Another excellent story by Layla Reyne! No matter what she writes it is always a story that captures your attention and keeps it from beginning to end! I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, the characters are unique and multi-layered and the plot twists kept me guessing.

5 Stars

If you have not read this series, the Irish & Whiskey series, or the Trouble Brewing series, I don’t recommend starting here. There are several characters from those series who appear here, including side characters. Additionally, the antagonist in this book is one we’ve seen before, and without that story arc information, you might be a bit lost.

Brax and Holt have been circling each other since book one and obviously, they had history. I’m glad we got a peek at the history and what they mean to each other, but I would have liked to see more time with them together.

I still love the dynamic between the twins (Holt and Hawes) and their sister Helena.

There were several times during the story I was confused by what was happening…and I’ve read all the above-mentioned books. I do like the crossover characters’ appearances but there was so much going on we didn’t get much from them.

I was also very confused by the ending…I’m assuming it is a hint for a future story or series. If we have the same casts of characters, I’m definitely in.

I have been waiting for this book since Holt and Brax's relationship was teased in the first Fog City trilogy and it was definitely worth the wait! As a sucker for friends-to-lovers stories, I appreciated the pages devoted to seeing how they met and their relationship developed. I was a little afraid we'd miss that since they already know each other in the earlier books. I absolutely adore everything about how open Holt is with Brax. I also appreciated that the ex-wife is portrayed as supportive. Given her history in the previous books, it would have been really easy to turn her into an evil caricature. The way she was portrayed was so much more layered. As much as I enjoyed this one, I'm really sad to see the end of this great series!

Silent Knight was a fantastic story!! The emotional connection between Holt and Brax is what made this story for me. The action scenes were exciting and the mysteries are complex and were really intriguing.
I highly recommend this series and this author!! Layla Reyne has an amazing gift of storytelling!!

I LOVED this. It was amazing but I'm a fan of Layla Reyne so that's not a surprise.
I really liked the way this was written because it helped us understand both Holt and Brax as characters before we see them as a couple.
The pinning here... omg!!! It was so painful to read but I love it!
This was a fantastic addition to the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange of an honest review.

Wow this was very entertaining. Highly recommend it.

This is one of those books that I couldn’t wait to read, but was dreading at the same time. Of course I’ve felt that way whenever one of my favorite series has come to an close (and this author has made me feel that way more than once.) As bittersweet as this ending to Fog City was, it couldn’t have come to a more satisfying close or ended with a more perfect couple.

The series began centered around Hawes and Dante/Chris in the first three books – Prince of Killers, King Slayer and A New Empire. In each of these books readers got to know not only the main characters, but Helena, Holt and Brax. Although I was happy that the story continued and Helena and Celia got their HEA, I was really excited when I found out that Holt was next. After all he had been through, it made sense that he would be the last of the Madigans to find the happiness he deserved. That didn’t make the wait any easier or the torture even less, especially while reading Queen’s Ransom.

Although readers knew that Holt and Brax had a history, their past was laid out in the beginning chapters of Silent Knight. Pretty much the first half of the book is told from Brax’s POV and it was both beautiful and heartbreaking. Their relationship seemed doomed from the start. Even a friendship between an officer and an enlisted man was frowned upon when they met. Brax would take what he could get though, even though it nearly broke him. Getting into Brax’s head, in both the past and the present, helped readers understand where he was coming from. It didn’t help Holt or his family understand why someone so close to them seemed to be pulling away. It’s a good thing that the Madigans were tenacious. They protected family above everything else, and Brax was family, whether he admitted it or not.

There was so much to love about Silent Knight. There was love and betrayal, loss and hope, acceptance and loyalty, along with some healing. The sense of family was first and foremost – and the Madigans gained a LOT of family during the course of the Fog City series. There were a lot of familiar faces from previous books and series, which kind of gives me hope that we haven’t seen the last of the Madigans. 😉

This is my first book by this author and i wasn't sure what to think of the premise. I received it as a free book to review but that has never affected my opinion.

