Adam, of course, is really Aiden. Karl is being investigated by the FBI because the person he sold his PMC to is going rogue and the FBI wants to know if Karl is involved in or masterminding the violence and/or if he’ll testify against the current owner of the company. But this is where this book might hit many people’s squick buttons. Aiden has sex with Karl as Adam. He actually thinks at one point:

He loved his partner Scott. Loved him and would never cheat on him. This didn’t count; it was for work, and it wasn’t like Aiden had wanted it. Hell, on the one hand, it was almost possible to convince himself that he wasn’t even the one who’d been fucked by Blake. That had been Adam Marshall, after all. The only thing Aiden Russell had done that day was go to work. That his job had required he stand with his pants around his ankles was irrelevant. Besides, Blake had worn a condom. It’d been safe. That was all that mattered, and Scott never had to know about it.

Sure, he’s working hard to convince himself here, but still…this might be a problem for some readers. It’s only when his emotions get involved that he starts to feel guilty about it. *I* thought the slow movement into love and the hints about Aiden’s relationship with Scott going sour were well-done enough to work. But I have more…let’s just say, more liberal opinions when it comes to cheating than many romance readers. The inevitable break-up with Scott is dealt with in slightly deus ex machina fashion to make us sympathetic to all concerned, but Aiden does cheat on his partner, he does acknowledge that he’s cheating, and he feels guilty about it, but not guilty enough to stop.  Readers, do with that what you will.

This issue aside, this story is told from the alternating third person deep point of view of both Aiden and Karl. You do a great job of showing Aiden falling for Karl and Karl falling for both Adam and later, after the reveal just more than halfway through, Aiden.  What gets to Aiden, what makes him cheat on Scott emotionally, is how well Karl jumps on all his sexual buttons. Karl is a top and Aiden is a bottom. Both of them like sex hard and fast, pushing boundaries, and slightly painful. I wouldn’t say this book tips over into full-on BDSM at any point. But there is a strong power dynamic during the sex scenes that both Aiden and Karl revel in. Their sexual compatibility draws the men together, but they discover that they get along well in other aspects of life, too. And, oh my stars and garters, the sex is hot:

Three fingers hurt, but Karl’s mouth was open, waiting, and Aiden arched his hips obediently, pushing inside it, then pulled back to grind helplessly against the fingers inside him because as much as he wanted the wet heat of Karl’s mouth, he needed the burn in his ass more. It scratched every itch he had to be filled so painfully, to be so perfectly possessed. Even if two of the fingers were his, they were moving at Karl’s command, back and forth, pushing deeper.

Karl let Aiden’s cock rub against his cheek, leaving it damp. The sun was rising now, light sifting into the room through a window whose curtains were only half-drawn. "Still feel good?" Karl asked, his finger working in and out slowly. Aiden could feel it rub against his fingers, and the knowledge of what they were doing together sent a shudder through him, shame and lust competing for supremacy.

God, it hurt and it felt so good, and after a sex life in which he’d usually been the one in control, being Karl’s puppet felt shockingly right. He didn’t want it to stop. He let himself fuck Karl’s mouth with a lazy abandon that was like drifting, floating, and for one incredible moment, he didn’t care if he ever came. He just wanted to stop time right then and there.

I liked how you have Karl deal with the revelation of Aiden’s real job. He’s pissed that he’s been played. He’s worried he’s losing his edge. He’s confused about the difference between Adam and Aiden. And he has to learn to like Aiden more than he liked Adam. He’s in lust with Adam, but he falls in love with Aiden. But he’s not stupid about the “betrayal” of what Aiden did. Karl is pragmatic and once he gets passed his initial outrage, he understands Aiden’s position and even appreciates how well Aiden did his job. And I also love how, when they’re on a stake-out together, they don’t have sex all over the place. They’re working, so…they work.

