Vodka & Handcuffs: A Mary's Boys Novella

By: Brandon Witt

Narrated by: Gerrod Larkyn

Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Vahin Arora, Hamburger Mary’s sexy bartender, plays the flirtatious role so well even his closest friends don’t realize he hasn’t had a hookup in months. Then "tall, dark, and handsome" steps through the door, and Vahin’s passion races back to life.

Being a Black cop on the Denver police force is no easy job - Marlon Barton can’t imagine adding being gay to the equation. While Marlon loves his work, his life has taken a turn for the hellish because of his new partner, the nephew of a senator.

Fleeing his partner’s company one night, Marlon stumbles into Mary’s for the first time...and wakes up with a hangover in the bartender’s bed. The one-night stand heats up into a budding romance, but not without stress as Marlon’s partner’s actions threaten Vahin’s livelihood and Marlon’s future on the force. Can Vahin and Marlon face the challenges and hold on to the love and chosen family they’ve found?

©2020 Brandon Witt & Wings of Ink Publications (P)2020 Brandon Witt & Wings of Ink Publications

Lively narration of an amazing novella! Loved it!!

It’s finally Vahin’s turn to fall in love and find his HEA. He’s such a great character and more than deserved his time in the spotlight! Even though it’s Marlon who literally does so with a little friendly coercion from the fabulous ManDonna. As a black cop, Marlon already has a lot to contend with, however unfairly, which makes him hesitant to draw unwanted attention to himself by coming out at work, especially because his current partner is more than a little horrible, racist, homophobic (internalized?) and has a disturbing, even frightening, lack of morals. Vahin and Marlon don’t have it easy, but they have their chosen family to help them when things get rough. Pat is my easily my favorite secondary character in this entire series, and she really comes through for Vahin. I loved Vahin and Marlon’s story. Great addition to this series.

Narration: Gerrod Larkyn does a wonderful, lively narration of Vodka & Handcuffs that is very suited to the story. I love how he plays around both with his pacing and the emotion in his performance. He made Vahin sound a little gruffer than I’d imagined at first, turns out that was perfect for the character! Marlon and Vahin sounded so real to me, truly an incredible narration!

Marlon and Vahin make for an excellent story.

Vahin is one smoking hot bartender and Marlon is a cop. The two couldn’t have two more different backgrounds, but they are perfect for each other. I fell in love with these two together. I have to say that I really like how Mary’s employees are family. It warms my heart.

For me this one wasn't the greatest...

Admittedly 'Vodka & Handcuffs' did not turn out to be my favorite story in this series. While there were several things about it that I liked...there was also one major stumbling block that I just couldn't ignore. Ssssssoooooooo...let's start with that...

You see...I liked Vahin. He's the main bartender at Hamburger Mary's and he's cocky, arrogant and overall he's a player, but he's also kind, caring and loyal to his friends. So...sue me. I like the man and I was excited to get the story where we got to see Vahin get his man.

Problem is I saw it, but I just didn't feel it and maybe that's on me, but the fact of the matter is I could easily feel the love between Cody and Darwin, it didn't take a lot of imagination for me to picture these to men together and loving one another...but, here with Vahin and Marlon...well, I just wasn't feeling the love.

Things just weren't going tickity, boo for me with these men, was it because there wasn't a lot of on page sex...no, I don't need a ton of steamy hot sex to make me believe there's a solid relationship going on...honestly, I've read books where there's been no sex going on and all I've gotten were a few well described kisses or tender moments and it's felt like the book was scorching my hands.

However, in spite of that I liked the story. that surrounded them. I liked that these men were culturally diverse. I was impressed that Marlon was portrayed as a closeted, African American police officer and that Andrew, Marlon's partner on the force was a racist, homophobic, bigoted...closeted PoS! Did I like this no...did I appreciate that the author presented Andrew as he did...yes, because sometimes life...real life needs to be represented, even when it's just not pretty.

Once again Gerrod Larkyn was the narrator and while the voices were for the most part fairly well done I again encountered the variance in the voice of a couple of the characters but again not so bad that I had a problem following who was speaking, nor did I have any issues in terms of clarity in his speech and the biggy for me...the characters were not monotone, nothing turns me off of an audio book faster than a narrator whose voice is stilted and monotone, trust me, there are some out there, thankfully Gerrod Larkyn is not one of them.

