READING: Touch & Geaux (Cut & Run #7) by Abigail Roux

Publication date: April 08 2013
Published by: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: MM, Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Suspense, Crime
Rating: 

After having their faces plastered across the news during a high-profile case, FBI Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett have become more useful to the Bureau posing for photo ops than working undercover. Just as Zane is beginning to consider retirement a viable option, Ty receives a distress call from a friend, leading them to a city rife with echoes from the past.

New Orleans wears its history on its streets, and it’s the one place Ty’s face could get him killed. Surrounded by trouble as soon as they land, Ty and Zane are swiftly confronted with a past from which Ty can’t hide—one with a surprising connection to Zane’s.

As threats close in from all directions, both men must come to terms with the lives they’ve led and the lies they’ve told. They soon discover that not all their secrets are out yet, and nothing lasts forever. 

2nd read (Oct 28 2018)

Cue: one long, not-that-frustrated-this-time, sigh.
And the reason for that is because this time around, I was prepared. I knew what was coming and succumbed to the idea of minor cursing and rude gesticulation when reading T&G.

My original thoughts on Touch&Geaux still stand, although given what I know now, I was more sad than angry. After reading Roux's statement in which she basically said that after the departure of Urban she was left with no plans for Zane's character development and that she didn't really know what to do with him, it all kinda fell into place. 

In Touch&Geaux Ty was, once again, the ultimate HERO. Taking bullets left and right, saving everyone, having ex lovers coming out of the woodwork. The whole story revolves around him, all the characters gravitate towards him, the plot is made with him in mind and because of him. All the others are supporting acts, including Zane. That is why Ty&Zane's fight failed to make the impact it was supposed to, because Zane is not seen as Ty's partner, as his equal. He is seen as his side piece. But that was not always the case, and I guess that's what makes it so hard to accept. When did Zane start fading in the background and Ty started shining so blindly he obliterates everyone else? When Ty gave Zane the anchor token, I didn't think that Zane was the one grounding Ty, I thought Zane was actually weighing him down. He appears almost clingy, which is just crazy to me after all the work that had been put into their relationship. So, having that major explosion from Zane after Ty's revelations, is almost comical. Why is he even complaining, right? He should shut up and be grateful to have that young, hot, perfect man by his side. 

Well no, that's not how it works.
Ty hiding all this information from Zane, especially knowing his addictive and self destructive personality, was horrible of Ty, which he recognised a little, before he started getting all "Get over it, Garett." *eyeroll* Yes, Zane had every right to be angry, he had sacrificed so much for Ty.

When he says that he took off his wife's ring for Ty, he just broke my heart!

But on the other hand, Ty was right to tell him that he shouldn't have done all these sacrifices for Ty's sake, but for himself, and I agree. Because if Ty left for any reason, Zane was left with nothing and even worse off than he started. He should have gotten clean for himself and himself alone, he should have gotten past his wife's death for himself and no one else.
But then Ty had a line that made me see red 😡↓

"I can't sit on your pedestal". You fucking created that pedestal and you sat yourself proudly on it! And now that you've fallen off it by your own fault, you get upset by the reaction? Oh, I tell you, if I was Zane, I would have punched him, seriously.

But then everything else he said to Zane made sense and they were actually really sweet. But by the end I was thinking "Wait. Did Ty actually come out on top AGAIN??" The answer is yes, he did. Because Roux loves him, and she's always going to take his side no matter what, and it's so obvious, even though her personal bias shouldn't factor in the books at all.
Ty simply can do no wrong. And then he wonders why Zane put him on a pedestal. Pfft. 

So what is the takeaway from all that drama? That both Ty and Zane said things they weren't proud of and that Zane has to stop looking to Ty for everything, even though Ty had no problem being looked up to all this time. Because that is what Ty attributed Zane's dramatic reaction to his lies, that he depended on Ty too much.
TY LIED. REPEATEDLY. ABOUS SERIOUS STUFF. END OF STORY. Zane looking up to Ty had nothing to do with it, and to imply that it did is such a cheap shot.

I still loved reading a Tane book because I'm a hopeless hardcore fan, but if I'm being honest, after reading T&G I was very disappointed by what this series has become, a series with so much untapped potential and amazing characters :(

1st read (Jun 29 2018)

I'll begin the way all reviews for this book begin, I'm pretty sure: one long, frustrated sigh.

