3.5 to 4*

This is the third book in this series and I think I'm finally onboard with it. Don't get me wrong it's not that the previous books weren't good because they were just not exactly what I was expecting, I was thinking this series would be more about Jericho and Wade and less about the town and the crime but it's the other way round and it's taken me a while to sync up.
Jericho is lead on a murder which seems like an open and shut case but it's all too clean, clear and neat and it's just not sitting right with Jericho so he starts looking around for other suspects although he doesn't have to look far.
The DEA and the Feds are still in town and it's getting to the point where they must be considering making the move permanent.
I love small town books when they're done well and this series manages to find a good balance, there's enough quirky characters to keep it interesting without being completely OTT.
The problem for Jericho and Wade is that they stand on opposite sides of the law but the more into the series we get the more lines are blurring, this and of course there's the fact that they both still want each other with same passion they did fifteen years ago.
Jericho has tried his best to stay away from Wade but it's a small town and Wade is everywhere and seemingly involved in everything this coupled with the fact that Jericho is lonely and still wants Wade to the point where he can't think clearly in his presence, it's an impossible situation and something has to give.
It's no secret that Wade is my favourite character I love him and his dodgy dealings and I seriously want him and Jericho to forget the world and get together but can either of them do that or do we have to hope they manage to find a balance between life, love and small town living.

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

***Could be spoilerish***

The third book in the series confirmed my initial suspicious of Mosely being the most corrupted small town not only in Montana but in the whole country, if not worldwide.

It is a MM romance MYSTERY series. Let’s talk about mystery.

What did Mosely offer us in the previous sequels?

- Drug trafficking and semi-organized crime. The fact that it happens on the Canadian border is indeed very unusual-I could better understand it if it took place somewhere more southern – though refreshing- it contradicts my idea of Canada being a place too dull to be criminal.

- Criminal bikers with the connections to the Chicago mafia.

- Corrupted FBI agents, corrupted retired Sheriff.

- Arson.

- At least one unsolved murder.

No wonder that the FBI and the DEA practically live in Mosely, mostly because they’ve got surveillance on Wade .
Let us TRY NOT to talk about WHY and HOW they all think that Wade is the main criminal brain and power behind EVERY SINGLE CRIME in Mosely, this criminal El Dorado and how their 24/7 observation makes all possible sexual interaction between our MCs even more complicated as it is already.

But honestly, I didn’t get WHAT else the FBI and the DEA were doing there. It was a lot of noise around their job/activity in the previous sequels, but suddenly they moved in the background and it looks like their main task in the third book became just to stand in the way.

Darkness added some new activities to the criminal list of the citizens of Mosely. (Their criminal energy is tireless!) We got a meth labor right next to school – not that DEA starts to get bored there, but it is nothing comparing to a serial killer who suddenly appeared in the town!

Well, one can question the methods how this serial killer’s case has been solved at the end. And, honestly, I don’t want even start to complain about the investigation (what investigation?!). I just say, WHY the hell not?

And judging from the way it was solved, I dare to guess how the last sequel will end: our under-sheriff Jericho will take over the leading position of the Mosley Sheriff’s Department. And his wannabe lover Wade will get a medal as Robin Hood of the 21th century.

But who cares? The most important thing for now – they will be together. And I swear, they made a huge step forward in fulfilling THIS all-reader’s collective dream. They are such a hot bunch together, the chemistry is fantastic and I enjoyed the dialogues, the heated banter between them in this sequel more than in the previous ones. Not to mention the inexorable progress of their relationship.

The bottom line:

Even if my mystery soul got frozen in a eye-roll pose at the end of the book, my romance soul was perfidiously SATISFIED.

Darkness is the third book in Kate Sherwood's engrossing Common Law series and for once, the murder is straightforward and the murderer obvious. Or is it? Will Archer, Jericho and Wade's mentally incapacitated former classmate, is charged with the murder of a prostitute. Fingerprints and blood evidence is all there ... yet ... Jericho's gut instinct tells him something is not right.

The Common Law series has been toying with the idea of sides, loyalties and absolutes - are Wade and Jericho on opposite sides of the law? Is one right and the other wrong? How much "gray" is acceptable in the black and white arena of law enforcement? As DEA Agent Hockley says:

“It’s a small town. I’m learning what that means. Relationships aren’t as black and white up here. In the city, cops can stay away from criminals. Up here, they might have gone to school with you, live next door to you, be related to you, whatever. It’s not a mess, it’s just different.”

I know I keep saying this, but this series keeps getting better and better with every book. And in Darkness Sherwood really pushes the reader to decide where the limits are - is one murder better or worse than another? Does every murderer deserve to be punished? Are there things that can't be fixed, "not with all the laws you could ever come up with"?

But as the world around them battles with absolutes and moral ambiguity, Wade and Jericho are slowly coming into sync with each other:

But he [Wade] seemed confused, surprised by Jericho’s words. “You and me are always on the same side,” he said as if it were an obvious truth, at least to him. “Any way that counts, any way that matters? We’re on the same side.”

Wade and Jericho have progressed from a kiss to a blow job to a fade-to-black love scene, but IMHO it reads more intense, more meaningful than any number of graphic sex scenes.

All I can say is don't miss the opportunity to read the Common Law series! FYI, the fourth book Home Fires is coming in April, 2017.

RATING: 4 out of 5

I think knowing that there is book #4 in the horizon sort of helped with my rating this time. I still loved reading about Jericho Crewe, and especially the inevitable sexual tension between him and Wade Granger — I compared Jericho with moth to a fire when it comes to Wade :p — but at times, there are things I wish to be more progressed. This is book #3 after all!!

