Cadge Johnson is not happy with his life right now, or with his long-time friend and sometimes lover Red, for making him show up and claim his heritage. All Cadge wants is to keep his brother safe and find out who was behind the near genocide of his race – the Daywalkers. However, that is more difficult than Cadge ever expected – first he finds an unfriendly council that is unsympathetic to his story and swayed by a deadly enemy. Then, his source of support, however uncomfortable, Red is taken away and punished for helping Cadge remain invisible to the council’s eyes for so long. But under all this strain what really simmers uncontrollably is Cadge’s lust and love for Red, even if he believes it’s undeserved.

Red has tried for decades to get over his encompassing love for Cadge to no avail, always believing that his love will never be returned for reasons that only Cadge understands. But as they are forced to fight together to stay alive Cadge has a change of heart and Red is not about to question it – even if it’s only temporary.

The Hard Truth is a story full of simmering sensuality and an undeniable longing for love that explodes such passionate sex that it will scorch your fingers. Cadge is infuriating at times even if his passion is explosive enough to leave you envious of Red. Red, on the other hand, is the strong and somewhat silent type that has emotions running so deep that it will leave you speechless. As a rule, I am a fan of Amanda Young’s work as she is a fantastic erotic romance writer with well developed storylines and characters and in this case she does not disappoint, even if she leaves a few unanswered broad-strokes questions and solving a few problems rather quickly. I really enjoyed The Hard Truth as the love story is hot and romantic, even within the frame of the suspense aspects of the plot especially as the passionate moments are hot enough to burn your fingers!