I think for me it came down to the fact that this was one that needed more time in order to allow for the romance and the story to be fully developed without anything being shortchanged along the way.

So while I enjoyed it overall a little more one on one time for Vahin and Marlon that revolved more around them getting to know each other and maybe a bit more in the ending both for the romance and the issue of Marlon's partner and what he did would have taken this from I like it to 'holy hell!!! This is awesome." for me.

So it's back to Hamburger Mary's for me. Who knows maybe I'll see you all there.

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An audio book of 'Vodka & Handcuffs' was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

entertaining short story

Vodka and Handcuffs is a fast paced story about a police office with a bad partner and the Bartender at Mary's Burgers. Both are men of color and have had their battles in life, and both have their own stories.
Marlon, a police officer, is out but not. His chief knows, his ex-partner and family know, but none of the other officers or his new, arrogant, mean partner know. One night he wanted to escape his partner, so instead of hanging out at the usual place with the other cops he ended up at Mary's, and after two many beers he wakes up in the bed of the bartender. Marlon isn't one for relationships, so part of him wants to slip out the other says yes to a date.

Vahin is the head bartender at Mary's and loves his job and family there. He is pretty much a man whore but is tired of hookups. He finds something appealing about the sexy cop. But won't go back in the closet for no one.

As in all of Brandon Witts's books you can expect great characters, an interesting story, and some hot romance.

I loved this as a book to read. It was short and fun but I decided to try the Audio and loved it. Gerrod Larkyn's narrations were good. I even saw improvement from the first book. I do like the slightly different voices for the characters but I like his actions by words the most. i am looking forward to more Hamburger mary's in the near future!

My return to Hamburger Mary’s

I enjoyed the first story in this series and so was quick to pick up this next one. The two men in this story couldn’t have been more different than Cody and Darwin. Both these men have some miles on them. They’ve also faced down some pretty blatant racism in their time. What I loved was the color of their skin didn’t define them or their place in the relationship. They were just a black guy and an Indian guy who hooked up for one hot night and just couldn’t stay away.

Marlon’s a cop. A black cop in Denver. A black cop in Denver with a racist partner who also appears to be a homophobe. I mean, ick. Marlon’s superiors and his former partner know he’s gay, but he hasn’t gone around announcing it to everyone. It’s none of their business. One night he’s trying to get away from it all and he winds up at Hamburger Mary’s. The bar has drag queens and caters to gay patrons as well as plenty of clientele who are just LGBTQ allies and supporters. It’s a safe place for him to be – as long as he doesn’t get spotted.

Vahin is the bartender at Mary’s. His religious family rejected him when he came out and he’s found his own family at Mary’s. I always love the concept of found family. We can’t choose the family we were born into, but we can choose the people we want to spend our lives with. Interestingly Vahin once hooked up with Mary’s owner Steve. But that’s a whole other story. This night he’s intrigued by a beautiful black man who needs cheering. A few beers lead to the harder stuff and a night Vahin isn’t likely to forget and Marlon can barely remember.

But the men are drawn to each other. Despite their disparate lives, they keep finding ways to come together and even Mandonna and Ariel the Merman the drag queens don’t dissuade Marlon from spending time at Mary’s. But homophobes are never far away, and the men face some serious challenges to their relationship and their personal safety.

I loved this book. It had humour and levity and gravitas. It brought a smile to my face and a warmth to my heart. I want to mention the narrator, Gerrod Larkyn. He does a fantastic job with this series and I couldn’t be more pleased with the way this book turned out. Can’t wait for the next one.

Amazing listen.

We are back in Hamburger Mary's and I love it. Vahin and Marlon are perfect for each other. I love these two story so much. This deals with so serious topics but still have the love and family that is so beautiful is this story. Then Gerrod Larkyn does an amazing job bring the emotions in this story. Can't to start the next one.

My favorite book of the series

Vahin is the sexy bartender at Mary's. One night a sexy cop whose had a hell of a day comes in and flirting turns into a night of drinking and hot sex at Vahin's place.

Marlon is a black cop who is hard to rile. Because of this his police Chief partners him with the hardest person to work with on the force. Racists, sexist, the relative of a former police chief and current senator, and possibly closeted, Marlon's partner is making him considering leaving his otherwise beloved job.

Vahin kinda hits Marlon like a ton of bricks and the relationship and feelings grow fast. But Marlon's partner has plans to make Marlon's life hell and those plans include Vahin.