Chief's Mess

Anchor Point, Book 3

By: L.A. Witt

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthony Talbot is in Anchor Point to visit family, but after two days of strife, he needs a break. A local gay bar is calling his name.

When Chief Noah Jackson sees that red head stroll into the club, he immediately wants him. They’re perfectly matched, and before long, they’re burning up the sheets. Noah can’t get enough. Anthony can’t stay in Oregon for long, but as soon as he leaves, he’s counting down the days until he can fly back for more. And between his increasingly frequent visits, there’s always phone sex, sexting, webcams....anything they can get.

But Noah’s got a carefully crafted façade, and Anthony can’t help noticing the slowly forming cracks. The scent of alcohol in the middle of the day. The extra drinks at dinner. The hint of red in his eyes. Anthony knows what it means. He doesn’t want to believe it, but he’s seen this before, and there’s no denying it. If Noah doesn’t get his downward spiral under control, he’s going to lose both his career and the first man he’s ever really loved.

©2017 L.A. Witt (P)2018 Riptide Publishing

Anthony and Noah

Book 3 in Anchor Point has Anthony visiting the town with his sister and looking for a night out, along comes Noah and a 1 night stand turns into a week of fun, then a visit every couple of weeks until Noah is blind drunk and forgot to pick up Noah. Anthony can't handle an Alcoholic who lies about it so leaves, Noah hits rock bottom and wants to get sober. Anthony helps and a HFN hopefully HEA ending. PERFECT narration

fantastic story

I love L.A. Witt and her books. She's incredibly talented in all that she writes. Once again she didn't disappoint with this one. Nick J. Russo as always did a stellar job with bringing this story to life. These two always make a superb pairing and this Audio book was no different.

Almost...

LA Witt does excellent research, so I am not at all surprised that she absolutely nails it with regard to the dynamics of a relationship with an alcoholic - the concealment and defensiveness, the soaring honeymoon phase and charming assurances that everything is absolutely finefinefine, the despair and self-loathing when it isn't. Odd, then, that the recovery phase is so unrealistic. It wouldn't have been incompatible with a HEA to acknowledge that recovery is a long and bumpy road. It's disappointing, especially in such an otherwise gritty, spot-on story, that fairytale stereotypes creep in. For example, an alcoholic is absolutely not served by a partner who rushes to their side to reassure them when they relapse, and major relationship decisions like moving in together are strongly discouraged for the first full year (it's eight months in the story, which would have been a very easy fix). Fortunately, the recovery phase is really only covered in the epilogue, and it may be that the author was rushed to finish.

Otherwise, this is an excellent addition to the Anchor Point series, which addresses real-life military issues with hope, and features male bonding that feels overall pretty authentic. Nick Russo is outstanding, as usual.

Clever title, btw.

Military Romance Full of Heat and Heart!

Anthony Talbot is climbing the walls during a tense family obligatory visit and takes his sister's blessing to get out for a bit leading to a hot encounter with smoldering Navy Chief Noah Jackson. I enjoyed this latest in the Anchor Point series particularly since, like before in the series, the author touches on a relevant issue for men in the naval service- or pretty much an issue with any relationship.

Chief's Mess is the third of the Anchor Point series. These books loosely tie together so they can be enjoyed in order or standalone. Chief's Mess ties to the previous Afraid to Fly through Anthony being the hostile ex-brother in law to Clint Fraser, hero of the earlier book. For those who loved Clint and Travis, this has some follow-up scenes and for those who are starting at this book, the encounter works fine, too.

Anthony and Noah start out hotter than a firecracker together. I will say this, LA Witt can write some heat. I was hot and bothered only minutes into this book. Whew! The torrid and sizzling sex blew my mind. They definitely had chemistry in the bedroom and that was the foundation of what was to come in their attempt at a long distance relationship. Skype? No this was Porny Skyping between a pair of dirty talking guys who knew how to rev each other past the red line.

At first, I was concerned that the hot bedroom (and non-bedroom) antics were going to be all there was to this one and I did skip of ton of those scenes when they were just lining up like dominoes and I was actually growing numb to it. But, after a time, the pair realized they wanted a relationship and of course, that was also when Anthony stopped denying the hints he was seeing that Noah had a drinking problem. This was when the book started showing its depth and heart for me.

Noah is what in my past we called a functioning alcoholic. He drank a lot and often, but he was staying just sober enough to get through his life. I thought the alcoholism element was handled about right as were all the characters involved. Noah's addiction is the main conflict in the story, but this is not a men's fiction novel so it's in the right balance with the relationship development It wasn't focused on, but I also feel like Anthony had his own demons to deal with. I thought it was interesting that the spotlight was not on Noah only through this, but also Anthony. Like any person in a relationship with a recovering addict, the addict isn't the only one with his life on the precipice. So yes, this book dug deep and really shone when it hit the depth of the conflict for this pair.

Chief's Mess was narrated by Nick J. Russo. I felt he did an incredible job whether it was taking me right into this horny pair's bedroom scenes or leaving me crushed and teary-eyed when Noah and Anthony hit their lowest. He captured the pace of the story, its elements, and its characters fabulously.

In summation, Chief's Mess delivered a hot pair of lovers and a difficult situation that had me earnestly engaged to see it all end well. Those who enjoy spicy m/m military romance should definitely give this book/series a chance.

Wow!

L.A. Witt tells a good story. Her Characters are well-developed and her in-depth research makes the reader feel as though they are present in the city or town where the story is set. Combine these elements with excellent attention paid to technical elements, and you have a real page-turner.

Sexy Mess

Anthony meets Noah in a gay bar and the two proceed to have what they deem a week long one night stand. But once Anthony is back in Denver, he can't stop thinking about Noah and the time they spent together. Noah can't stop thinking about Anthony and how well the relative stranger could play him like a well tuned guitar. That week turns into sexting, then skyping and eventually, weekend trips back and forth between Denver and Anchor Point. Lust slowly becomes so much more, starts to look like love. But there's one thing Anthony cannot tolerate and it's the one thing that threatens to tear them apart.

Aside from the white, hot passion these two share I really enjoyed the way Witt wrote the alcoholic aspect of the story. It's almost like the alcoholism was a third person in the relationship, an affair that Noah keeps hidden just out of sight, but Anthony can see it's shadow lurking in the dark corners. The progression from the week long one night stand that continually grew into more was perfectly paced as well.

Russo did an amazing job with the story and bringing these two men to life, making them so much more than words on paper. Witt is really good with descriptives and world building, she has a talent for pulling the reader into the atmosphere of the story. Add to that Russo's talented vocal skills and you have a rich, in depth story with depth and personality.

A must listen for anyone that likes their guys versatile and sexy.

Excellent Performance by Nick Russo

The story was good but the fantastic performance by Nick Russo secured the rating for me. He made his book what it was!

4 stars if I ignore the excessive sexy times

Nick Russo's narration made this book for me. He perfectly captured the emotions of the characters, their struggles and the joy they bought to each other.

Despite the difficult topic of a functional alcoholic, the characters are interesting, the story flowed well and is well written. I found the beginning a little slow and it took me a while to get into the story, once I did, I enjoyed it. I prefer more story and less sex though - there were just too many "sexy time scenes" for me and not enough real character development in this one.
Wont stop me from continuing on with the rest of the series though.

Too much sex too little story

Witt can write a great story but i mostly fast forward though the sex scenes because theyre repetitive and cut and pasted from other books

I love the characters from This and other series but...

Usnavy stopped issuing dog tags years ago
No man calls another darling esp military
Delicious is a woman's term
Most men haven't worn boxers for decades

I do applaud addressing ptsd addiction etc