Friday, August 25, 2017

Pins and Needles by A.J. Thomas


The truth is rarely seen on the surface, and getting to it might mean digging deep…

After a devastating accident and a long stay in the hospital, the last thing petroleum engineer Sean Wilkinson wants to deal with is the settlement the oil company tries to force on him. He’ll never be able to work in his field again, his education is all but useless, and his surgeons are pessimistic about whether he’ll ever walk again. He needs someone in his corner, but most lawyers take one look at his tattoo-covered foster father and turn their backs. It’s just Sean’s luck that the one attorney willing to give him a chance is also the hottest guy he’s ever seen.

As a trial lawyer, Nate Delany has a lot to prove—to his father, the world, and himself. Sean intrigues Nate, and he struggles to reconcile the gifted tattoo artist he can’t stop fantasizing about with the quiet, brilliant engineer. His investigation reveals facts left out of the accident report—including an illicit affair, greedy coworkers, and a vicious corporation that will do anything to protect its bottom line. When Sean’s life is threatened, winning Sean’s case, and his heart, becomes a lot more dangerous.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader☆☆☆☆
M/M Romance
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

I really enjoyed this story. It was complex, but light and all of the characters grew throughout.

Sean is kind of in a dire situation. He spent all of his time working so hard to succeed. He is an amazing tattoo artist and using that skill, he worked his way through college and on to an oil ship. It was short lived though, because he was brutally hurt both physically and emotionally when his limb is severed.

Nate is drowning at his father's firm. He is doing so much work, but because his father doesn't want to be seen as showing favorites, Nate is just being crapped on by the senior partner. When Nate decides that he's had enough, he finds Sean's case – it's complex, contains a lot of rules, and is just up his alley.

Hawk is desperate to find his son help. While Sean is not his biological son, he is his son. Hawk is not what your typical father looks like because he's covered in tattoos. Nate doesn't scare easily and so begins the relationship between Sean and Nate – to figure out what or who was at fault for his accident.

This is a fast-paced story with a lot going on to hide the real culprit. It was well done and I hope that more people in this story get their own books. I loved how Nate's life and Sean's life intertwined and how those characters around them changed and grew.


Sarah☆☆☆☆☆
I loved this story and I really couldn’t put it down. It is a legal thriller in Erin Brockovich/John Grisham style. Sean is a new engineer on an oil ship when he loses his leg in an industrial accident and Nate is the young lawyer who helps Sean sue his employers. When Nate starts to investigate Sean’s company, things get very dangerous very quickly.

This story manages to be fast paced and full of action while also offering complicated insights into diverse topics such as shipping laws, tattooing, underwater fracking, and engineering. I can’t imagine the research that went into this story but the result is absolutely fascinating. The details of Sean’s case unravel slowly and I really enjoyed the whodunnit aspect of the story when Sean’s life is repeatedly threatened.

But beyond the legal story, it is the characters that really bring this book to life. Sean and Nate’s backgrounds couldn’t be more different. Sean is a former street kid who worked his way through his engineering degree as a tattoo artist. After losing his leg, his career is over before it starts and he is forced to rethink the rest of his life. In contrast, Nate is the privileged son of the senior partner in an important law firm. He is desperate to make a name for himself and to prove himself to his dismissive father. Sean and Nate are very different men but their connection to each other is powerful and almost instant. Beyond Nate and Sean’s relationship is Nate’s shaky relationship with his family and the complicated relationship with the father who used to be his boss. And while these two are fabulous leading men, I also loved the many complicated greyscale supporting characters in this story.

As a side note, this book was incredibly thought provoking and made me more grateful than ever for the UK’s National Health Service where patients and medical staff are able to focus on recovery, not money. I was horrified with the way the characters in this story simply accept the American reality that even patients with catastrophic, life changing injuries must fund their own medical care – funding that is so often only achieved through prolonged lawsuits. From an outsider’s perspective, the American health system seems incredibly harsh and unfair.


Angie☆☆☆☆
I enjoyed this book but I will have to admit that at times it was very wordy and I would end up skimming. There was a lot of stuff that I think could have been left out and the integrity of the story wouldn't have been compromised. I did enjoy Nate and Sean, they both came from two totally different sides of the tracks but they just worked together. I felt both of their emotions and it seemed real, not forced. This wasn't insta-love, there was a buildup and it was nice. This book is one of the few that I had hoped would come with pictures. I really wanted to see both of those tattoos. The gift that Nate ends up getting Sean in the last chapter just melted my heart. Good book with a good story.



A.J. Thomas is an award-winning author of m/m romantic suspense. A.J. Thomas writes romantic suspense. She’s earned a Bachelor’s degree in Literature from the University of Montana and worked in a half-dozen different jobs from law enforcement officer to librarian before settling down. Life as a military spouse has tossed her around the country so many times she doesn’t know how to answer when people ask her where she’s from, but she delights in living as a perpetual tourist, visiting new places and discovering amazing things. Her time is divided between taking care of her three young children, experimenting with cooking and baking projects that rarely explode these days, and embarrassing her husband with dirty jokes. When she’s not writing, she hikes, gardens, researches every random idea that comes into her head, and develops complicated philosophical arguments about why a clean house is highly overrated. Her work has won multiple awards, including the 2013 AMB Ovation Award for Best LGBT Inter-racial Romance, and the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Gay Contemporary Fiction.

Connect with A.J.

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https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com


Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Pins and Needles by A.J. Thomas to read and review.

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