Rating: 4.5
Steam: 3
PoV: dual, 1st person
Series: Caffeine Daydreams #3
Genre: contemporary romance, MM
Main tropes: rock star / bodyguard, pining, sexual discovery
You know what happens when you’re starved of attention for your entire childhood, and then someone attractive shows you a drop of kindness?
This. This is what happens.
A fucking obsession that has taken over my entire life.
Oh, how I’d been waiting for Arlo and Jack’s story – I’d been intrigued by them ever since Arlo first appeared in White Noise, and as it turned out, Red Haze was well worth the wait!
I loved how Lark captured the emotions between Arlo and Jack – the chemistry, pining and obsession were all really well portrayed and strongly present through the story. It was easy to feel for Arlo, and seeing him fall for his supposedly straight bodyguard and making some less than stellar decisions made my heart ache. I have to admit I was a little disappointed in how Jack handled some of the things between them, but at the same time I could understand his reasoning and his fear about losing Arlo.
The story was divided into two parts, with a pretty big time skip between. I’m not going to lie, I wanted to yell at both Arlo and Jack for not communicating and pretty much spending FIVE YEARS pouting and pining. There were some outside forces that played a part in them being separated, I won’t name any names but I’ve rarely felt such hatred towards a character as I’ve felt for this one through the series. Still, I wish they’d had some more faith in each other and the other band members than they did, but it was great to see how the guys were there for Arlo once he let them in.
While the first part of the book shared the background of Arlo and Jack, and also made sure I was totally invested in their story, the second part was more suspenseful and showed Jack in full bodyguard mode for most of it. I loved seeing them have some overdue conversations, with the help of a little forced proximity, and finally work things through – even if the circumstances were a bit dire. There were some really strong “it’s always been you” vibes and I’m such a sucker for those… so no complaints here! These two truly belonged together.
Red Haze was overall another fantastic read from Lark Taylor – Arlo and Jack’s story was everything I could have wished for, and I don’t think I put it down a single time while reading. I can’t believe this series is completed – I’ve loved every book and I hope we get the spin-off that was hinted at! If you’re into rock stars, friends to lovers, sexual discoveries and lots of pining, you need to read this series!
Maybe this was my destiny, to love someone I’d never have. Not everyone got their happy ever after. Given the rest of the band had struck gold, it made sense that one of us had to be unlucky in love.
Book links:
Amazon | Goodreads | BookBub
The Secret Librarian 