it comes to the law, and I found that ambiguity perfectly acceptable in Wade and Kayla’s cases, in particular.

Another great thing about Long Shadows is that there’s so much more to it than any of the relationships that are involved. It is a suspenseful narrative that involves different government agencies, as well as local law enforcement, secrets and cover-ups, covert alliances, and a solid application of the unspoken knowledge that tends to run beneath the surface in forgotten places. Though some elements were easy to see earlier in the story, its culmination wasn’t what I was expecting, making the entire plot even more enjoyable.

Having never read a story by Kate Sherwood before, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Long Shadows, but I ended up enjoying it a great deal. Whether by the cover or the characters or the overall plot, I was drawn in from the beginning, and stayed engaged until the very end. That this is the first of the series is certainly a bonus, especially since I can’t help but be eager to see what might happen next for Jericho and Wade. If the rest are equal to Long Shadows, I think this is going to be a fun series.

First, I feel I should warn you that there is no sex – there isn’t even a relationship. Don’t read this one expecting there to be anything romantic here.

The premise to the story is this: Jericho left Mosely when he was a teenager (not sure exactly when because at first he left 10 years ago, then 15 years was said), and he left behind Wade, his not exactly boyfriend, but certainly sex buddy. Jericho’s dad isn’t a stand up citizen. He is a criminal, to put it bluntly. And all these years later when Jericho returns home he learns his father was murdered, had remarried and had two kids (Jericho’s young half-siblings). The blurb gave me the impression these kids would be teenagers, but they were around 6 years old. Way younger than I expected.

Jericho is a detective with the LAPD and when he returns home, he is dragged into investigating what happened to his father, how he can help his “step-mother,” and dealing with seeing Wade again – who isn’t a straight businessman either. Who can resist a bad boy?

This was an ok read for me. All I can say is it was average. Average plot, average characters, average writing. Nothing earth shattering, and I will admit to skimming a little because I didn’t need a lot of the minute details. This story turned out to be nothing like I expected and it didn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger, but yet it did. The crime was solved, the bad guys found, but his relationship with Wade isn’t resolved, his half-siblings need his help if they are going to turn out even somewhat civilized, and there is still the criminal element in the town.

Clearly this is a continuous series and the characters keep growing (I think) with each installment. I just don’t know where it all ends. I really think Book 2 is where the action is, so I plan to at least give it a try, and see what happens with the romance and the characters.

REVIEW posted via enclosed link...

The struggle is real, folks. Once again I find myself at a crossroads when reviewing a story. This time, the struggle comes in the form of a book that is part one of a new series, but I was left wanting so much more after reading the first book. First and foremost, I grabbed this book just because I love the author, secondly the blurb was an attention grabber, and thirdly, I just needed a go-to author to help me through my reading slump. What I got was all that, with a small dose of disappointment that Jericho and Wade didn’t get any sexy time. I know, I know…stop being so superficial, but honestly I don’t read YA because I really love that sexy time and prefer it in my books. It makes me feel all grown up, ya know, and maybe it’s a female trait but, the sexy time equates to love for me. . I know we aren’t there in this relationship yet, but I still missed it.

However, that being said, I have high hopes that the next book with find Jericho and Wade reconnecting in ways that were alluded to in this book. One can hope. But in this premier of the return of Jericho to Big Sky Country in small town Montana we get a lot of twists and turns in ways that I, as the reader, took much enjoyment from and also found myself shaking my head. Jericho and Wade have history and that is what I wanted to read about, but first you have to tread through a surprise, but hideous, new step-mother, and a sheriff that was one of your best friends but now treats you like a suspect knowing you weren’t involved in the crimes that were committed that got Jericho to Montana to begin with. What I loved was his annoying way of pissing off the sheriff but what I hated was that he allowed himself to become a doormat to his new step mother even after she treated him like crap over and over again. I would have been outta there.

This is a mystery and a re-connection to one’s past and past relationships. Knowing that the mystery was going to take precedence over the relationship was a surprise, but I am a patient girl, and knowing this is the start of a series gives me hope for that relationship to rebuild. The writing is typical Kate Sherwood, which means it is solid, so I loved it but was left wanting more…here’s hoping that more arrives in the form of book two.

Compelling start to series</b>

Long Shadows hooked me right from the start; I found myself reading at every available moment and into the wee hours of Christmas Eve. This is the first in the Common Law series, which appears to be set up like a TV miniseries. There is a smaller plot contained and resolved within the novella, as well as a few different storylines that likely stretch out over multiple books. The pace was brisk, but never rushed. I enjoyed the way the law enforcement and suspense element wove into the story. It was a page turner, providing enough information that I didn't feel shorted out of any details but never getting hung up on excessive details.

