Hard Target (Wrecked: Guardians # 1) by Kelly Fox

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Everett: There are a ton of reasons why falling for my tiny, adorkable best friend is a terrible idea—starting with the body in my trunk.

I have other reasons—he still mourns his late husband, I’m way older, he’s a foot shorter, my tattoo shop is a front, he’s an assistant professor at UT.

Still, I can’t help but think we’d be perfect for each other if I didn’t kill people (very, very bad people) for a living.

 

Rafi: How the f*ck did I not realize how hot my best friend is? Yeah, grief, or whatever, but were my eyes not working?

Silver fox, check. Tattooed hotness, check. Cuddles with me on Monday nights while we watch Australian melodramas, check. Says he’s not a good person but totally is, check.

New goal: Get Everett to stop looking at me like a grieving widower and start seeing me as someone he’d like to pin against the wall.

 

Now if I only knew what was behind the door marked Portal to Nowhere…

Hard Target is a mercenary MM romance set in Austin and the Texas Hill Country. It features tattooed hotties, adorably complicated twinks, best friend antics, an illegally confiscated vineyard, and a team of killer do-gooders.

This is the first book in the Wrecked: Guardians Series. Several characters from the Wrecked series make an appearance, but the Guardians books can be read as stand-alones. 

My Rating - 4 Stars!

Kelly Fox's Hard Target is a good hurt/comfort read. Kelly Fox once again packs a lot of emotion into this story. 

Rafi and Everett are two men who come together under horrific circumstances, but have now grown close to one another. They are complex men with complex backgrounds. They are good friends who have a strong connection and intense attraction to one another. 

This story follows Rafi's painfully slow revelation and acceptance of his feelings for his best friend. Everett is a lot of fun to get to know. As for Rafi, oh god, his grief is front and center, as he's dealing with the death of his ex.

This is a story with grief, guilt, and pain. And oh dear lord, Rafi talking to his dead husband is one hell of an emotional aspect of this tale.  

I love the age gap and the size difference between the men. Dear god, I can just picture them together. Swoon.

Written in alternating 1st person pov, the men fully come alive. Every emotion, every thought is right there for the reader to feel. The writing is fabulous, the characters intriguing, and the storyline compelling. The author does a great job combining some humor with some darker subjects, as Everett has a quick trigger finger. I definitely enjoyed that. 

Hard Target is an entertaining romance. Kelly Fox combines friends to lovers with a size difference and a whole lot of healing. The story is definitely worth a read when you're in the mood for a tough journey from friends to lovers.