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A sweet story for the holidays or any time

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-26-25

This review is for the audiobook edition.
I've been a fan of Lane Hayes for many years now; she's one of the first half dozen or so m/m authors I've ever read/listened to. But as my TBR has grown, it's gotten harder to keep up with releases, especially standalones.
Holidays are the perfect way for me to chip away at my standalone TBR. And while Christmas had passed before I was able to listen to this, it wasn't so far past that it didn't feel perfectly timely. (It actually starts around Halloween - I didn't realize that going in, but most of it is the lead-up until Christmas.) It's sweet, funny, (not exactly high comedy, but I laughed out loud a LOT), sexy, and full of very likeable characters. Yeah, Moody IS a bit grumpy, but he's not really a full blown jerk about it, so he remains likeable. It's fluffy enough to be good for when you need something light - any time of year, but also not so fluffy that the stakes feel nonexistent, nor does it feel totally like insta-love, even if takes place over a pretty short period of time.
The narration was really good. I have zero caveats about that too. The audiobook edition only took me a long time to finish, (considering how relatively short it is), because my time to listen was unusually limited - otherwise, this is a good quick pick-me-up of a listen.
So, long rambling story short, I really do recommend this book.

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So thrilled this was released on audio!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 08-09-24

This was very, very enjoyable. While it was frequently very funny and witty, there was plenty of seriousness, pining, poignancy, frustration, sadness, and sensuality. It felt well balanced and relatively real for romance.
I found both characters very likeable. Lewis definitely has some behaviors that aren't always pleasant, but it's more that he is easily frustrated and isn't very good at censoring himself or reading others. He's a bit self-absorbed, but not unduly conceited; he just keeps a protective shield separating himself and what is important to him from others. From the blurb, Aaron is supposed to be the sunshine-y PA, but he's not super bouncy peppy, he's just good at navigating people, and most importantly here, he understands what it takes to smooth away the rough parts of Lewis and get to the good parts. He's kind and considerate. But he is not infallible; when the reader sees things from his perspective, they can see his weaknesses, flaws and difficulties that make him more human. (Speaking of perspective, this book is in alternating third person, which is perfect, as it allows so much insight into each character.)
The narration is excellent. I hope that the narrator ends up doing many more audiobooks beyond this series. I will say that I find it so hard to envision Lewis as the beautiful, gorgeous man he's supposed to be with that voice & some of his personality traits, but I felt that way even when reading it in e-book form. That's probably part of what makes him who he is - he's this successful, beautiful, handsome man - and then he opens his mouth and a curmudgeon comes out. Anyway, listening to it after having read the e-book after that was first released made me appreciate the book even more.

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Balanced story, hurt-comfort, lovely romance

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 08-09-24

Having already read book 1 of this series, (which one should), I was unsurprised to enjoy this one and find it absolutely perfectly well balanced. It's sweet, funny, sometimes sad, sometimes very sexy, and very romantic.
The characters make questionable decisions, (making me want to slap them, especially Mason, with their own book at times), but based on their backgrounds, that made sense. I loved both of them despite their foibles and shortcomings. Being someone who loves gardening, the backdrop of gardens and gardening made their story even more enjoyable, though they could've been involved in almost any hobby or career and I still would've enjoyed the time I spent reading about them.
The audio is exceptional. There's so much emotion and the narration brought it out even stronger.
I have literally nothing negative to say.

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Perfect addition to a fantastic series

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 08-09-24

I almost thought I might not love this book as much as the previous ones, since the previous ones were so good. But nope, I loved it. I wanted to give so much love and comfort to Jay and even though Tag had a tendency to lash out in a way that might make some people want to smack him, he and Jay worked so well together on the whole that I never felt anything but affection for him. There's a lot of serious moments for the characters, but there's also humor and sweetness to balance it out. The side characters were also pretty well developed, or as much as they needed to be, adding more to the story and the development with all their interactions. Some were so darn loveable that I'd almost wish that they could be main characters, though they'd likely be not quite in the same type of romance genre. I'd say more but I don't want to spoil anything. It's so much better to just experience it as it goes along.
I've officially never read or listened to anything by Joanna Chambers that I haven't loved and since all the Sally Chambers books I've read have been cowritten with Chambers, I can now say that I have loved all her work too. I can't envision another pairing for this series, but I'd be into it.
The narration continued to be just as excellent for this book as the previous two. I really liked the juxtaposition of Jay's posh accent with Tag's working class one. This entire series has a lot of different levels of class and regional differences for the narrator to juggle and although I'm American and might not 100% know what's totally accurate, I felt it was done well. (I know I've heard American narrators butcher American regional accents, so hey, maybe these British folks weren't perfect, but it seemed right to me.)

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Good story, okay narration

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-03-24

I'd been meaning to read this book for quite a long time - and when the audiobook came out, I thought I'd get to it much sooner, but apparently, it took me another couple years. Time flies and all that.
I enjoyed this book & I do intend to keep going with the series. I was invested in the story quickly - I hadn't read the blurb for some time, so it felt even more intriguing at first, so far as learning about the characters and their motivations, with no clear memory of the gist of the plot beyond the very basic premise of the club itself. I liked and sympathized with Matt quite a bit and didn't mind Lawson overly much. I tend to be meh at best when it comes to doms in these types of books, as my own personality leans toward anti-authority, but I could take him for the most part. It helped that Matt could be pretty aggressive himself. Of the more dom-like characters, I preferred Curtis, who also had a large presence in this book, and that's got me intrigued for the next book, which apparently has Curtis as a lead protagonist.
There's a good bit of action in this book and suspense as well. It kind of slowed down around the halfway to two-thirds mark or so, but just as my interest began to wane, the plot thickened and got more intense, so I was sucked back in. So if you think everything is slowing down and maybe losing steam - keep going.
So far as the audio narration, it was decent, but I don't know if I'll continue with the audiobooks or read the e-books. It wasn't bad; I can't pick anything out that was a big negative, so I wouldn't necessarily avoid this narrator in the future; I just wasn't blown away. Audio is subjective, so others might enjoy it more.