But this is actually a problem with the narrative arc. The first two-thirds of the book are intense. Adam/Aiden and Karl have a lot of hardcore sex and it’s brilliantly described and very very hot. Aiden has his job and it creates the suspense of when Karl will figure things out and how he’ll deal with it. Once Karl does figure things out, there’s the emotional entanglements and suspense of his reaction. But once they’ve settled into the resolution of the suspense plot of the novel (bringing down the guy who bought Karl’s company), the novel itself loses some of its intensity, precisely because Aiden and Karl act like professionals and don’t fuck like bunnies while on the job. But I did appreciate Karl having to figure out how to treat Aiden, the more mature, educated professional, differently from the way he treated and protected Adam, his young, uneducated gardener.

So while the tension felt off during the final third of the book, the fact that these characters are so well-built, so internally consistent, so real, and the fact that they actually acted like people who are good at their jobs almost made up for it.

Readers: if you can deal with the cheating and want a truly character-driven story that’s extremely well-written, you can’t do much better than this book, ridiculous title and cover or no.

It’s hard for me to like a character who cheats, so the fact that I was able to not just get over it, but end up loving Aiden is a testimony to how good the story and characterization in Truthful Change are. Aiden deceives Scott, Karl, and himself. At first, I wanted to hate him for it, except his actions have merit, and Karl is not just a hook up. Plus, Scott has secrets of his own. The story is less about Aiden cheating and more about him finding himself, though. The process he has to go through to find the perfect man for him is very erotic and meaningful. Karl’s personality, Aiden’s plight, the hot rough sex, and the mission they have to accomplish, intensify with every page. Karl says what he means, and he means what he says. There are no pretences with him. It’s his best and worst quality, and it’s that hard-edged bluntness that I found so endearing. Aiden takes responsibility for his actions – good, bad, or indifferent, and I respect him for that. He’s a good guy who got stuck between the occasional rock and hard place. The sex in Truthful Change is an integral part of the story and not just because it’s plentiful and hot. It helps express the complicated dynamics of who Karl and Aiden are and what makes them tick. It’s very well written plus packed with emotion. Truthful Change is an excellent and expertly penned story.

Before I begin, I just want to point out that there is a sort of spoiler to do with the first part of the book in this review. The reveal happens so early on (p27), and the rest of the book is so dependent on it, that I can’t avoid it in this review. If you are going to read this book and really don’t want to know, then I suggest you stop reading here. Otherwise carry on!

Karl is a ex-mercenary, forced to retire at 37 due to a bullet in the leg. After selling his company to what turns out to be a ruthless colleague, Karl settles into his new life cushioned by the profits from looted diamonds. Aiden is an undercover FBI agent sent to find out whether Karl still has connections to his former unit, now gone rogue under the new owner. Part of his job is to gain Karl’s trust through seduction, something that Aiden feels uncomfortable about, especially because he is in a relationship with another man, Scott. Aiden tries desperately to divorce his work from his home life, but when it turns out that Karl can give him what Scott cannot – rough demanding sex – Aiden is torn between his duty to Scott and their dull sex life or the new, exciting relationship he is finding with Karl. Added to that is the fact that Karl thinks that Aiden is Adam, his shy and sweet new gardener and Aiden is looking at a whole heap of lies and trouble.

Those of you who cannot tolerate infidelity in their books have probably already stopped reading. The first part of the book does involve Aiden ‘cheating’ on Scott, his doctor lover. I didn’t mind this because it was obviously part of his job, plus it also caused a fair amount of anguish in Aiden. Another reason why it didn’t bother me was because it isn’t long before it becomes obvious that Aiden and Scott are not suited to each other. Aiden is an engaging hero, he’s young enough within the bureau that he’s still a bit green and willing to put himself forward, but he’s also got enough experience to be a convincing actor in his role as Adam. I liked the way that the authors showed the switch in Aiden as he adopted his role, and also how ‘Adam’ can still be seen later in the book once he becomes Aiden again. I wasn’t sure at first whether I would like Karl. There’s a brashness about him which I found quite abrasive at first. His former occupation also isn’t the most sympathetic, nor is that fact that he has skirted the edges of what is lawful. Having said that, after a while I did find myself warming to him. I think it helped that he wasn’t infallible, both by being fooled by ‘Adam’ and physically with his healing leg wound; and that generally he’s got a sense of what is morally right, even if he turns a blind eye to illegalities.  Karl also has a delightful dry sense of humour and to my surprise I began to enjoy the parts from Karl’s point of view more than I did Aiden’s.   The two men complemented each other, and not just sexually, as both men find what they need in the other – in Karl’s case something to focus on and take away his boredom, and in the case of Aiden an opening up to a new way of life. The book worked at its best when the focus was on the two heroes, their blossoming relationship, and the fall out from all the lies that build as the book progresses. I enjoyed following this relationship, the surprise that both men feel about how well they get on, and how compatible they are sexually, and felt that the romance was the strongest part of the book.

