ARC Review: Reserved (Tales of Bryant #4) by V. L. Locey

From The Blurb:

Not even the darkest night can extinguish the radiance of two loving hearts coming together. 

Life is a daily celebration for Adrian Pontimore, the hottest new event planner for the Manhattan elite. His days are a high-priced whirlwind of cocktail parties, weddings, conventions, tea parties, housewarmings, and baby showers. Everything is simply amazing for the owner of Quintessentially Adrian Event Designs. Until the dark and hate-filled side of life rears its ugly head, tearing apart the delicate happy bubble that Adrian has constructed around himself. 

If not for the bravery of one of New York’s finest, Adrian’s days fussing over décor and bridal parties might have come to an abrupt end. There’s something about a man in uniform, but there is something extra special about Officer Galen Ellison. Not only did he save Adrian’s life, he’s slowly winning his heart. It’s going to take time, patience, and good humor to help Adrian overcome the fears that haunt the shadows now, but those are qualities that the handsome, affable beat cop seems to have an abundance of.

Karen's rating:

I've been looking forward to this one...

"Reserved" is the fourth book in Ms. Locey's series 'Tales of Bryant' and while I've been looking forward to it for a while now because it's Adrian's story and I've come to really like this character and bizarrely enough even though I didn't feel like I loved this book quite as much as the previous ones. I think I actually like Adrian as much or maybe even a little bit more than I did before reading it.

We've met Adrian in previous stories he's an up and coming event planner. He planned Isamu and Brian's wedding among other events. He's larger than life. Adrian is flamboyant and he's living his own truth. There's just so much about him that I adore...like his hats. Ok, I know this may seem strange but I love hats unfortunately because I come from a family with larger than average head sizes, wearing hats for me is simply cost prohibitive. So, when I encounter a character in a book who can indulge in something that for me isn't a practical reality because at the heart of things I am a boringly practical person, I live vicariously through them...therefore, Adrian + hats = happy me.

Adrian is in many ways a larger than life character but he's also very genuine and endearing. He's a successful event planner and needless to say he's got a very busy career that allows little time for a 'personal life'. So, the fact that he meets the man who makes his heart go pitter, patter while he's working really comes as no surprise. That said man is also a police officer was maybe not surprising but definitely interesting.


Galen Ellison is one of New York's finest. He's out, proud and the perfect match for Adrian. He's strong, confident, handsome and not only was he not bothered or intimidated by Adrian's over the top, flamboyant ways, but, it was very much a part of what attracted Galen to him in the first place.

For me 'Reserved' felt like a bit of a modern day fairy tale and for the most part I really enjoyed it. I loved getting to see more of Adrian, I adored that Galen loved Adrian for who and how he was never trying to change him...simply treasuring Adrian in all his awesomeness.

While it's always fun to meet new characters such as Galen or Tracy, Adrian's new assistant, it's having little moments here and there with characters from previous stories that's always one of my favorite things.

I've pondered this story for a couple of days now and for the life of me, I haven't been able to figure out what it was that caused it not to work quite as well as the previous stories for me, but I do know that I still really like Adrian and while a bit more angst laden than some of the previous stories, I did enjoy it and I definitely liked the pairing of Adrian and Galen...so, I'm going with it was simply my state of mind when I read it.

I sincerely feel that if I were to re-read this, say in a couple of months or whenever, I can very easily imagine that my rating would be different than the 3.5 stars that I've given it here, but for now it is what it is and truthfully 3.5 stars is by no means a bad thing and when the next story is out for this series I'll be there with my grabby little hands ready to jump in and find out what's happening and to whom.

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An ARC of "Reserved" was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

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