Hiding the Moon by Amy Lane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have loved Amy Lane for a long time. I was enchanted by her Fish Out of Water series. I think if anyone needs a happy ending it’s Jackson Rivers and Ellery Cramer.

Hiding the Moon is a treat. It’s kind of a stand alone, but also involves the Fish Out of Water series as well as the characters from Racing for the Sun, Ace and Sonny.

The MC’s in this are Burt(on) and Ernie, which… I still don’t know how to feel about. Anyway, we met Lee Burton in Racing for the Sun. He’s basically a black ops assassin who is given the job to take out Ernie Caulfield by his handler. When he sets his sights on Ernie, he doesn’t see a threat, but a young, innocent club bunny.

Ernie is a bit of a psychic and it takes a lot out of him. Living in the city, he has learned to take respite from the noises in his head by drinking and taking drugs and giving himself over to his baser needs. He’s not a bad guy, but he definitely has bad guy radar. He’s been illegally taken into the military to corrupt his psychic talents and use them to create model soldiers. The hit is put on him when he’s no longer needed and has become excess.

When Burton questions his chain of command and saves Ernie from a rogue military unit attempting to kill him, he finds that there’s something unusual about the psychic man. When Ernie tells him that he’s his future, it becomes a test of Burton’s wills to see if he’s up for the challenge.

”You asked how long. As long as you want me. I’m going to want you forever.”

As mentioned, this book has a lot in common with some of Amy Lane’s previous works. To the degree that this story was almost the reverse image of A Few Good Fish, which was published this year. This was the same story but from Burton and Ernie’s perspective, so it felt a little redundant in some parts. I almost felt like I’d already read this story and was trying to just parse out the pieces in relation to Burton and Ernie’s relationship. To me this felt more like a Book 3.5 to the Fish series, not a Book 4.

Honestly, this book showed more about the sweet side of Ace and Sonny and Jackson and Ellery as well as Burton and Ernie which was refreshing. I wish I could have seen a little more of Ernie and Burton together, or more of their individual pasts or some more character exploration. I felt like I needed a little more out of them to fully appreciate their relationship.

Overall, it was a journey into the fun side of the Fish Out of Water series with a little extra from the couples.

* Arc given in exchange for an honest review. Review cross posted on Gay Book Reviews*

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