So first- the bad. I'm not fond of books that talk a lot about partners as if one person is tiny and needs to be protected and the other is the big protector- as someone who is very short, and yet can be fierce, i find that stereotype old and tired. When this began, i felt it going down that road in the beginning and i wasn't impressed. Except there was a twist, and the one who needs protecting and is more vulnerable, at least in the beginning, is not the smaller man.

There were other parts that maybe would have read better in another world where rich people breaking the rules, and getting away with it, wouldn't make me feel as sick as it does right now.

I enjoyed the writing and world-building. All in all, a decent book. But yes- there were a few points when i wanted to tell the author that the way she was writing the main characters felt more paternal than romantic. That grey may be sexier than black and white, but is just a cheap excuse for benefiting from the pain of others. Still, all in all, a mostly enjoyable read.

This is the book I have been waiting for in this series. We get the complete insight into Brax and Holt's relationship from the first day of their meeting. Finally ever most debate we get the heated relationship that we were looking forward to through out the series. Loved that their baby girl called Brax BABA! Highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a romantic suspense series.


<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56873227-silent-knight" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Silent Knight (Fog City, #5)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611884456l/56873227._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56873227-silent-knight">Silent Knight</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16173105.Layla_Reyne">Layla Reyne</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3862082208">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is the book I have been waiting for in this series. We get the complete insight into Brax and Holt's relationship from the first day of their meeting. Finally ever most debate we get the heated relationship that we were looking forward to through out the series. Loved that their baby girl called Brax BABA! Highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a romantic suspense series.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14553820-cheryl">View all my reviews</a>

I LOVED this last book in the series soo much! It really was the perfect ending, and I have to say that the last two books, this one and QUEEN’S RANSOM, are my favourites ❤️🏳️‍🌈

It’s hard to review and talk details about the last book in a series without spoiling, but what I can say is that the writing was great as always when it comes to Layla’s books, and I love the whole Madigan family so much! And, once again, all the great and important LGBTQIA+ representation 🏳️‍🌈❤️ In this one we get gay and demisexual rep (I would also consider Holt pansexual as well as demi) among the two main characters, but even more rep among the rest of the cast 🏳️‍🌈❤️

I recommend this whole series with my whole book-nerdy heart! If you’re looking for queer romance, with great and diverse representation and with a LOT of action, then you need to pick these books up! Layla truly never disappoints me ❤️ My bisexual darling Cam, from the ”Irish and Whiskey”-verse, will always be my fave among Layla Reyne’s characters, but Celia and Helena, as well as Holt and Brax, has definitely taken up spots close to Cam now 😉 And I can’t wait to read all of Layla’s coming books and fall in love with more of her beautiful characters!

This is the 5th book in Fog City and I don't think you can read it without having read at least the first 3. You could probably easily skip the 4th since not a lot happens in that books that effects the overall story line. From the very beginning their was just something about Brax that I loved and felt a bit sorry for. I always wondered how he ended up being a police captain in love with a criminal. I couldn't wait to get to their book.

The first part of this book is done in Brax's POV and takes place years earlier when Brax meets Holt when he enlists in the military. We get to see the relationship grow and the strong friendship that sprouts between these two. Some readers may think the flashback goes on way to long - it's a little more than 1/3 of the book but for me it was perfect! It gives us the history between Brax and Holt and explains so much about how Brax ended up as a police captain involved with someone from a criminal family. It also gives us that foundation for the relationship which is very important since Holt is demisexual. We see him figure that out and how it effects him and how he ended up married even though we (readers) know how much he loves Brax.

Their love story spans 14 years and their is so much UST and heartbreak for Brax that I couldn't wait for him to get his happy ending. The first part of this book was a 5 star read for me!

