Leo, My Partner

Family Ties, Book 2

By: RS McKenzie

Narrated by: Michael Dean, Curtis Michael Holland

Leo

Pretending to be like everyone else is exhausting, but I've mastered it. No one knows what really lurks behind the mask I wear every day. I'm not like others. I don't experience emotions like they do. I have no need for human connection, but when I see Tyshawn, that changes. One look and I know he's mine. It doesn't matter that I've never been with a man before. He makes me want, he makes me burn. When he catches me… working… my second job, he has to decide if he wants to stay with me. I have to convince him that I'm willing to do anything for him… including slaying some of his demons.

Tyshawn

Owning my own bakery is my dream. When a friend of mine pushes me to contact the owner of Ray's Beanery for a tasting to display my baked goods at his coffee shop, I jump at the opportunity. The sexy coffee shop owner I meet is as unexpected as my instant feelings of desire for him. That is until I walk in on him covered in blood while he's… working. I realize there is more to him than meets the eye. I'm terrified of him, but when I hear him out, I'm intrigued. I know what he's capable of. Am I capable of it too?

Leo, My Partner is an MM, dark, dual POV, high-heat romance. It contains a strong and rambling baker and a psychopathic coffee shop owner who shows his kotenok how to kill those who deserve it. HEA guaranteed. For mature listeners.

©2024 RS McKenzie (P)2025 Podium Audio

Fetishizing

This book is right up my alley. It has all the elements I like. Vigilante justice with just a bit of describing how the bad person gets what they deserve, "our heros" are regular and/or neuro divergent (psychopathic) people who have a good amount of (not too much, not too little) very steamy sceans. Too bad the author decided to make one MC Black for no reason. It's a distraction and there are too many mentions of the Black MC's "ample ass". Also, the Black MC has heterochromia for no good reason. It reads like fetishization / objectification of an MC written like a white trad wife but the author says the character is a Black man and has heterochromia. This is my unsolicited honest review after reading the book 2Xs.

Insta-attraction on speed! 😁

MM Romance - Age Gap (24/33) - MC Psychopath & Serial Killer – Insta Attraction - Touch Them And Die - Queer Awakening - Plenty Spice

I spent laundry day with a serial killing psychopath and his love interest in my head. Good times! 😀

Just as in the first book, Leo (33) instantaneously claims Tyshawn (24) as his and just like June before him Ty doesn't fight the claim too hard.

The similarities between the two books are many. Two straight psychopathic serial killers fall instantaneously for two younger black gay guys. Leo's backstory is different than Blu's, despite them being related, and his reasons for killing is also not the same as Blu's.

Blu and June were a big part of Leo's and Ty's story and while I liked Blu and June and their dynamics a bit more, I still enjoyed getting to know Leo and Tyshawn.

Ty hadn't lived a life as hard as Leo but he wasn't a pushover and him caring for the grandparent was so sweet. Their relationship developed like insta-attraction on speed, there wasn't much time between the initial kidnapping and the moving in together. Like, at all. 😂

The story besides the romance was also a bit OTT but entertaining. And again, despite Leo's backstory not being pretty and the serial killing business being messy, Leo, my Partner ranks low on the angst scale. Though, check the CWs if necessary. There is some graphic animal abuse in the past and also r@pe (not MCs or by MCs) and suicide.

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CAWPILE-inspired rating system (original CAWPILE system by Book Roast on YouTube).

Characters 8/10
Relationships 7/10
Plot & Structure 7/10
Atmosphere & Setting (Worldbuilding) 7/10
Writing Style & Language 8/10
Intrigue & Interest 7/10
Logic & Conclusion 7/10
Enjoyment & Experience 8/10

Average Score 7.38/10
The StoryGraph Rating ☆ 4/5

Narration 3.5/5
Cover 3/5
Amount of Steam 5/5
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