Story Rating: 4.75 stars
Audio Rating: 4 stars
Narrator: Michael Stellman
Length: 10 hours, 5 minutes
Audiobook Buy Links: Audible
Book Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
When P.I. MacKenzie Williams thinks another investigator is honing in on his case, he does what any civil man would do. He confronts the man in the slick black car. It turns out that the guy is not an investigator, but a lawyer—at Mac’s ex’s firm of all places—and happens to be in need of someone who can follow his fiancé to find out if she’s cheating on him.
Jordan Channing is quite possibly the most beautiful man Mac has ever seen, but Mac has filled his quotient for dating straight guys. His ex, Trevor, being the quotient. But the signals Jordan gives off are more than just friendly and Mac can’t help but wonder.
Spending so much time with Jordan doesn’t make things any better, but when the men finally give in, they still have to face doubts, coming out, current and past relationships, as well as jealousies. When it becomes too much, Mac’s first instinct is to run. It’s what he’s always done. Relationships have never been his thing. Though this time it’s different. If he runs, will Jordan chase him? And does Mac even want him to?
This book, can I just tell you how much I love it? Yes? Thanks. If you don’t know by now, I am a bit of a lover of OFY. Rational or irrational, whatever the debate—I love it. And this book is it with a side of snark, steam, and even some drama. From beginning to end it is engrossing and funny and emotional, even heartbreaking at time. But always fabulous.
If I had to pick one singular character trait that I love it would be sassy. And my dear MacKenzie is full of sass and snark and attitude and charm. What I think I like most about him is that he’s not only those things. He has depth and complexity. His whole mom cheated on dad and left thing worked well for him in that it builds who he is. Makes him this untrusting guy who doesn’t think love exists and runs from anything serious. And Jordan. Well, I don’t know if the guy could be more lovable. He’s not perfect, but he’s damn close. He makes mistakes and he realizes them then owns up to them. Smart guy. But he’s also this amazingly patient and supportive man. He deals with things from Mac that most people would walk away from. Which, in my opinion, makes him perfect. He shows Mac what it means to stay instead of run. But he also fights for what he wants. He doesn’t let Mac walk all over him. That’s the thing I think I like most about these two together. They match. They’re equals.
The plot, well, truthfully you’ll just have to read it. It’s a great balance of fun and sexy and sweet. I was hooked from the beginning. The author has a great voice and wonderful presence in this story. The flow is up tempo and nice. Never boring. I really enjoyed the writing—light, funny, and smart. The only thing that I noticed was a fair amount of repetition throughout the story—words and phrasing. I’d have liked to see (or hear in this case) less or none.
So as for the audiobook and the narrator, I have to say in the beginning I was a bit unimpressed because Stellman doesn’t use any variation in his voice to differentiate between characters. Lucky for me, I had an ebook copy of the story as well, because I read along for at least the first third of the book so I could recognize which character was speaking and when. There was also no differentiation between actual dialogue and internal thoughts. I will say, after thirty or so percent I quit following along on my kindle. On the plus side, the narrator’s voice is wonderfully raspy and sexy, and his inflection was spot on—hilarious when needed, exasperated at times, and serious at others. Aside from lack of character separation, I liked the narrator. A lot.
This is an audiobook I would definitely recommend and a book that is a must read. Great characters, wonderful writing, and fun plot—this story pretty much has it all. Add in Stellman’s sexy as hell voice and the audiobook is equally wonderful.
A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.
