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Bruisingly Emotional

Revisado: 03-04-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This final installment is just a beautifully written as the first two... although, the depths of grief in this one are often quite heartbreaking. Most of the emotional content will most likely leave you feeling bruised. The overall sense of loss may leave you feeling adrift. Prepare to feel the pain of these characters deeply. Lascarso never disappoints. She is a truly gifted wordsmith with a staggering talent for language and prose. 4.5 stars... docking half a star for leaving me gutted.

Greatly appreciated and admired Daniel Carter's absolutely outstanding audio performance bringing these compelling characters to life. A gorgeous listening experience!

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a heartfelt portrayal

Revisado: 01-09-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This is such a heartfelt story and absolutely feels like it comes from a place of personal insight and experience. Growing up I knew men like Randy, who were married to women [often for decades], and eventually gathered their courage and risked everything to come out. I found this book to be incredibly honest in its depictions of how Randy struggles with his sexuality. How he navigates through his journey of living openly as a gay man. All while trying to maintain the relationship with his [ex] wife and discovering/forging new connections. The portrayals of the MCs and their perspectives read so genuinely and truly gives you a sense of the landscape of what life was like in the mid 1980's in Boystown Chicago while AIDS forever altered this community.

David Allen Vargo gives a stellar performance on the audio... there are quite a few musical inserts throughout - which was unusual for me - and ended up rather enjoying how they added to the narrative.

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Fantastic Narration… Unsatisfactory Cliffhanger

Revisado: 11-15-22

Grrrrrr…. That ending!!! WTH.

However, alllll the stars given for another stellar narration by Kale Williams!!

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gritty & heartbreaking

Revisado: 10-29-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I greatly enjoyed this book the first time and fell even harder the second time around while listening to the audio. Dan Calley's performance is absolutely captivating. He brilliantly breathes life into these complicated characters.

I always love how Leigh just plunges her characters into the thick of it. It's compelling to read about characters in gritty real life situations with no excuses given and watch them pull their way through the mire. Despite how angsty [read: sad] the content of this one is I really connected with the characters. I loved seeing how their individual experiences altered their personal journeys but ultimately set them on a path towards each other. Watching these arcs unfold [especially those of the Pope brothers] was a heartbreaking thing of beauty.

Story: 4.5 stars
Audio: 5+ stars

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Enjoyable Story - Stellar Narration

Revisado: 08-03-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I liked this one fine the first time around when I read it originally but was really hoping Joel's stellar narration would bolster my review of the story up at least a full notch. Sadly, it didn't. Don't get me wrong though, it's still a sold 3 star read with a wonderful pair of over 40 MCs with loads of fun and witty banter featuring a terrific cast of supporting characters. There's a lot to enjoy about their overall dynamic and story plotline. It just left me feeling wanting something more from/for them.

I was thrilled to add this new narration from Joel to my collection as he always provides a stellar performance and this one was no exception to his remarkable talent. However, even he couldn't completely make this one a home run for me.

Story: 3 stars
Narration: 4.5 stars

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Absolutely Stunning!

Revisado: 07-24-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I was thrilled when the audio for this was released. Daniel Carter gives a truly exemplary performance bringing these compelling characters to life! I also greatly appreciated the high quality of the sound production. An absolute pleasure to listen to!

This book... this book... these characters... their story. Gah. It's truly difficult to find words to properly describe the poetry of language that captured my heart while reading this lush tale. Laura Lascarso is such a talented wordsmith and has such a remarkable way of connecting her characters not only to each other but also to the reader. Her books are an absolute joy to read... to discover... to lose yourself within. I loved this book and the intense, heartfelt, and amazing journey it took me on. Positively stunning! Highly recommend!

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an interesting and fun listen

Revisado: 07-01-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I liked this book... It's a fun, well-written read with some interesting concepts and world-building. It offers a diverse cast of characters that I think would be very engaging for a younger audience. I felt that this title really should've been marketed as YA. I struggled with a lot of the replacement language [IE: dickhole, prickhole, jerkhole, etcetera] as I found it to be incredibly distracting and repetitive. I also found the MCs ages confusing as no one really exhibited the emotional maturity and grit you'd expect from 20+ year war veterans [IE: Maddeo read as 16-18 to me, instead of 34] living in a world plagued with 100+ years of war and conflict. Def worth checking out... just lighter fare than I was anticipating. Go in expecting YA content and you're sure to greatly enjoy it. I listened to the audio with voice actor CJ Storm [a new to me narrator] and thought he provided a fantastic performance!

I grabbed this book after seeing it compared to Hailey Turner's Spellbound series... and while it's in a similar vein, it's more like a much nicer, brighter, and far less brutal younger sibling.

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Absolutely Brilliant Narration!!

Revisado: 06-13-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

An excellent example of what an amazingly talented narrator can do for a book!!

This is pretty light fare for a mafia storyline. I'm not a huge fan of insta-love or mafia tropes, both elements that might've kept me from finishing this book if I hadn't become enthralled with the experience of it via audio. I didn't like Jimmy much right out of the gate either, but none of these things hardly mattered after Scott Carousel's sensational performance completely wowed and romanced me; pulling me in despite any hesitations I might have had in the beginning. Because seriously. Carousel's talent is remarkable, his exuberance delightful, and his range is equally impressive! He truly does a phenomenal job of breathing distinguishable life into a wide array of characters while fully engaging the listener with the storyline. He's a new to me narrator and one that I hope other authors take note of and seek out opportunities to work with him. Carousel took what would've been a solid 3 star read for me and elevated my overall enjoyment of this installment far beyond my expectations. His brilliant narration coupled with the high-quality mic & sound engineering were an absolute pleasure to listen to and all but ensured my investment in the future audio releases of this series!

story: 3 stars
narration: 5+ stars

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Ace + Neurodivergent Characters

Revisado: 03-31-22

As always Micheal Dean provides a truly remarkable narration!

I loved this title but really struggled to connect with the MCs. I was excited to read about the complex characteristics of an Ace Daddy & his neurodivergent boy. However, the story takes off at warp speed and everything simply moved along far too quickly for these complicated characters to establish a more meaningful beginning. In the end, I just didn't feel invested in their journey and as such had difficulty relating to several aspects of their relationship.

Quality writing that read as rushed and underwhelming.

Story: 2.5 stars
Narration: 4 stars

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Brillantly Performed!

Revisado: 03-15-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I enjoyed this book. It's not my favorite from Morton, but it's got all of the terrific dynamics and fantastic witty & biting banter that makes her so well-loved. The forever oblivious ongoing state of these two friends grew a little long for me when I'd read it in the past. However, after recently listening to Joel Leslie's brilliant narration those small grumbles easily fell away and I simply became immersed in the story. Leslie's performance really breathes life into these characters and helped to evoke a connection that I was missing before. Loads of fun to listen to - highly recommend the audio!

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