Probably my biggest issue is with the state of Mosely as the town with problems. We get introduced with the police corruption in book #1. Then the biker wars in book #2. Plus there is a looming militia problem that sort of hanging in the background. With Darkness being the penultimate book, I wanted to see a built-up momentum… a preparation to the climax, that kind of thing.

Unfortunately, I felt like I didn’t really get it. Yes, we had a dead prostitute. Yes, we had a possible innocent man being framed for a murder he didn’t commit. But it didn’t really add anything to the whole federal agents raining down Mosely. Plus the resolution of this particular case was anti-climactic — to the point where I murmured to myself, “That’s it?”

I understand that the case became an epiphany for Jericho; him starting to question his moral judgement, wondering whether being in law-enforcement is the right thing when he can condone crime for certain purpose. It’s a good character progress. But still, it slightly frustrated me because in the grand scheme of Mosely and its problem, it didn’t really go anywhere.

Despite that, Darkness is a good installment — what can I say, I admit that I am getting into this because of Jericho and the promise his relationship with Wade. On that front, I was satisfied! Jericho finally accepts that he can’t get away from Wade, despite his ex-best friend / ex-boyfriend being manipulative, skirting between that fine line of breaking the law. THAT part is always delicious to read :).

I can’t wait for the conclusion…

4* Another excursion into the live of Jericho, Wade and what happens in small town America.

Book 3 in this series can't really be read as a standalone, as it picks up the leads' history and where they're now at in their relationship of sorts, and yes, this time round they ARE in a relationship. Of sorts. Jay's on the right side of the law as under-sheriff and Wade is on the other, as informant and criminal. But, there is something between them, something that I am slowly coming to see doesn't need to be expressed on-page, or via sex, simply via what's not actually said, and via what the author uses as visuals, i.e the looks that pass between them, Wade's actions to keep Jay away from the darker side of his life, Wade's tenderness towards Jay and his refusal to ask anything of Jay, but to be there - almost unspoken - when Jay needs him. I am so, so glad that the connection between the guys that had started as teens, has finally been rekindled, but I will say that if readers are after hot, sexy sex scenes, they won't be getting those here. The author has gone with 'less is more' and I've realised why this works for her guys.

In between all of the above, there's another murder to solve, and the Feds and DEA are still hanging around small town America waiting for some bust/s to happen, because believe me, it all seems to happen here, just not like what we see on TV. There's no major drama, but there is intrigue, stuff is on the down-low and tbh, I'm kind of seeing that people here protect their own.

This series is finally coming into its own, 3 books into the 4, and I'm glad I persisted with it. It's not an out-and-out romance, but it is a pretty well-done, intelligent foray into small town America and all that goes with it.

ARC courtesy of Riptide Publishing, for my reading pleasure.

Darkness, Common Law 3,  Kate Sherwood

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  romance, LGBTQIA

I enjoyed the first two books, and this series just keeps getting better and better now I understand the characters and their connections.

Wade and Jericho (Jay) dance around their attraction, lots of looks, slipped touches but most of the while either Wade is too ambiguous, or Jay just isn’t sure whether he ought/can/will take things further.
Wade is so enigmatic almost everything he says, not just to Jay but anyone, can be taken in different ways. I just love him, can’t really believe he’s the bad guy all the locals inc the police seem to think he is. He does have his finger on the pulse of everything that happens though, and is always on the periphery in some way of local crime.
Its kind of understandable why he’s seen this way, some of it is a carefully cultivated image IMO, if you put yourself up as a certain type of person then its not that others are saying you’re bad, they’re just following the lead you set, whether that’s true or not. And I can see Wade getting a kick out of knowing he’s got one over on the folk who condemned him as useless, someone from a bad background who’d never amount to much,  from childhood.

I’ve rambled a bit about Wade, but I’ve been championing him right from the start and its clear how protective of Jay he is, and in this novel we see just how far he’ll take that protection.
Of course there’s still the FBI/local cops issues going on from past events, along with Kayla being kept in the dark about her dad, and Jay feeling torn over that. He can’t say anything to her, and knows why and yet as her friend he feels he ought to.
Kayla warns him once more to stay away from Wade but that’s not easy – Wade keeps finding him!

This time there’s a murder at the heart of the story, and what seems like a simple case, easy to solve, lots of evidence, seems just a bit too slick to Jay, and he searches a little deeper.
What he finds changes things greatly, that it may not be an isolated murder, but his hands are tied in just how far he can go in pursuit of the truth. Once more Wade steps in, he’s always skirted rules anyway and its clear that though he doesn’t like the Law he respects that Jay enjoys his job, and he’ll do anything to protect that.

Its another great read, very sensual, but that is only part of the story, and fitted in perfectly in the novel. Its the tiny touches and looks that are the most sensual, where you really feel just how strongly Wade wants Jay and vice versa, and not just for a quickie one off but more – and yet how, when they’re on opposing sides of the Law?
Each book brings them a tiny bit closer, heals some of the anger from years back, gives them some new connections and makes it feel inevitable that they are destined to be together...
I’m lucky enough to have book four on my kindle right now as an ARC so that’s my next read :-)

Stars: Five, a sensual story, and a realistic mystery to solve.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

Darkness is a great read. Fueled by murder this romantic suspense had me hooked. I liked both Jericho and Wade and look forward to reading more of this series.