Day: April 4, 2015

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Nothing Serious Audiobook By Jay Northcote Narrated by Michael Pauley

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6197

nothing serious audioBlurb

Mark O’Brien is finally being honest with himself. His relationship with Rachel is over and he’s moving out of the home they’ve shared for six years. They get along, but he can’t fix a relationship when the person he’s with is the wrong gender.

Jamie Robertson, one of the removal men, is huge and ridiculously gorgeous, and Mark is smitten at first sight. When a cardboard box splits, revealing items of a personal nature that Mark never wanted anybody to see, he’s mortified. But it sparks the start of a beautiful friendship with benefits.

As Jamie initiates Mark into the joys of gay sex, the two men get increasingly close and “nothing serious” turns into something rather important to both of them. But communication isn’t their strong point. Will either man ever find the courage to be honest about his feelings?

Review

(Book review previously done on this site.)

Mark falls in lust with Jamie right from the start. He is one of the movers that help Mark into his new apartment and his new life. When a box of embarrassing personal items falls open, Jamie helps him investigate his new sexuality.

It was meant to be a casual thing. Mark’s first explorations at gay sex. Jamie’s continuation of a love ’em and leave ’em life style.

But… as time passes, both guys begin to see that this relationship can never just be a casual f*ckbuddy thing. The funny thing is that both worry that the other will be disappointed if things turn serious and both worry that the “l word” could end things.
**

I loved this book! It was fun, fast paced and really sweet, too. Mark’s exploration into sex was both hot and at turns emotional and moving. Jamie has his own demons to fight which prevent him from committing to a long term relationship, and it was great watching him move through these issues and evolve and grow as a man.

Jay Northcote really knows how to give us “every day joe” characters whose love stories are anything but ordinary.

I highly recommend this book and give it a 5 of hearts – I loved it!

Audio

Michael Pauley is an American (or Canadian or whatever).  He’s not British.  This is a VERY British story with British slang and a British setting.  I’m not sure why in the world a Brit wasn’t given this to narrate… I was terribly disappointed in that aspect.  The slang just sounds funny coming from the flat American voice.

However, to be fair, Michael does a nice job with the narration.  Nothing too spectacular in terms of voice differentiation, but he’s unobtrusive and allows you to become immersed in the story.

I was very pleased to see that the next Jay Northcote book was done with an accent and I wish this had been as well, but it wasn’t a bad narration, just not great.

Narration 3 of 5 hearts

Overall 4 of 5 hearts

4

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Prisoner of Silence by Derek Adams

Dreamspinner Presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6189

prisonerBlurb

On a cold February evening, Robert Chambers gives a panhandler a significant amount of cash. That gift allows Matt Cosgrove to turn his life around. When the men meet again, Matt, now employed at a local home improvement center, offers to build a shelving unit for Robert as a thank you. They become friends, and soon the chemistry between them cannot be denied. Robert, once betrayed by a faithless lover, believes he can finally build a relationship based on mutual trust and honesty. Then Robert discovers the dark secret that left Matt begging on a street corner. Their relationship appears doomed unless the walls of the prison of silence Matt has erected around his past can be breached.

Review

Robert is walking with his pretentious friend on his way to an expensive lunch when a bedraggled but sincere panhandler asks for five dollars to keep him in a shelter overnight so that he can keep applying for work. Feeling that, though he might be being conned, it’s worth the chance, Robert gives him a fifty and moves on with his life.

A few months later, Robert is in the hardware store getting supplies to make some shelves in his kitchen when the salesperson asks him if he needs any help. It’s the bedraggled man, Matt, whom he had helped on the streets. Matt is now back on his feet and grateful for Robert’s assistance.

Their attraction is instantaneous and incendiary. Soon they are practically living with one another and in love. But Matt’s past catches up with him and it might just be enough to drive them apart, forever.

**

This was a short, very hot, very sweet book by a new (to me) author. I loved it! Though I wish it were a bit longer, it really had all it needed to be a complete and wonderful story.

I thought the coincidence was just believable enough to allow me to suspend my disbelief and to fully immerse myself in the love story of these two hot and yet sincerely caring men.

I highly recommend this book and give it 5 of 5 hearts.

5

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