Story Rating: 4 stars
Audio Rating: 4 stars
Narrators: Diontae Black and Griswold Addams
Length: 4 hours, 21 minutes
Audiobook Buy Links: Amazon/Audible | iBooks
Book Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks
Aiden’s life isn’t going exactly as he had planned. Well, actually, he is having a difficult time deciding what to do, so he’s going to grad school, which he really doesn’t like. Aiden’s looking forward to a night listening to karaoke with his best friend, Penelope. But Penelope can’t make it at the last minute and she didn’t tell Aiden she also invited Kai, who has been Aiden’s nemesis since high school. Aiden hasn’t seen Kai for five years and he’s not looking for any type of reunion.
Aiden moved back to his home town after his mother’s death and he’s feels the loneliness acutely. He wasn’t expecting to see Aiden and, after all these years, he still isn’t exactly sure why Aiden hates him so much. But Kai needs a night out and maybe he can thaw the ice around Aiden so they can enjoy the evening. The night does bring them together, helped by a winter storm, and Aiden and Kai lean all he way into the spark and the chemistry around them. They find each other surprisingly easy to talk to as well and, after a night of revelations, Aiden and Kai have to decide if they want more nights in their future together.
Our Favorite Songs is the second book in the Moonlighters series, which revolves around a karaoke bar, which does feel a little dated to me. This book does stand alone, although if you have read Sing Anyway, there is a glimpse of Lily and Sam here.
Aiden and Kai went to high school together and teenage misconceptions had them thinking the other didn’t like them. They were both attracted to each other and figuring out their sexuality in high school was confusing to both of them. Like with the first book, this one also has a lot of introspection by both characters and has them getting personal fast.
Aiden wants to be a writer, but doesn’t think he’s good enough, and Kai is struggling after his mother has died. They have to get through the conversation of why they have always disliked each other, but it’s not something that can be accomplished before they find themselves at Kai’s home snowed in. Given the length of the book, some things move quickly and their first night together they begin a sort of Dom/sub dynamic, which seemed like a lot given the nature of their relationship.
The guys put aside their prior differences to have a magical night together while snowed in. But they haven’t sorted through all of their issues and, between what they are going through individually and then together, there is a lot for each of them to work through. Aiden and Kai are at a point in their lives where they could be better together if they find a way to let their walls down and let the other in.
Diontae Black and Griswold Addams alternately narrate this audio with each taking the POV chapters for one character. Black gives Aiden’s voice a nice smooth tone and many of Aiden’s fears and thoughts and longings are well captured. Addams voices the chapters from Kai’s POV and I think he was the wrong choice for this character. Addams goes all in on the intimate scenes and Kai’s state of mind clearly comes through, but Addams sounded so much older than Kai. Some scenes sounded similar to an educational audio with his cadence and I feel it didn’t capture who we were told Kai was. The two narrators also sound completely different, so when the POV of view changes, the characters sounded startlingly different from chapter to chapter. The quality of the audio production is great and, by the end, I was glad I had the opportunity to listen to it, but tweaking the casting for Kai could have worked better for me.