After drooling all over Stars&Stripes-no regrets!-I was so excited to read about my boys again. Especially since my sister warned me that something very important and heartbreaking happens in book 7. So, naturally, I was super curious and I thought what's more heartbreaking than someone close to them dying? Someone is dying in this, right? That's what I thought.
Then I started reading.
After the first scene with the photoshoot, which was admittedly more far fetched than the tiger in S&S (I mean, come on), I eased into the story, excited to read about my boys living it up in New Orleans.
I don't know if I've expressed enough how much I dig Nick, because I kinda love him. So, him being involved was definitely a bonus for me. 
All good so far, right? Right. 
I was hyper aware of everything that would give away who was dying, but my sister put me out of my misery and told me I was way off. That, and getting the whole New Orleans voodoo and magic vibe, I was pretty sure Ty had been cursed by his ex to be disgusted by Zane, or something like that. That would be devastating to Zane, for sure, especially if they couldn't find a cure blah blah
Then I read a bit more and this very twisted idea got stuck in my head: Ty was married and he never told Zane! I didn't think the specifics through obviously, but I had this sense of dread that I would be proven right. That would outright kill Zane. And me, quiet possibly. 
Then I read some more.
Turns out 1. I have a big and strange imagination and 2. none of the above happened.
When Ty revealed secret number 1, I was thinking "yeah, it's kind of a big thing, he should have told Zane, especially when things between them are so serious etc." but I didn't think it was THAT big of deal to make any significant impact. 
When he revealed secret number 2, I felt the same. At first.
I was bit taken aback because I didn't expect anything of the sort, but then I thought "wow, that's big". But again, big in a sense that it was too much to spring on to someone all at once. Especially to someone that trusts you blindly and thinks you are his entire world. Understandably in the beginning I was a bit underwhelmed by the revelation, but then reading Zane's reaction I thought "hold on, Zane is right: it is a huge deal, and he should be furious and smashing stuff all over the place".
But then again, I felt for Ty too (only a little, mind you) because Zane told him and did to him some horrible things that I don't know if I could personally ever forgive. But then again Zane was right to tell him all that, because Ty screwed up big time.
To cut a long story short, for the majority of the book I was going back and forth, debating who is right and who is wrong, something that generated some very interesting discussions with my sister, which I thoroughly enjoyed. 
So, even though Zane was breaking my heart slowly and painfully with every page, I kept reading and reading.
All this preamble actually has a point and I'm about to make it: I am trying to show you how emotionally invested a reader gets, especially a full blown Tane addict as I am, and how absolutely freaking frustrating it is for me when the resolution of something presented as such a huge deal 

Zane calling Ty a coward, telling him they're through and all that, IS actually a huge deal for books based solely on a romantic relationship

is so so poorly constructed. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I couldn't believe that after all the threats, the drinking, the brutal beatings and all things detrimental to any relationship, these two just made up after an unacceptably short period of time. Just like that. Not only Zane shouldn't have forgiven that easily no matter how much in love he was, Ty shouldn't forgive him either! Of course, I didn't want them to break up and be heartbroken for ever but Jeez, just make it a little bit more realistic. You don't have to put these two together ALL THE TIME to write about their relationship. They apparently needed to work stuff out, just give them some space. It has happened a couple of times in previous books, but then I brushed it off because even though it was equally frustrating, it wasn't as important as in this one. I don't want to take any jabs at Roux's writing, but I would love to see her take more risks with it and not just play it safe. To me personally, it was so damn annoying, it ruined the rest of the book. Even when 

Ty urged Zane to be by himself for a while and learn to live without him (the most sincere and mature words they had ever spoken), was nowhere near as emotional a scene as it should be, it was a very quick and Zane living by himself, even quicker.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you gamble in big revelations and severe changes in relationship dynamics after 7 books, you should know how to handle your characters. Otherwise, the changes leave no impression and they lose their significance and then what is really the point?

Did I love reading about Ty and Zane? Of course I did, I'm a hardcore fan, I never denied it. And as a hardcore fan I might have lost my objectivity a little, but not so much that I cannot recognise that Touch&Geaux was, if not badly written, dangerously careless with the character development, making me one very cranky reader.