Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty, Volume 2

Hazard and Somerset: A Union of Swords, Book 6

De: Gregory Ashe

Narrado por: Tristan James

Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty Volume 2 is a collection of short stories. It includes the following:

“John-Henry Somerset: Sold!”

Somers enters a charity bachelor’s auction without telling his boyfriend. This story takes place before The Rational Faculty.

“Pretty and Pink and Perfect”

Hazard plans a toddler’s birthday party. This story takes place before The Rational Faculty.

“Pride Slays Thanksgiving”

Hazard and Somers prepare for their first Thanksgiving as a couple. This story takes place before Police Brutality.

“Santa: A Cultural Hegemony”

Hazard is volun-told to dress up as Santa. This story takes place before Transactional Dynamics.

“Valentine’s in Six Beats”

Hazard executes his do-over for Valentine’s. This story takes place before Wayward.

“Emery’s Birthday Scavenger Hunt”

Somers plans the perfect birthday for Hazard . . . or so he thinks. This story takes place before The Keeper of Bees.

“Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty”

A series of six vignettes featuring Hazard and Somers on a Caribbean vacation. This story takes place after The Keeper of Bees.

Please note that the first six stories have distributed previously to mailing list subscribers and at GRL 2019.

“Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty” is exclusively available in this collection.

©2020 Gregory Ashe (P)2025 Gregory Ashe

Loved!

Love that I got to listen to these after reading them awhile ago. They’re so funny and cute! Highly recommend!

Love these!

If you love the series, you will, of course, love this audiobook. These little between stories always make me want to go read the books again. I hate to leave Emery and Sommers whenever the books are finished so these snapshots into their lives make me love this author so much!

Loved This!

This is a collection of short stories from the Hazard and Somerset, Union of Swords series. This is not a standalone, but it for fans who have already read/listen to the Union of Swords series. I loved these little slices of life short stories. They start with JH being auctioned off to raise money for a charity. You can imagine how well this goes down with Hazard. It’s really fun. It gets better from there. Hazard planning the perfect birthday party; Thanksgiving & Christmas antics; their honeymoon; and lots more. Although these are short, they still manage to convey the love and humor of the guys, while fleshing out some “other” relationships which are not so lovey. And having Tristan James’ narrate is wonderful. Highly recommended for fans of the series.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Some very fun stories

Given the heavy, heavy nature of the Union of Swords books, it's nice to have these lighthearted tidbits as a reminder that these guys aren't getting grievously injured ALL the time.

My thanks to the author for a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

Love for Hazard and Somerset

I truly love John-Henry Somerset and Emery Hazard. They were the main characters of the first mystery series I read/listened to by this author and it kind of made them my "goats" but this collection of short stories really cements their place as my favorite Gregory Ashe couple.

It's been a while since I listened to the books in the Hazard and Somerset: A Union of Swords series. While I don't remember all of the details, I remember it being a drama heavy with a pretty scary series-arcing mystery. None of that is really reflected in this book, though.

“John-Henry Somerset: Sold!” has John-Henry entering into a bachelor auction even though he is very much in a relationship with Hazard. It doesn't have much of a plot other than Hazard running around trying to find clothes for Somers in this pageant style auction. In the end, after Somers has been "won" both he and Hazard enjoy Hazard's display of possessiveness.

In “Pretty and Pink and Perfect,” the two men celebrate Somers' daughter as a couple. At a party filled with Evie's little friends as well as family members. It was an enjoyable moment of seeing the two men and little girl act as a family. Somers' family has always been problematic. Their wealth and privilege have made them into the type of people who care too much about image and not enough about being humane and honest. Somers' mom acts badly as usual and Hazard saves the day, but not before acting a bit of a fool himself.

“Pride Slays Thanksgiving” and “Santa: A Cultural Hegemony” can be talked about together. In these two stories, Hazard's desire to not go with the status quo cause some arguments between him and Somers, and their friendly neighbors. Hazard doesn't see the point of Thanksgiving and needs to work on compromising without being condescending. And when he's asked to play Santa he only agrees if he can unmask the lies about Santa at the end of the night. But the joy of the child he has come to care about as his own makes him realize a little imagination and wonder are called for.

“Valentine’s in Six Beats” is so sweet. You would hardly imagine the serious, non-fiction book reading, Emery Hazard could be so darn romantic. This imaginative role-play of a Valentine's date is sweet and Somers is excellent at getting into character. My heart was goo.

Emery’s .Birthday Scavenger Hunt” is another sweet story, literally and figuratively. This time Somers is the planner, but Hazard isn't as into games as Somers and getting him to participate is difficult. The lure of birthday brunch complete with pastries finally gets him going. When the two meet up at the final designation, it's just a lovely moment out of time, away from the craziness of their everyday lives. 

The vignettes in “Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty” are also sweet and romantic. Besides the moments of vacation time, in this section we do get a preview of what kicks off the third series featuring this couple. I was again struck with the desire to relisten to all of these books. I want to relive all of the moments, good and bad, that brought Hazard and Somers to this point in their lives. The narration by Tristan James is great. He has brought these characters to life and I am glad he continues to narrate after this long of a series.