Story Rating: 4.75 stars
Audio Rating: 4 stars

Narrator: Caleb Dickinson
Length: 7 hours, 8 minutes

Audiobook Buy Links: Audible
Book Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance

Trevan Bean loves his job, regardless of its dangers, but there’s nothing that he loves more than Landry Carter. Landry has his quirks, erratic behaviors, and scary ones, but Trevan has never, not once doubted him. Landry was thrown out of his house after high school graduation when his father found him with his high school boyfriend in a compromising position. Everything that Landry is now, he made himself. Well, he and Trevan. His success is due to the love Trevan shows him and they both know that.

After a surprise visit from Landry’s brother, at which he begs Landry to return home to see their sick mother, things heat up for Trevan at work when runners are being picked off left and right. Together, Trev and Landry decide to take the trip back to Landry’s childhood home to get out of the city for a while. The visit home turns out exactly how Landry expected but nothing like Trevan had. As Landry’s family pushes to convince Trevan of Landry’s mental illness, Trevan shows himself not only as the cornerstone to Landry, but an ally to the Carter household.

When Trevan is needed back at home to take care of some business and meet with his boss, tragedy strikes and Trevan enlists the help of a man he calls friend. A man who everyone in their right mind should be and is afraid of. But Trevan will stop at nothing to get Landry back safe. Nothing.

Mine is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s one of those books I go to when I need a pick me up. From the unexpected match of Landry and Trevan, to the misunderstanding and manipulations to the final conflict, this story is full of life and heartfelt awws.

Landry and Trevan are wonderfully dysfunctional, yet surprisingly stable. They are who they are. When I say Landry has quirks, that’s probably an understatement. His insecurities rule who he is, but it doesn’t change his relationship with Trev. Trev is the strength in this book. He is the rock Landry needed to find himself. What I like about Trevan is that while everybody in Landry’s family has tried to change him, Trevan has only ever supported Landry and encouraged him. Their relationship, while most would look on it from the outside and see dysfunction, is strong and powerful. The complexities of this book come in the form of Landry and his relationship with Trevan and it’s refreshing to find a slightly askew character who is still loved by his man and by the readership.

The story itself is fabulous. From the introduction and the flashbacks of Landry and his episodes, the world building and relationship building in this book is captivating. There’s a danger element in this book—the mob and a hitman. The two are separate entities in Trevan’s life, which we find out as we traverse his flashbacks and memories. We find out what made Trevan the lodestone that he is. And truthfully, I’m not embarrassed to say how much I love Conrad and hope for his story one day. I’m still crossing my fingers.

As for the audio portion of this book, Dickinson worked the voices and pacing with precision and talent. I enjoyed listening to him and his inflections. There is just an element to this author’s books—the frantic conversation—I felt like the narrator missed out on. While it’s a great book and wonderful recording, that part, and to me it’s an intricate part of Calmes’s storytelling, was important and should have been presented in a stronger fashion.

Overall, though, the audiobook of Mine is among my favorites. I love and will always love this story and have since found a new narrator I really like. Whether you choose to read or listen, this is a great book to pick up.

A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.