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Enjoyable fantasy romance

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-26-24

This was an engaging, sweet, sometimes snarky funny, sometimes sad and bittersweet, fantasy romance. It's set in one of those vague Medieval-type fantasy periods - some of the language is very modern, even though they don't have modern technology and they ride horses, etc. Because it is in a fictional world, it can get away with that. Both characters were wonderfully likeable and flawed; I wanted to hug them both. It reminded me a bit of A.H. Lee's Knight & Necromancer series - very similar dynamic, though not the same exact situation - different enough to just follow a trope, rather than be too derivative. (I think that is a sort of fantasy trope - the sunny heroic type & the isolated necromancer or dark mage or mercenary of some sort, neither as cut-and-dry in their hearts and minds as the world believes. It's a good trope.)
The audio was decent - Rubio is the type of narrator with a tendency to pause between phrases or sentences for perhaps too long. I never speed up narration, but it was tempting. His voicework was otherwise quite good though; I felt like the voices he chose for each character fit them well. I just wanted to move the story along faster.

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Satisfying romance

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-05-24

Lately, I haven't been reading/listened to a lot of contemporary romance that does not include some kind of mystery, life-or-death situation type thing, but I've enjoyed so much of Harmon's work before that this was on my TBR, and when the opportunity for an ARC came up from Gay Romance Reviews, it seemed a great way to get back into the no-killers-involved romance groove.
I was right - not once did I bemoan the lack of truly evil villains to identify, I was so involved in the characters in Coddiwomple and their story. I could sympathize with both Journey and Cam, how they'd been hurt in the past, not just by their original failed romance, but by others in their lives - and I had an equal urge at times to smack them with their own book, (metaphorically speaking). I also often wanted to smack Journey's brothers, (and occasionally his dad), upside their thoughtless heads and tell the nosy smalltown folks to mind their own business, because GEEZ. There were a fair amount of moments of misunderstandings gone wild, but some were immediately addressed and those that weren't were a flaw to the characters' personalities for them to work on, not a flaw in the story. There were many moments that I felt my heart in my throat in sympathy, but thankfully, there was a ton of humor to keep the story from being too heavy to endure.
As for the audio narration, it was pretty good. I saw at least one review mention the possibly slightly too long pauses in Hudson's speech pattern and I could hear it at the start, but either it stopped or I stopped noticing it quickly once I was wrapped up in things. Hudson's voicing of some of the older female characters in town was a bit caricature-like, but perhaps deservedly so.
All in all, I'm very glad I listened to this book - and it did take effectively get me back into this type of contemporary romance. Mission accomplished.

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A delightful, geeky, romantic adventure

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-02-24

This was an extremely enjoyable story - I was taken in by the general dry humor straight away and then completely sucked in once the adventure portion really got going. The world around me pretty much disappeared once Kit's expedition began. It's like Indiana Jones, but if Indy were gay, far more socially inept, a bit less physically fit, not exactly psyched about going on an adventure, and had epilepsy. Oh and not as intentionally suave about seducing the potential love interest, (or entirely sure about how much potential there might be), but that only added to the fun for the reader; (unlike Indy, Kit is not a womanizer - or the comparable gay version).

Kit is not perfect and he makes mistakes, but he is capable of recognizing mistakes and tries to do better. I found him very likeable - one might occasionally want to lightly slap him, but the feeling doesn't last. Or at least it didn't for me. The story is entirely from Kit's point of view, but Ethan is pretty much an open book, at least to the reader, (or listener so far as the audiobook goes). For the reader/listener, the romance aspect of the story is kind of like those mysteries in which the reader knows more than the protagonist, because Kit is occasionally clueless.

The audio was good - if you're a Joel Leslie fan, you won't go wrong with this. For those who might be on the fence, it's not as raspy as some of his narrations & the characters didn't seem to sound too old for their age, which is something that sometimes seems to be the case with his narrations. There were a few times that when characters shouted or yelled, so did he and, while that's totally appropriate for the direction, I did have to adjust the volume from time to time - but that was mostly because I was at work and I'm never confident of how much can be heard by others when I wear my headphones. I have no reservations about recommending this audiobook.

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Favorite C.S. Poe book so far

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-08-24

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book. I adore Larkin and Doyle is just the sweetest. Totally binged the heck out of it.
I will say that it does get dark at times - definitely TW for suicidal ideation, depression, hints of domestic abuse, death of loved ones, and general homicidal violence - a lot of it is more recounting of previous off-page incidents though. On the bright side, literally, there is a lot of very dry humor in it - I laughed out loud many times. If you're looking for smut, you won't find much - it's a slow burn - and better and more realistic because of that.
For the audio, it's definitely got to be one of the best Kale Williams narrations I've heard - and that's definitely saying something, because he's always fantastic; sometimes I relisten to books because after listening to one of his narrations for the first time, I need to revisit my favorites. This will definitely be a relisten.

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Loved it without reservation

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-22-24

I loved, loved, loved this book. Yeah, I figured out the whodunit before the heroes/leads did, but then I got to feel all smug about my deductive/detective skills, so it's all good. I finished the audiobook over less than two days, I was so wrapped up in the characters and the story - and the fantastic narration by Kale Williams, (and was still thinking about in between times I got to listen), so I'm not hesitating in the 5 stars at all.
I'm so glad I already have the next couple books in my possession.

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