The Actor and His Secret Audiobook By Laura R. Samotin, Ben Alderson cover art

The Actor and His Secret

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The Actor and His Secret

By: Laura R. Samotin, Ben Alderson
Narrated by: Derek Duvall, Jay Alder
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Oliver Cane has his dream job as a book publicist and his dream man—until he finds his boyfriend buried five inches deep in someone else. Heartbroken, Oli throws himself into work, preparing for the movie release of a book adaptation for one of his lead titles. The perfect distraction comes in the form of a handsome man having a breakdown in the toilets at the film's premiere. The two of them comfort each other and then make a deal—one night of anonymity and passion as they lose themselves in each other. But it only takes a single night for Oli's life to change, when he discovers that the mysterious man he nicknamed Adonis is actually Nikos Ridge, the mega-star of the movie that Oli's helped to promote.

Chased by the past that he can never escape from and drowning in depression, addiction, and anxiety, Nikos Ridge finds himself seeking comfort in a cute British boy. All is fun and games until his demons return. Lies become tangled, and secrets blur his reality. Nikos is forced to face the past if he wants a future—but the universe has other plans. Ones that could ruin his life. Oli and Nikos are brought together and then torn apart by secrets, as they try and navigate a world that will never let them be together—and the sense that they're both falling in love with each other even as it's not meant to be.

Contains mature themes.

©2024 Ben Alderson & Laura R. Samotin (P)2024 Tantor Media
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I listened to The Actor and His Secret in chunks of time instead of my usual straight through experience for two reasons. One is that I knew heartbreak was ahead and can only handle so much angst and sadness at a time (that's on me) and Two, Jay Alder's narration drove me crazy! I think Jay Alder was the voice actor for Niko Ridge. If it I mixed up the two voice actors I sincerely apologize! I think it's fabulous to have two human voice actors tell a story.
I love Alder's gravely sexy Niko voice - absolutely perfect for a Greek 'Adonis' of a man. However, when Alder voiced Stephanie, his agent and friend, or Oliver, the narrator's voice became really loud, stilted, and stuffy and just awful! I had to constantly adjust the volume on my headphones because Alder's voice got so loud and strident for anyone but Niko or his father that it actually hurt my ears!!! Here's an example of the stilted quality to listen for: when Niko took Oliver to his childhood home in Greece and shared the traumatic story of his mother's death, Oliver's voice was not comforting or loving at all. It was stilted and smug and arrogant. Talk about ruining the scene!! In addition to being strident for other characters, Alder's volume dropped really low for Niko's deep gravel, so low that I had to turn the volume UP to hear what Niko was saying!! Actually had to rewind for goodness sake! Very frustrating to say the least. I actually blame part of the problem on the editors. Don't they put on headphones and listen to the narration??
So between angst and bitter frustration at the constant need to adjust volume and the discordant voices, I had to break up my listening to an otherwise very good book in order to finish. No complaints about Derek Duvall's voices. His Oliver was perfect and decent for the other characters.
I recommend the story but just be prepared to change volume constantly.

Romantic, Sexy, and A Bit Heartbreaking

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Bad voice actor for Nikos. His voice for the woman and the gay man is the same whiny nasal voice

Very mediocre story

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