The second part unfortunately revolved more around the plot and who was after Brax. I pretty much knew who was pulling the strings from the beginning so I was interested to see how it would all be resolved BUT I wanted more on the relationship side between Brax and Holt. They just don't get enough page time together IMO and I wanted to really see the transition from best friends to lovers. It felt a bit rushed so that we could get back to the plot and tie everything up in a pretty bow.

Finally, the epilogue was VERY frustrating for me. It skipped past about a year and (view spoiler) and had a scene with Mel and Brax. Holt wasn't even in the epilogue! It really felt like it was a scene purely to generate interest in a spin off series. I'll read a spin off series but I don't need an epilogue to do that - I want a sweet, romantic epilogue between Brax and Holt (especially since they didn't get a lot of that in this book). If you want to plug a spin off (and I'm not 100% sure that's what this was about just my thoughts) then after the scene after the epilogue with Brax and Holt.
Overall I loved the way the story tied up the loose ends, I loved the beginning of the book, and of course I loved seeing Brax and Holt get their happy ending. So 4 stars overall since I was just a bit disappointed with how much page time the relationship got in the second half of the book.

Long may Layla reign! I so loved this series (actually all her series). It's always good to keep in touch with old friends. Looking forward to any spin-off with great anticipation.

Thanks Layla and Netgalley. I wouldn't have made it to May!
Posted to Goodreads and Netgalley

I was really looking forward to this one and I *did* enjoy it overall, but as is the case with so many of Rayne's book, this one just went off the rails for me.

I was PRIMED to love this book based on the glimpses we got of Colt and Brax's relationship in the earlier books, but I just don't feel like the author delivered. To start off, the first 1/3 of the book is essentially told in flashbacks starting from when Colt & Brax first meet each other and showing important moments between them up until the present timeline. While I appreciated getting a bit more context for their relationship, this felt <i>super</i> clunky. Starting the first 30% of your book entirely with past memories to catch up your reader just felt like a really inelegant solution and it might have worked okay if this was the first book in the series, but because we already know these characters and have an idea of tensions between them from the previous books, having SO much past memory stuff before we can get to the actual present storyline totally killed the momentum and wasn't the most auspicious of starts.

THEN we finally get to the present timeline, where we know, from the previous book, that Colt and Brax have essentially been on the outs for about a year since shit went down in the original trilogy, and ending in a big blowout between them about 3 months ago that resulted in them basically not speaking at all. And then... none of that is ever satisfyingly addressed. Holt just basically decides to make Brax talk to him again and Brax basically gives in with little resistance and it was the world's most unsatisfying resolution to a year-long strugglefest I've ever read. There was zero tension or really meaningful back and forth and it made the whole thing feel very manufactured.

And THEN we get to what I think is one of Rayne's biggest weaknesses, which is her tendency to go WAY overboard on the plot to the point of nonsense. I'm all for a thriller and plot twists and some actual interesting plot to go with my romance, but this was all over the place. Way too many characters and just a lot of jumbled information that made my eyes totally glaze over in confusion and boredom. I know fans of multi-verses will love the little cameos from her other series, but though I read/enjoyed them, I actually found the fact that basically every character she's ever written shows up in this one to be exhausting and, again, felt very forced.

Which makes it sound like I disliked the book, and I didn't! I really enjoyed Brax and Holt as characters, and their relationship was lovely, but I wanted <i>more</i> of it. I wanted a little less focus on a zany plot and more time and care into developing the move from friends to more. There was SO much that could have been really explored here, and though the author touches on these elements, such the tension between Brax's job as police chief and Holt's role in a crime family, it's all so surface-level that it left me ultimately feeling unsatisfied. The happy ending was great, but I didn't really feel like I got to see them work hard enough at it to feel truly satisfied. Which is maybe why I'm rating it a bit lower than the rest of the books in the series--I think it's probably about on par with them, but this story was so up my alley and had so much potential I felt more let down by it than by the others. I still generally enjoyed it, and I'd still recommend for fans of the series.

The fifth installment in this series finally sees Holt and Brax's romance. I was excited to dive into this and see their romance.

