Review: “Weight of the Badge” by TR Cupak

Author: T.R. Cupak 

Series: The Everyday Heroes World

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.75  | Steam: 🔥🔥

Tropes: Men in Uniforms, Best Friend’s Sister, Romantic Suspense

Trigger/Content Warnings: Police Shootings, PTSD, Suicide

Release Date: November 19th 2020

Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)

Synopsis: Born into a prestigious family and groomed to be the next Beaumont to take over the family business when my cold-hearted father retires isn’t as glamorous as it seems. My entire life mapped out by the one person I loathe—my father. But instead of obeying my dad’s demand to return to Harvard and complete my college education, I enrolled at the police academy with my best friend, Deacon Winslow.

Deacon has always been like a brother to me, and now, we’re brothers bound by the badge and blue uniform we wear, and the oath we took to serve and protect. I’d lay down my life for him and him for me. There was only one rule between us—stay away from her.

Britney Winslow, my best friend’s younger sister, is off-limits because of a silly agreement I made with her brother when we were kids. Now that we’re older, that promise is proving to be more challenging to keep. Britney’s kind heart and beauty are hard to ignore, and the way she makes me feel whenever she’s near is blurring the line I vowed I would never cross until a horrific incident turns everyone’s lives upside down. 

Weight of the Badge is book one of a duet. The storyline is an angsty, forbidden friends to lovers, contemporary romance, set in K. Bromberg’s Everyday Heroes World that will shatter your heart and piece it back together again.

Review: This is my first book by TR Cupak and the first from the Everyday Heroes world too. And this one kept me at the edge of my seat from start to finish. It was less about the romance and more about the suspense, which I was totally fine with. I went into this expecting a lot of angst and pain, but I’m glad that it was limited. Yes, it’s a little angsty and there’s quite a bit of pain, but it’s bearable.

Kade, Deacon and Britney have known each other their whole lives. Deacon and Kade are part of SWAT, partners and best friends, while Britney is Deacon’s younger sister. Deacon and Kade made a pact as tweens that he would never date or sleep with Britney and for years, that has just built up and made it very clear to both Kade and Britney that they do want each other. But Deacon is just not having it. Every look is judged and questioned and every move is doubted by him. He gave up the woman he loved because he knew that he was expecting Kade and Britney to stay away from each other when he couldn’t stay away from Britney’s best friend.

The book kicks off with a case that the boys are working on and them having to go in to handle work. But from there, everything just starts to spiral out of control. One thing leads to another and that’s when the angst sets in. Kade is injured and Deacon is a little unstable and Britney is just stressed and worn out. There are a whole lot of emotions in this book and it’s a lot to take in at once. But you can feel the struggles that each character is going through and almost feel their pain as they try to make sense of everything that is happening around them.

Told through all three characters, you get quite a bit of insight into their thought processes and why they make the choices they do. Of course, this being a suspense, there’s only so much I can say without giving it all away. But Kade, Deacon and Britney go through so much and it makes you sit up and take notice of the things happening to people everywhere.

In so many ways, Weight of the Badge tells the story of mental health and PTSD. And the title is so apt, because both Kade and Deacon have to live with the weight of what their badge holds for them and the community and it also weighs on Britney. The book will make you take a step back and look at how you’ve been talking to people around you and handling those who have mental health issues that they don’t always feel comfortable talking about.

While this book was definitely Deacon’s, there’s a second part to this that will hopefully give us more about Kade and Britney!

Thanks to T. R. Cupak and Grey’s Promotions for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.