Gobsmacked scores!

Wow, the illustrious and mysterious author LBGregg’s first novella, Gobsmacked, has hit the top 10 in its FIRST WEEK!

(Full disclosure: Actually, I personally know LBGregg).  Anyway, check out the list at right from all romance ebooks. Okay, now, the back blurb:

No more Mr. Nice Guy.


Mild mannered Mark Meehan’s good judgment flies out the window when he finds his lover banging another man. Things go from bad to worse as Mark’s crazy revenge scheme uncovers shocking secrets—sending him straight into the arms of hunky lawman and old friend, Tony Gervase, a man of limited patience and secrets of his own.

Straight into the arms...that's right: hotness ahoy. Good hotness.

This is a fun, fast-paced book with a great narrator and tons of humor. It's set in the snowy Northeastern U.S. As L.B. Gregg puts it: This place is filled with lonely, hunky available men! Men in plaid jackets! And work boots! And preppy boys who like to row on the lakes.

One of the things I really enjoyed was the romantic pair - Mark Meehan is a flawed hero, self-absorbed yet vulnerable and witty and highly human.

Opposite Mark is Officer Tony Gervase, that perfect cop type, all bossy and stern. The scenes that have them together really sing. Like this:

“It never occurred to me that I’d get arrested, Tony. I didn’t plan it. It just happened.” I winced. I sounded like Kevin. “Just tell me what you heard.”

Tony went from amicable to exasperated, “That you snuck up on Jamie who was attending mass, for chrissake, and punched him in the back of the head with a Bible. You were hysterical, swearing and wearing red shoes.” He nodded accusingly at my clogs where they lay tumbled together on the carpet.

“They’re my work shoes. I wear them in the O.R.”

He wasn’t impressed. If anything, his anger increased, “I can’t believe he hasn’t pressed charges, Mark. You’re lucky I didn’t have to go down to St. Joe’s and arrest you.

I love that little detail The red shoes. Like, what? I appreciated the level of realism here, where weird little details would make it into the story that got passed around. Or, like, in this scene, Tony again gets annoyed when he finds out Mark ditched his ex's stuff. Mark says,

“No. I literally threw his stuff out. First out the window, but only because I didn’t want to carry it down the stairs...” I trailed off at Tony’s raised brow. “And then I took it up to Little Pitch. He’s going to be pissed. I tossed his hockey gear into the dump.”

Tony barely hesitated in spreading mayo on my ham sandwich, although I could tell I had surprised him. “That was not only dramatic; it was illegal. Are you trying to get arrested? Is this some dark fantasy of yours, Meehan?”

The tension totally gets ratcheted up as Mark's reactive antics compound against a backdrop of truly threatening and serious circumstances. Smithfield, who would've known?

Gobsmacked is the first in Gregg's 'Men of Smithfield' series. I can't wait for the next!

The novella was released February 6th in ebook from Aspen Press; the print edition comes out from MLRP in March. Learn more about L.B. Gregg and The Men of Smithfield and sign up for the newsletter here. Author interviews here and here.

Other reviews:
Rain on the roof
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