RED (A Brett MacLain Duet) by J M WALKER

‘She was my one. My only.’

This is our first read by J M Walker, and although it was very different to what we initially expected, we readily consumed the first book of Red, loving the premise of the story; a married couple at the crossroads, desperate to hold onto their love, their family and each other when faced with an issue from their past that threatens their present and their future. Erotic and emotional, J M Walker captured the intense and all-encompassing love Brett and Evvie felt for one another, through her deliciously potent and intoxicating prose.

Red starts some fifteen years after Brett and Evvie’s relationship began, finding them content in their marriage, their three children, their financial situation, and not to mention their explosive sex life.

Initially we felt as though we had missed an integral part of the story when Brett’s past comes to play in the present, however, we urge you to stick with it, because the past is uncovered in book two. For us though, we would have preferred to have experienced the ‘past’ Brett and Evvie before we experienced their marriage today, and to fully feel the depth of Brett and Evvie, we would love to have read the Torn Series, to experience the full depth of this couples tumultuous love story before diving into Red.

Now, that’s not to say we didn’t connect to them or follow their story in Red, because we really did. We couldn’t help but experience the utter desperation of a man trying to hold on to everything he loves, and we’re so glad we continued with Red, because Brett and Evvie’s story was brimming with raw feelings, raw primal sex, and a story that played out against a past history that threatened to break apart the happiness this couple finally enjoyed, after a tumultuous start to their relationship. We couldn’t put it down, and by the end of book one, we found ourselves in a flood of tears, relishing in a man’s unwavering, consuming love for his wife.

‘I had been through so much and could handle everything life threw at me but hearing my husband break down and cry, destroyed me.’

Brett McLean, by his own admission, isn’t an easy man to live with. He’s always felt the need to be in control. In his career, women, sex, money and alcohol. It’s a coping mechanism he employs after incidents that happened when he was a boy. However, Evvie turns him on his head. His love for her is all consuming, and she is the one woman who controls him – Brett himself says ‘she captured my heart, reaching inside my chest and brought it back to life just by the sound of her laugh.‘ And there is nothing this man wouldn’t do to hold onto his wife. His love. His heart. His purpose.

“What I feel for you is deeper than love. It’s an all-consuming need. It’s like you have a firm grip on my heart and with one twist, it would shatter into a million pieces. You have that control, Evvie.”

Brett and Evvie have been through a gamut of painful experiences in their relationship from health problems, family issues, grief and pain. Their marriage has been tested again and again over the last fifteen years, but can a possible betrayal be the catalyst for causing a drift in this loving couple? Brett and Evvie are a very physical couple. They’re like magnets with a dynamic chemistry and their way of dealing with problems, is to seek that physical connection through sex, and boy do these two burn up the pages! Sex is how they work through their fears, hurt and disagreements. However, this time around, what they need is verbal and emotional communication, where sex doesn’t distract.

“I love you, Evvie, and I will spend every day until my dying breath, showing you just how much.”

The second book in the Red Duet (both books are included in the one) takes us back to the beginning when Evvie met Brett, to uncover the events that led to what transpired in book one. We didn’t find ourselves as invested in the second book as we were in the first. The emotional pull that was so very evident in the first book was missing, however, we absolutely loved the first book, feeling every ounce of the intense love, sexual desire, and emotion between Evvie and Brett.