The first part was excellent, definitely a 5 star read for me. I loved the set up their romance. The friendship as their foundation for love. See as Holt is demisexual, their had to be that strong foundation for the love to come.

And it says something of how strong their love is for how long Brax waited for Holt. Their love story truly does span over 14 years before they truly get together.

Seeing how they fell in love was amazing, even though Holt doesn't realize he's in love with Brax for the longest time. And seeing the missed opportunities for more between them sucked, although in the end they do get Lily, Holt's daughter in the end, which makes the wait worth it to them. Who is totally also Brax's daughter as well, lbr.

But the second part dragged a little for me. I wasn't a fan of how much it focused on the plot and less on these two. I was frustrated when these two were barely having any scenes. I don't know why SO much was focused on plot and what was going on with Brax and such and so much less on them and their romance.

I know their love story was happening for 14 years, but Holt *was* married to someone else for years and all, so I would have liked to see a better, more detailed transition from these two being in that best friend zone into lovers. And also once they did get there I just wanted more scenes with them. Not even necessarily sex scenes - although more than 3 in the entire book would have been nice - but just scenes with them being together and in love. I didn't feel we got enough of that. Hence rounding down to 4 stars.

Also added to that was the ending, which <spoiler>wasn't that strong, IMO. It's basically the epilogue and we don't even see Holt in it! This frustrated me and really made for a weak ending. Plus, we just skip the whole....ya know, Holt and Brax getting married thing. I would have much rather had THAT be the epilogue than a few pages of Brax and Mel talking about a new business they'll start. Like...what? It's so unsatisfying, especially when these two waited so long to be together, we as the reader waited so long for them to be together, and then we don't even get to see their wedding or them together in the epilogue? No thanks.</spoiler>

So because of those two main frustrations, the second have of this book was more a 3 star read for me. Still strong moments in that second half, still interesting at times, but it just was missing something that the first half wasn't - which is basically the lack of Holt and Brax time we get on page. It was so unsatisfying to get so much less with them when all I wanted was more. I loved these two together, I enjoyed them so much, so to get less after falling in love with them in the first part? Definitely lowered my enjoyment of this.

So it evens out to 4 stars for me. A strong first half, a fairly weaker second half. Which is not even the main couple's fault, Holt and Brax continued to be awesome, it was just their story in the second half almost taking a back seat to the plot, which I didn't care for as much as them.

Also, I didn't read the fourth book in this series, and I don't think I was missing too much - except, apparently, Hawes and Chris' wedding - so if you also didn't read the 4th book and skipped to this one, then don't worry about missing anything too important in order to read this one.

So overall, a solid 5th installment, and I absolutely loved these two together. But a, in my opinion, disappointing second half overall, doesn't make this a perfect read, and it could have been better. Still a solid read, and Holt and Brax are perfect together, and perfect for each other.

Would still recommend, definitely.

This was the last book in the Fog City series and what a great ending it was!

Brax, chief of police, and Holt, a digital assassin, met 14 years ago in the army. Brax fell for Holt immediately but being 16 years older tries really hard not to act upon it. They become best friends and do everything to protect one another. But one night they both give in and have a one wonderfull night. After that, they each go their separate ways but always stay in touch, Brax even becoming chief of police in Holt's hometown.

When Brax is targeted because of Holt, Holt steps up and does everything he can to protect the man he's come to love.

I've been waiting for Brax and Holt's book for ages and it certainly was everything I wished for: lots of action and an epic love story.

Very highly recommended.

A huge thank you to the author and Netgalley for this ARC!!

*Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

This 5th book in the Fog City series is about Braxton Kane, a former Army Officer who is now an police chief and Holt Madigan, a former enlisted man who worked under Barx, and is part of a family of assassins'. Brax is 16 years older than Holt and he has always been hesitant to push for more.

Brax has carried a torch for Holt for 14 years, and except for one night before their lives went separate ways, they have been "just friends". They have had a great relationship, but now things are changing and there is a possibility that Holt is involved in some criminal activity that could make everything come crumbling down.

