Pansies Audiobook By Alexis Hall cover art

Pansies

Spires Series, Book 4

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Pansies

By: Alexis Hall
Narrated by: Cornell Collins
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About this listen

Alfie Bell is . . . fine. He's got a six-figure salary, a penthouse in Canary Wharf, the car he swore he'd buy when he was 18, and a bunch of fancy London friends.

It's rough, though, going back to South Shields now that they all know he's a fully paid-up pansy. It's the last place he's expecting to pull. But Fen's gorgeous, with his pink-tipped hair and hipster glasses, full of the sort of courage Alfie's never had. It should be a one-night thing, but Alfie hasn't met anyone like Fen before.

Except he has. At school, when Alfie was everything he was supposed to be, and Fen was the stubborn little gay boy who wouldn't keep his head down. And now it's a proper mess: Fen might have slept with Alfie, but he'll probably never forgive him, and Fen's got all this other stuff going on anyway, with his mam and her flower shop and the life he left down south.

Alfie just wants to make it right. But how can he, when all they've got in common is the nowhere town they both ran away from.

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Alexis Hall (P)2020 Tantor
Romance Funny Heartfelt Feel-Good

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Poetry - and a lovely performance by C. Collins

Classic, classic Alexis Hall! All my favorite aspects of their writing come together in Pansies. I have been enjoying Hall's recent stuff as well, but I've been holding onto Pansies for the right moment, and I treasured it like a greedy child. Poetry!

I listened to the audio version, and Cornell Collins does a stunning job with these characters. Simply a beautiful performance.

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… Alexis Hall, what a way to write…

I’ve become a fan of his stories, very simple story lines very relatable! Very enjoyable… and when I say simple I do not mean it in a bad way… rather the contrary… OMG! I think this one in particular might be in my top 5! Great job!

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emotional, raw take on school bully transformation

Outstanding! The characters are extremely well-formed, even secondary characters. Plot is a bit slow in the middle, but it's worth sticking it out. Sometimes I felt claustrophobic in the setting, but the setting (small town in northern England) is lovely.

I avoided this one for awhile because I was nervous about the "school bully" angle, but it's handled well. Some of what happens is unhealthy, and it's acknowledged as that and written in a really human, engaging way. Watching Alfie grow is beautiful. At times, some of the things he does or says are horrendous (especially in the past but also in the book), but he learns, and it feels genuine. He's a total romantic, which is so charming. Although some of the things he does or says that are called romantic in the book seem like nothing special--but they mean a lot to Fen, so I enjoyed it all the same.

Fen is slow to heal after losing his mother, and it feels real. Hall is extremely gifted at capturing real human emotions. Fen writes beautiful letters to his mother, but they all sound like Hall's writing style (unique compound words, metaphors, and adjectives), which sometimes threw me out of the scene. But they're emotional and raw, so I appreciated the insight they gave us into Fen's POV.

Sometimes I didn't understand Fen and Alfie as a couple. Their intimate scenes (physical and otherwise) are really beautiful, but everything in-between suggests they're a poor match. They have very little in common aside from what they want in a partner (perhaps that's enough?). They work by the end (they grow for each other, especially Alfie), but it was shaky for me in the middle.

I wish Alfie's friends had featured more. Their role in the beginning seems important, and I was disappointed that they only resurface toward the end. They would have helped the story feel less claustrophobic and slow, but oh well.

I am abnormally invested in Greg, Alfie's friend, and I wish he had his own book. Just want HEAs all around!

Performance is outstanding!

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No one does redemption better than Alexis Hall

In book after book, Alexis Hall gives us a character who's given up, or very nearly, and he slowly, carefully, and sometimes with really wicked sharp wit, brings them back to life, usually through a lover who won't give up on them. The Billionaire series and the Spires series are both about redemption through love, and as corny as that sounds, Alexis Hall makes it so deeply human that the cliche turns real and has the power to move and even inspire. I loved the book, the narration, the whole thing, and as with every Alexis Hall book, I finish it and get so unnerved that there's not another one to listen to that I go back and listen to it again, and it holds up to a second listen, and I suspect to a third.

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Crack your teeth sweet

They fit so well together from the very beginning. Big ole teddy bear and a little hell cat. Hall does such a fantastic job with character development it’s what keeps bringing me back to his work.

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Wonderful

This is one of the best of Alexis Hall’s novels. It is mainly Alfie’s story and his way to finding his place in the world.

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An amazing listening experience!

I loved everything about this book. It made me cry and laugh, so hard I almost fell out of my bed. A heartfelt journey of two partly broken men. And the narrator made this an extraordinary experience, completely wonderful.

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Gorgeous story of redemption and forgiveness

I'm not sure why I hadn't re-read this previously because this book is really gorgeous, no surprise. It's about redemption and forgiveness and acceptance like most of Alexis Hall's books, but this one feels personal in a way that some of the others don't achieve. I may only feel that way because of some of his background that he's shared, but regardless it's just beautiful. I love that all of that is tied up together, Fen forgiving Alfie, both of them forgiving the town they grew up in, and recognizing that there is good with the bad in all of our backgrounds. Finally I think it's Alfie forgiving himself for all the things that he did, and accepting everything that makes him who he is. I love the idea that Fen always saw the parts of Alfie that he did his best to hide and reject.

The common saying of "You can't go home again." has always meant to me that it doesn't exist anymore, but this felt that while the home you grew up in may not exist as it was you can go back to the parts of your home that you choose to remember. You can create new memories that layer over the good and the bad parts of your past, and that all of that can help heal the wounds you live with.

I really like that Fen's parents were always there for him, always supported him, and always recognized the true jewel they had in their midst. I like that it was, in the end, Alfie's dad that actually ended up being the more supportive of his parents, that doesn't seem to happen often in mm romance. Although supportive is probably ... too generous, but nonetheless. It's unfortunate though probably more realistic that they couldn't open their hearts and minds to accept Alfie as he is.

I love them together, I love that on the surface they seem like they'd have nothing in common, nothing to bind them together, but that their shared past was enough for them to find those things that made them possible.

Audio: Cornell Collins did a lovely job with the Geordie accent, I know that was a big concern and reason for this not being released in audio sooner. I'd love to listen to more books with that accent although I don't think it is reflected that commonly in books. I enjoy his ability to make different characters distinct and that he, although sometimes a bit too exuberantly, actually acts out the emotions of the characters. Two things especially make me hate some audio, mispronunciation and reading at me, neither of which he ever does. I look forward to listening again soon.

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Love Alexis Hall

I love everything AH writes! These characters were well-suited to each other and tugged at the heartstrings.

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loved it

This will definitely be a relisten for me. I absolutely adored it, and I think this is my new favorite Alexis Hall book!

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