✨Lucy IntheSky☄️'s Reviews > Hard Target

2.5⭐


It's me who had high expectations, considering I've read all the series connected to this one, so I knew about the setting, what goes on and I knew about the characters.
But now actually reading their stories is another thing, I was way too excited for this.

I did not like this story. For the first half of the book I was cringing all the time, so many things just didn't sit right with me - and the second half was mediocre, it didn't catch my interest, the main love story wasn't good and I just have a really awkward feeling after reading this book.

🟢 Age gap - 11 years
🔵 Size difference
🌶️ Little spice, but good
🟡 Both MMCs are grieving
🟣 Connected to almost all the other series

The story is about Rafi, who's a middle eastern 30-year old man, who's husband Asadi got killed on a mission with Roly from the Wrecked series.
Everett is the 41-year old tattooed hunk who's a tattoo artist, but in fact a hired killer and worked on Asadi's mission.
At the end of the Wrecked series he's hitting on Rafi, but they stay friends and in this book they've been friends for about 6 months, while Rafi is still grieving over his dead husband.

They both like each other, Everett has a complete crush on Rafi and when Rafi wakes up a little bit from his 1 year of grieving, he realizes he likes Everett too and tries to make a move - and this is where my problems with this story begin .

🟣 Rafi has been in baggy clothes, unkept and miserable for quite a while and when he starts trying out different styles, he's being ridiculed left and right. He's a small man, he's cute and even though he's 30, he looks way younger, so I absolutely resented the fact that Everett didn't have one damn nice thing to say about him to lift him up, Rafi was vulnerable and needed those couple of words, so that was my first cringe moment.

Second was when his really good friend Parker laughed at his face and all throughout the book compared him to various bad styles, characters, whatever.



🟡 Rafi was a very educated guy who's had a really precise and hardcore training in terms of guns, defense, operative, you name it, he was really good at his job, an expert and even though he now worked at a University, that doesn't mean all of those credentials flew away.
So I was floored when Everett doubted his abilities, made fun a little bit of how small he is and actively prevented for Rafi to become part of the Guardians team. I mean, it was a total joke, Rafi was a great addition and that should've been clear if those bozos were professionals - by bozos I mean Everett.

🟠 Everett's strong feelings evaporated when he was supposed to tell his great friend Rafi the truth about himself.
Pining over a guy big time and then saying you don't want it in a hearbeat, hurting him and turning him down, because that guy would see you're killing the bad guys for a living. What are you, 12?

🔵 The scene where Rafi puts on nice clothes and goes into the dining room, where they all have dinner, then people making fun of him, the stain of sauce on his shirt, the poor guy I mean, I just felt bad for this MMC all the way, what a terrible story for such a wonderful, amazing character.

Everything Everett did was just me seeing myself throwing something at his stupid face. He was terrible! My god I hated that guy!

It felt like Rafi settled here, I absolutely didn't like Everett, but more than that, I didn't like the way Rafi wasn't appreciated. He was a real catch and when he finally stopped the grieving process and dressed up nice, put on some make up, I really thought the story was going to pick up, because the first 20% wasn't promising at all, but what a disappointment.


I didn't like this story at all and I'm hoping Anders and Omar's will be better.