This book was full of deep connection and love between these two men, even when nothing romantic is happening, it is clear that there is very strong feelings between them. We start the story 14 years in the past, and we grow with both of them through their interactions over the years. Sometimes just text messages and phone calls.

This book was chalk full of near misses and so much longing. If the angst and pining is something you love, this will be right up your alley.

However, for me, this was a bit too much backstory and not enough in current life. The characters are never on the same page and the relationship doesn't get enough place to breathe.

The few love scenes we do get are beautiful and wonderful, and I did love the charity that Holt was involved in and how he explains his sexual epiphany in the story.

Overall, I kind of just felt "meh" about it. I don't know if reading the whole series would have helped or not? I do know there is a Sapphic romance earlier in the series that I want to try for sure.

3/5 Pining Stars for me.

What an ending to this series that I am sorry it had to come to an end! Holt and Brax's story has been long awaited and I was not disappointed in it at all!

In this final installment of this series, we get to see this pair's past and the link that they have to each other as well as a better understanding of the feelings that neither Holt or Brax expressed to the other at the beginning of their tale.

This was an action packed story that ties up a lot of loose ends to this series. We also get to see some of the main players from the Irish and Whiskey series as well as the Trouble Brewing series even though their appearances are brief it was a nice tie in.

Overall, it was a great read that I enjoyed from the start. It was also nice to see what made Holt tick other than his devotion to his daughter Lily and his family but that Brax also drove him as well. Brax and his 'secret' feelings for Holt and his behind the scenes care and protection/support of him even when he was across the world shows where he stood with his friend. In the end, I would recommend this book and series to others.

Romance and suspense! I love it.

This was a great book for adding a little something extra to a romance. It was different from usual romance book and I applaud it for that. It added some danger and oh nos! to the whole situation which left you wondering what will happen, but that's the fun of it!

I love the main characters relationship so much. You can sense the connection between them and it's beautiful and amazing to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Valentine PR for the earc in return for an honest review.

What starts a small spark between two men that cannot be known turns into so much more when Brax promises himself that he will protect Holt no matter the cost. Putting himself in harms way to make sure he hold up to that promise only connects the two further. But after his enlistment is over and Brax can no longer physically be there to protect him, their connection never waivers and it becomes years of texts, chats and calls. But when secrets are revealed and proximity is no longer a problem can the two reunite? And when they do - who is now protecting who? With great characters and a fast paced storyline this was a great read. The reader will not only fall in love with Holt and Brax but with the other characters as well.

Silent Knight was everything I wanted and more! I love the Fog City series and, from early on, I've been intrigued by Holt and Brax's friendship and was hoping to learn more about them. This book delivered their long awaited story and it is so good!! The story starts when Brax first meets Holt in Afghanistan and follows them through 14 years of friendship, through the many trials and celebrations in their lives. No matter what happens - being apart, revelations about Holt's family, even Holt's marriage - their bond is unshakeable.

While I always love a romantic love story, I especially love that this is a solid best friends to lovers story, in part because Holt is demi. As an aroace person, I was really pleased with the representation in the book and how Holt's relationship with Brax gradually shifted as his feelings for his best friend changed. It was subtle and sweet and really well done! I also appreciated that, in their long years of friendship, neither Holt or Brax got lost to jealousy, even when Holt got married. Getting both of their points of view was so special, and I liked that Brax's chapters covered the start of their relationship and Holt's chapters picked up the current storyline. It definitely showed both of their strengths and the way they support each other during different times in their lives.

I could keep gushing about how much I love the characters but I'll also add that this story was every bit as exciting as the others in the Fog City series! It ties together loose ends and brings in all the other characters, including ones from the other series set in the same universe (Trouble Brewing, Agents Irish and Whiskey). This was an extremely satisfying conclusion to a great series, one that I'm already planning to revisit!