Towards the end of the book, the plot moves away from focusing on the two men and Aiden’s growing discomfort about Scott into a more action based suspense plot. Whilst this still worked, I did feel that the last part of the book dragged a little as other characters are brought in. The final action piece was exciting but didn’t quite fit with what had been quite an emotionally intense, rather than action, book up to that point. This is only a minor niggle though, and I expect that some readers will like that the plot widened out from being focused just on the heroes, as it did provide a variety of setting and allow Aiden and Karl to see each other with the blinkers off.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed Truthful Change. I like books which focus on character development and there was certainly a lot of that in this book. The sex scenes are a little rough in nature, but as that is the whole point of Karl and Aiden’s sexual relationship, then I felt that worked, especially as the way they explore that side of their sexual kinks was an interesting and unusual concept. If you’re not bothered by infidelity, or characters who spend time lying to each other, and you like strong, but fallible, characters and engaging plots then this book is for you.

Karl, at first glance, does not seem to be the hero type. But as I got to know more about him, who he was, I could see that he’s pretty much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy. He’s up front and honest even if he’s more than a little blunt. But he’s trying to learn to live without the adrenaline rush that he’s so used to.
Fortunately for him, his new gardener’s not only the type to appeal to him, he’s a surprising challenge… and, although Karl likes this to go his own way, he is always up for discovering just what makes this young man tick.

Adam is far more than he appears; that’s par for the course. But, at the same time, we discover that he, while trying to be someone else, lets a lot of his real self out… of course Karl is just the type of man that brings out Adam’s hidden desires and needs. Adam has far more to learn, especially about himself, than he could have ever anticipated. And it ends up his work is the least of it.

And that is part and parcel why the story is sooo addictive; you never really know what’s going to be coming around the corner.
There are many different kinds of tension and Jane Davitt and Alexa Snow have tapped into all of them and fed it to us a bit at a time. Although there were times I wanted to have a little more on the spoon – NOW – they get me glued to the pages.

Definitely a character driven story, with plenty of action – okay, yes I mean *that* kind – but there’s also an element of Action / Adventure and a dash of Thriller. Absolutely lovely!

I think what these two authors do well is the power dynamic between their characters. How they portray their more submissive boys, like Aiden really resonates. He’s ballsy, clever and incredibly in control of himself, but you get the feeling that despite being in a relationship that there’s a missing something in his life. I also like that submissive doesn’t somehow mean less. This pisses me off in books that have a BDSM flavor, and while this novel was not hard core, there is a definite whiff of D/s. Karl was such a great character, pretty blokey, stoic and knows what he wants. He also has a predilection for leaving bite marks that I appreciated hugely. Nom.

Often we talk about world building in relation to a fantasy or sci fi novel, but I think this is equally important in a contemporary novel. I liked how most of the scenes are set either within Karl’s house, the garden or Aiden/Adams apartments and their stake out. They all felt very contained and caused the tension to ratchet up a few levels due to their close confines. It meant that most of the interactions were also based around the two characters and their developing intimacy, rather than extraneous events and people. One element of the book that did surprise me was the issue of fidelity between Aiden and his lover Scott. Normally this can be a deal breaker for me, but the authors made it work.