TTG

4.5 stars. I am a TOTAL SUCKER for adventure romance, especially in the m/m genre, and this book successfully hit all my buttons. Compelling characters, engaging story, ADVENTURE, lush setting--just overall a very enjoyable read.

The authors did a great job on both the historical 1930's setting, and also with describing all the places. You really felt the humidity as they traipsed around in the forests of Tasmania. Everything was very easy to imagine, and you just get swept up in the story.

Henry aka "Dash" and Dingo were very interesting, likeable, and sympathetic characters, and it was a lot of fun to watch their developing chemistry and relationship. The majority of the POV is from Henry's perspective, but you also get perspective from Dingo, which was a nice balance since even though he is so cheery and forthright, he doesn't always readily reveal his feelings, so it was nice to get a peek inside his thoughts.

The villain is pretty villainy, which felt a little over-the-top near the end, but overall, it fed into the grand "Adventure" and classic feel of the story.

There was more romance and sexy times than I was expecting. (I'm not complaining at all.) I think my expectation was that it would be more "classic," so a lot of stuff would be alluded to or "off-screen," but not so! It was a nice change to have a robust romantic factor along with the "Adventure!"

I also really appreciated that as the characters were swept up in their cause to help save the Tasmanian Tiger, I too felt swept up in it. I hadn't really thought about the Tasmanian Tiger since Scott Westerfeld's YA steampunk Leviathan series (also very recommended) so it was really neat to learn more about the animal. Both Dash and Dingo's feelings and hopes to save them from extinction were very palpable, and it was easy to sympathize with their struggle (and it made me want to go look up more information afterwards.)

Overall, I thought it was a really fun read, and I wish (or hope) there are more like this, since again, total sucker for this action-adventure-romance part of the genre, and this book felt like a total quality addition to it. Very recommended if you're looking for a historical adventure m/m romance