LauraP.

Addiction & Redemption.

Revisado: 04-26-25

First, Iggy Toma and Cooper North did a nice job with narration. If you have listened to either of them before they are pretty consistent in their performances. I’m a lot more familiar with Iggy’s work but Cooper seems solid, too.

This was my first book by this author. I found it on the Plus catalog and gave it a chance because of the narrators. I’m interested to check out other books in this series.

Dante is pretty much a hot mess at the start but he’s not just written like a complete brat, which was refreshing. He’s been in the public eye his entire life, he’s never had anyone put him first (just what he can do for them), and he has a stalker. It’s not a surprise he drinks and abuses drugs. He gets increasingly out of control until his manager, who is a complete jerk (and apparently his father?), hires a new drummer with some military experience to keep an eye on Dante while touring with the band.

Between dealing with addition, parental abandonment (emotional if not literal), and the stalker, there’s actual plot happening here. There’s also a kink (I’m using that term lightly) that typically isn’t something I enjoy reading about, but the way it was worked into the story as a form of almost therapy that I found interesting as well.

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Title Here

Revisado: 04-21-25

I hate the forced title. I don’t know.

I came across book 2 in this series first and really liked it. I moved on to book 3 next, then backtracked to this book. It’s a little hard to rate the mystery aspect of it because I already knew some of it from reading ahead. Would it have seemed as obvious as it did if I didn’t already know? Maybe.

It’s also challenging when the first book you read in a series is your favorite. This book was fine. The characters are likable enough. They’re kind of boring though-even with a lot going on.

I also keep getting some of the people in the town mixed up. Are there a couple J names? I feel like there’s one guy involved with one person but he’s also hung up on someone else so he drinks alone.

This is on the Audible Plus catalog as of when I’m reviewing it. Might be free to listen other places too. Definitely worth it to listen. If you’re on the fence about the next book in the series, I do recommend you keep reading.

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Not as good as The Gift.

Revisado: 04-18-25

I definitely didn’t like this one as much as the second book. It was okay. There’s a family dynamic in here that’s a pretty strong part of the storyline. Parts of that didn’t work for me.

There’s an age gap but also a mentorship type thing going on and that didn’t help with the romance.

I’ve listened to these narrators multiple times. Overall a solid performance. MM would be easier to follow duet style, There were a couple spots where the voices were a little too similar but overall these narrators are experienced with MM dual narration.

Story wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either.

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No surprises but a good listen.

Revisado: 04-15-25

I started listening to this on Spotify. After a few chapters I decided I liked it and came to Audible to buy it. This was a new author for me, so the extended preview was good. The narrators are familiar to me from other books and they were solid, as always. The book was a quick listen, with the story moving along smoothly. I definitely want to check out the next book in the series.

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Good but it dragged a little.

Revisado: 03-30-25

Not a bad story but it definitely dragged out in the middle longer than it could have. The big secret wasn’t much of a surprise either. Having said that it was a nice story. Carter wasn’t super likable at the beginning but it didn’t take long for him to soften up and to see the caring side of him. Reed was mostly just anxious the entire book. It would have been nice to see a little more of him when he’s happy.

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Great narration & story

Revisado: 03-29-25

This was my first book by this author. I bought it when it was the deal of the day because these are two of my favorite narrators. I appreciated that the FMC had an optimistic outlook despite everything and that the MMC was just unapologetically who he was, good or bad. I checked out the next book in the series and it’s EM & TH so that immediately went on my wishlist!

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So much better than the first book!

Revisado: 03-15-25

I DNF the first book in this series but decided to try book 2 anyway and am really glad I did. The story of two people who had similar baggage (and more than one unfortunate moment between themselves in the past) had some nice layers. I thought both narrators did a nice job as well.

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Julia Whelan and Connor Crais are perfection.

Revisado: 03-02-25

First, the narration was top tier. You don’t get much better than Julia Whelan and Connor Crais, two of my favorites, narrating duet style.

Second, it’s Abby Jimenez, who is another favorite of mine. She’s never afraid to include serious issues in her stories and even though this is a short story, this was no exception.

At one point I was a little frustrated with the FMC thinking she was being a little too much, and then she continued her inner monologue of why she felt that way and it gave me more perspective on an issue I fortunately haven’t experienced beyond the smaller incidents I think most women have.

It’s a short story, so everything happens very quickly. If you’re a person who doesn’t like instalove or fast resolutions to a conflict, then you should consider picking something longer to read. If you want a short story with heart, humor, likable characters, and some substance, this is a great option.

As far as 🌶️ there’s nothing beyond kissing on the page. The way the story rolled out that felt appropriate and it wasn’t an awkward stop like some books can be.

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Really slow burn

Revisado: 02-18-25

This is a slow burn. A really slow burn.

Timeline Spoilers: They get together at 73% and the audiobook ends at 97% (just over 18 minutes remaining) because there’s a bonus chapter of another book at the end. And there’s a 3AB in the 24% that they’re together.

Usually I don’t like slow burns, but it worked okay for me for this book because of the relationship rolled out and everything else going on.

This was my first book by this author and I listened because it was on the Plus catalog and was narrated by Erin Mallon and Jacob Morgan. I’ll try just about anything those two narrate. The characters are in college, which isn’t my favorite, but again EM and JM. I would read more by this author.

I posted my review on Goodreads first and this book had a lot of DNFs so I definitely think the narrators saved it. People didn’t like that the MMC is a bully. You do find out why if you stick with it. Maybe JM just makes him sound better than people did in their own heads.

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Whispersync

Revisado: 02-16-25

Pippa Grant is an auto-buy author for me, and I really like Connor Crais. I’m not as familiar with Kit Swann but I have at least one other book she did in my library, so buying the audiobook was an easy decision. One I mostly regretted. At first I thought it was the story (pregnancy trope isn’t my favorite) but then I realized it’s KS’s narration. She went so far over the top her character was almost cartoonish and it was ruining the story for me. Her voice is good but the acting needed to be dialed way back. I bought the audiobook with the Whispersync discount and still had the ebook in my KU library, so I started switching back and forth, listening to CC’s chapters in Audible and reading KS’s chapters in Kindle. I enjoyed the book a lot more after that. I needed to get some projects done around the house so I got up and was productive during the listening chapters and let myself sit and take a break during the ebook chapters. I do recommend the book. Whether you choose the audiobook or ebook or a combination of both depends on your tolerance for someone being super UP all the time.

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