[Book Review] Precious Metals By L.A. Witt & Paramount Coffee Let It Snow: Mocha Mint

Title: Precious Metals
Series/Universe: Metals Universe
Author: L.A. Witt
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Publication date: October 27th 2014
Page Count: 171 pages
Age Rating: Adult (explicit sexual scenes and violence)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received an ARC to review
Publisher’s page: Precious Metals

For Constable Paul Benson of the North-West Mounted Police, monotony is a blessing. As a provision inspector below the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush, he’s seen miserable conditions and gold fever turn civilized prospectors into madmen.

Joseph Starling is on his way to the Klondike to find the men who savagely beat him, murdered his eldest brother, and stole their mining machine. They’ll kill his youngest brother if Joseph doesn’t operate the machine for them—it won’t work without him. With time running out, Joseph must purchase an expensive ticket aboard a crash-prone airship. But the station is miles away through dangerous terrain.

Under orders, Paul grudgingly escorts Joseph, but quickly finds himself intrigued by the young man. As they make their way toward Juneau, it’s not just the need for warmth that drives them closer together. But neither man can draw an easy breath until they make it to the gold fields . . . and there’s no guarantee that Joseph’s brother will still be alive when they do.

My Review

Precious Metals is the second book set in L.A. Witt’s Metals Universe – a series of standalone historical action/adventure romances set in a steampunk version of the Klondike Gold Rush – and follows the story of a young man desperate to return to the frozen Klondike gold fields to save his kidnapped younger brother, the Mountie assigned to help him, and the deep emotional and physical connection the two men develop while on their dangerous quest.

First off, don’t worry if you haven’t read the first book in the Metals Universe, as the two books are complete standalones with no overlapping characters (although I would recommend the first book; see my review here: Noble Metals).

The action/adventure parts of this book were absolutely nail-biting. The journey the two men undergo through the icy landscape is fraught with peril and the two do not get through it unscathed. I love that about this series, that Witt doesn’t wrap her characters in bubble wrap, she allows her characters to be hurt and it lends a kind of gritty realness to the story.

I really liked the characters as well. Joseph is young and stubborn, determined to save his younger brother. He’s also technologically smart and handsome to boot. Paul is the older and wiser of the two, and he keeps Joseph going with steely determination and a projection of optimism, even when he doesn’t quite believe it himself. The two men start off not really that fond of each other, but their relationship grows quickly in the kind of intense way that can only happen between two people thrown into life or death circumstances (1 part attraction, 1 part compatibility, 2 parts adrenaline and 1 part making every moment count).

Witt is one of my favorite go-to writers for really good, page-turning romance books, and this one did not disappoint. I absolutely recommend Precious Metals – from the first page to the last, I never put this book down.

In Precious Metals, as with Noble Metals, the author is able to balance heartfelt romance with nail-biting, edge of your seat action/adventure. Because of how well the two things are blended together in this book, I’m recommending Paramount Coffee Let It Snow: Mocha Mint – a lovely medium roast that brilliantly combines the romance of dark chocolate with the excitement of spearmint.