Let me start with: I completely adored this installment. Beginning to end. 

The chemistry is strong and the plot was intense.*phew*

Totally adding it to my #FavoritesOf2017. 

If you know me, you’ll be pointing at Jamie right now, saying: “That guy! He’s soooo your favorite!” — Yes, he definitely is! 

I super love, love, love Jamie.

There’s something extremely sexy about someone who knows his computers in all the legal and illegal ways. He’s smart but not a show-off and has this sweet, playful and caring side! Swoon-worthy.

I've come to like Aidan more and more with this installment. He’s still got that somewhat interesting air about him, he also comes across as less broody and more self-accepting, or rather, the initial feeling that he’s betraying his late husband with this newfound affection for someone else has vanished. Thank Heavens! :)

Instead he's being too hard on himself, trying with no avail to keep the relationship he's started with Jamie casual, which is hurting the other man in the process. 

With their relationship in the focus and dual point of view we get to see both guy's thoughts and feelings and honestly? I can relate to either side. 
Falling in love is scary. 

Keeping secrets from that person is a heavy load to carry. 

➷

Cask Strength picks up five months after the final events of Single Malt.
The writing is smooth, detailed and events and characters are consistent. The imagery is vivid and I thought the guys's feelings were genuine and relatable.

There were tiny little twists and surprises but the most dramatic are yet to be revealed in book #3!
I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and, once again, thought the plot was pretty intense and highly entertaining. As I said before, I really like what the author did here, the way she thinks, how everything’s somehow connected.

There’s suspense and emotion, wonderful dialogue and extremely sexy sexy-times *wink wink*

The romance felt as real and intense as previously (if not better!!) and the chemistry was palpable— one of the best.

Honestly though, I truly love how the Author works. I have read a lot of crime-y books, you know about FBI agents and police officers and so on, and I can truthfully say this has been one of the most interesting and engaging series / plots so far.

➷



Sadly the book ended yet with another cliffhanger!

Ohhh, the suspense...

I hope August comes quickly, bringing along the 3rd (and final?) installment.

SO VERY EXCITED TO FINALLY GET IT IN MY HANDS!
I can only highly recommend this series to everyone!

Will talk my friends into giving it a go as well, because it's worth it :)



▽


Many, many thanks to the publisher who kindly provided a free copy for an honest and impartial review.

Whiskey and Irish are back, and the stakes are higher than ever. After an explosive end to Single Malt (both figuratively and a bit literally), Whiskey and Irish are at a standstill.

Their sex life is hot, but things are casual. Aidan is terrified of getting close to Jamie, the remnants of his past still keeping him from turning their heart eyes and feelings into a permanent relationship. And Jamie's okay with that, or so he tells himself. He knows that Aidan meets up with other guys when he's not with Jamie, but Jamie doesn't want to mess up what they have by telling Aidan he's falling for him. No, instead we have two very stubborn men who keep their feelings bottled up inside.
 
At the FBI, Aidan and Jamie are at the top of their game, but not much closer to finding out who, or why, Aidan, his husband, and his FBI partner were targeted months earlier. The case is moving slowly, and just when they start closing in on the truth, someone stops them from getting too close.

Jamie's been called to go undercover in the one position where no one would suspect him to be undercover, by returning back home to a D2 college to help coach their men's basketball team. The case revolves around betting on the basketball players and both Aidan and Jamie have only days to find out who at the college might be behind it.

I thought this case was easier to follow than the one in Single Malt. Each of the characters are fleshed out a bit more in this story, so when a name comes up as a possible suspect, I didn't have to go hunt down who that person was. I loved the undercover aspect of this story, because we got to see glimpses of a very charming Jamie in front of the camera and the person he might have been in those early days where he wasn't Agent Walker, and was just Whiskey Walker, basketball star. One thing I would love, is if there's an audiobook planned for this, is for there to be a narrator who can pull off Jamie's Southern drawl and Aidan's heavy Irish accent he uses for his undercover role as a sports agent for Jamie.

There are a few characters from Single Malt who make some appearances in this book, those who actually had significant roles in the first book, or those who were just simply mentioned in passing. I think the romance storyline is weaved into the story more than in Single Malt, and I enjoyed reading every bit of Aidan and Jamie's story.

Cask Strength does end with a very shocking cliffhanger that will leave you questioning everything you ever read in this series so far. I'm just beside myself that book three, Barrel Proof, isn't out yet for me to snatch up and read immediately. Cask Strength is out May 1, 2017 and is an exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat read!

***Thanks to Carina Press for providing me an ARC through NetGalley***

I can not wait for the next book in the series.  This book sucked me right in and I finished it in record time.

Cask Strength is the second book in the "Agents Irish and Whiskey" series.  I would not recommend reading it as a standalone, as a lot of the plot from the first book is continued into this one and you would probably be lost.  As with the first book, both agents are working on a new case together, while Jamie also works on the case that ended with Aidan losing his husband and teammate. 

I ended up reading this ARC super early because I couldn't handle waiting to see what happened after the cliffhanger from the first book. And we have another cliffhanger ending...  For some reason I thought this was a duology.  I'm not sure why.  So I ended up being a little bummed when we still don't have some  big things resolved.

I thought the storyline was a little harder to follow this time around.  I had a hard time keeping some of the characters straight between the two cases and it just felt a little messier to me.  I didn't really care for the almost love triangle that popped up in this one, even though I sort of saw it coming when I saw that Jamie was going back to his home state.  But that's more of a personal preference, I'm not a love triangle fan.  I also really hated that Aidan was dating other guys in the beginning because he was trying to keep things casual with Jamie, so he didn't get too attached.  It bothered me because in the first book, he felt so guilty feeling the way he did about Jamie after losing his husband but now he's dating multiple men??  Did I miss something??  I hated having it constantly thrown in our faces too.  

I DID love the chemistry between the two of them.  There were quite a few steamy scenes, even with Aidan being an idiot. (sorry, had to get another dig in there).  We get to see a couple secondary characters from the first book as well; Mel and Danny.  I will definitely be checking out the third book as soon as I can get my hand on it because I am hooked and I need to know what happens!  And now I have to wait for the third book... :sulky face:

*I've included my permalink to my blog post but the post will not go live until closer to release date (5/1).*