The main character immediately got my attention with his snarky comments that revealed an undercurrent of emotion he tries to hide. I appreciated how much background we got on Jericho throughout the novella, and I ended feeling like I had a good understanding of his character and motivations. Jericho's guarded and sarcastic side comes across with his inner thoughts as well as within the dialogue, almost like internal banter, making the book fun to read. The author does a great job using the dialogue to demonstrate the relationships Jericho had with the secondary characters rather than just relaying a summary of the past. The way the characters and Jericho's history with the town was introduced peaked my interest in the series as well as the secondary characters, and I'm intrigued to see how all the different players come together in Jericho's return to Mosely. There wasn't much romance per say in this book, but Miss Sherwood sets the scene for a continued romantic interest with his childhood friend and crush, Wade. I liked that there was a lot of build to their relationship and they weren't rushed together unnaturally just to provide some steam. It gave the author a chance to establish chemistry and guaranteed I'll be reading the next novella in the series to see how things progress. If you are looking for a new series or are a fan of law enforcement romances, I definitely recommend giving this book a try

Review posted on Goodreads, Amazon, B & N and V's Reads: http://wp.me/p3AKEA-23E

Jericho Crewe is an LA detective summoned back to his desolate hometown of Mosely, Montana thinking his father, Eli, is in dire straits. Well, he may have been, but he's dead now. Jericho hasn't been home in 15 years--not since he left to join the marines--and start his life over. Eli was a crap dad, abusive and criminal in his habit and neglect; Jericho isn't sad to hear he's gone.

He's rather stunned that he has a stepmother, Nikki, and two half siblings, however. Nikki was the one who'd called him up. She deliberately hid the fact that Eli was dead because she needed Jericho to actually turn up, and to protect her and her kids from whomever murdered Eli, because yeah, it's a suspicious death. And new threats have been made.

Jericho's mostly flying blind but he reaches out to his old pals, Kayla--now Sheriff Morgan--and Wade Granger, local barman and notorious smuggler, to help figure out what the heck is happening. See, Mosely is way "up 'dere" near the Canadian border. It's heavily forested, and sparsely populated. A criminal, or many criminals, could make a good living smuggling guns/drugs over the border. Eli Crewe had his hand in these dirty deals. But, is it a fellow criminal who took him out? Or, even worse, crooked Feds? Jericho needs to figure it out fast when his half-siblings are kidnapped and Nikki goes AWoL.

I liked the slow reveal of all these issues. Jericho's a great guy caught up in a bad scene. Nikki's a liar, and hostile, playing Jericho's sympathies. Wade's clearly attracted to his former lover--Jericho--who reciprocates, but don't expect any shenanigans. Jericho has to cobble together a partnership between himself, Wade and Kayla, which is a delicate business. Those two have been on opposite sides for their whole lives, and Jericho was the glue that bound them in high school. The book ends with some rather spectacular flourishes, and with Jericho facing some choices: return to LA and his soul-sucking job, stay in Mosely and care for his previously-unknown family, battling the smugglers for the Sheriff's department, or join Wade in bed and business. This is the beginning of a series, and the sexual tension is really high. No steam here, though. The story unfolds over the course of several days, so the next book will likely pick up right where this one left off--and might could include a smattering of the sexytime variety.

Coming home to the mountains of Montana was never in Jericho Crewe’s plans. He left behind his abusing, petty criminal of a father and the dead-end prospects of his home town for the military and later a career as a cop which was the final straw for old Eli Crewe disowning his son. Now, Eli’s been murdered, Jericho discovers he has a step-mom and a little sister and brother, and someone is after something that Eli had. Suspicion points to Eli’s occasional shady business partner, Wade Granger.

Jericho is determined to make his newly-found family safe and then get back to LA as quickly as he can. However, the local sheriff, the feds, and even his own cop sense makes him realize he must stick it out until the situation is resolved because that is the only thing that will bring safety. And if it brings him once again into contact with an old high-school flame who lives on both sides of the law?

I listened to a fantasy romance by this author earlier in the year and loved her writing style, characters, and plotting. I figured all that would be true of a small town contemporary romantic suspense, too, so I was eager to pick this one up. Long Shadows is not meant to standalone. It introduces the characters, the set up, and the first leg of a deeper suspense and romance. There is a resolution to the main event, but also things are left wide open for the rest of the series plot to develop in book two.

Jericho is the sole narrator. I enjoyed being along with him as he came back home and was faced with his memories and childhood along with the new dangerous situation. Each encounter with the cast of characters opened up more and more about Jericho and the others.

Wade Granger was Jericho’s best friend, cohort in teenage rebellion, and first love. Jericho got out and straightened out, but Wade is still hooked into shady things. The old attraction is still there. I liked how things are left simmering and that Wade is still a mystery element to be unraveled as the series progresses.

All in all, this was a promising start. I can’t wait to see what happens next. These are novella-length, but it has a serial feel to it without the stark cliffhanger. I would recommend these for those who appreciate slow-burn m/m romantic suspense.