Good story, great narration

In Helping Hands we met Josh as the roommate of Jez and Mac. He’s known in the house as a “player”, but in reality, he’s a rent boy. So each night out he works hard for the money in order to go to university. His parents are out of the picture and he doesn’t want student loans.

Rupert is a shy IT guy who normally has a hard time meeting people. When he’s stood up at the same bar as Josh one night, the two strike up a conversation. When Josh makes it clear that he’d love to spend more time with Rupert, but it’ll cost him, something takes over Rupert and he finds some new-born confidence.

Their connection is phenomenal and both parties are left a bit shaken. They quickly make plans to be together again, and again, and again. Though there is always an exchange of money, it begins to feel wrong as their emotions get involved.

Finally, on a long “working” weekend where Josh poses as Rupert’s boyfriend, the lines get so blurry as to be non-existent between “client” and “lover”.

**

This book was another wonderful example of Jay Northcote’s ability to give us a very sweet romance, no matter the circumstances. Yes, there were times when I wished she’d delved a bit deeper into the emotional impact Josh’s job had on both parties, but I appreciated that from early on Josh admitted to fantasizing about Rupert while with his other “clients”.

I think that – if you can believe it- there was more physical scenes in this story than needed to be. I wanted to have more of an emotional connection between these guys than I saw on page. Yes, they did do some other, non-sex related things with each other, but I didn’t get to see enough of it to really buy into their HEA.

Rupert is a super sweet MC and though Josh isn’t a bad guy, I didn’t ever see him as being quite “worthy” of Rupert… he just needed to spend more time with the guy as himself, not as his escort.

That being said… I enjoyed reading this and the writing was excellent – as always – and I will certainly look forward to any more books in this series.

3.5 of 5 stars


Audio

Michael Steadman has narrated two other “British” books, the first in this series and a book by JL Merrow. I really like his style. He’s a bit “rough” (which is great) and sometimes sounds a little stilted, but for the most part he’s excellent at the emotion and making the listener feel like this is a more of a “sharing” of a story rather than a “telling”. I really find him easy to listen to and he really adds to the overall experience.

4.5 of 5 stars

Overall 4 of 5 stars

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1 person found this helpful

book 3?

Jay has a great writing ability for romance . mark has an endearing ability to read. thnx

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Awesome, Hot and Sweet

AUDIO REVIEW:
This book is so amazing on its own already, but the narrator did a great job of bringing characters to life, and it was super enjoyable almost-five-hours. Josh and Rupert kept me company on my commute and I truly adored every single moment of the book.


BOOK REVIEW

After I got the first book on Amazon when it was free, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the second book, especially after I saw it was Josh.

In it, we get to know where Josh disappeared on those weekends when Mac and Jez were…having fun, and the other roommates were out partying. With absolutely no support by his family and the wish to avoid getting riddled with debts, he found work as an escort and it seems to suit him.

When a client doesn’t show up, Josh picks up Rupert and gets him to pay him for the night. But of course it can’t just end up being a one-night stand. Josh and Rupert get to know each other better and Rupert keeps inviting Josh to drinks before their appointments, and also seems to genuinely care whether Josh is enjoying himself.

They are both stubborn idiots in some moments, both convinced that it’s just him having those feelings and that the other one doesn’t really care…as well as Josh’s resistance by claiming that a relationship that started as an escort-client cannot develop into anything serious or healthy.

In the end, Jez returns the favour to Josh and Rupert and Josh finally acknowledge they want to be together and manage to sort things out.

I loved both the characters. They are just so…adorable! Their denial was also funny, claiming it’s just sex while falling asleep next to each other and such. I also loved that the other housemates appeared sometimes too, especially Jez and Mac!

It can be read as a standalone, but you’re missing on a wonderful book before if you just skip to this one 😉

It’s a great, sexy, hot book with little angst and a lot of enjoyable moments 🙂

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Josh and Rupert need to get past the money to find the love!

Second in the Housemates series, Like A Lover tells Josh's story.

Josh is an escort in secret, at least to most of his housemates. When his "date" for the night doesn't show up, he catches the attention of another man in the bar who looks like he has also been stood up.

Rupert is a little lonely in life but content, until he meets Josh and realizes that he is exactly what he has been missing.

This story is so good. The love is there between them, they just can't see it in the other, which honestly makes the whole thing sad and a little heartbreaking. When everything blows up at Rupert's Mother's wedding, they finally see what they could have with each other, if only they're brace enough to say yes.

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Fantastic

Like a Lover it's a scrumptious , hot and sweet romance short story , that was a pleasure to listen . Mark Steadman did a great job with the narration.

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book 2

this is the second book in the Housemates series. A little heavy on the sex, but considering this book is about Josh, the escort, that shouldn't come as a surprise. Enjoyed the book overall.

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College student moonlights as escort

It was short and really cliche. Josh was a college student moonlighting as a sex worker to avoid college debt. When his "date" stood him up, he hooked up with another bloke Rupert.
Obviously the business relationship eventually gave way to feelings and Josh didn't know how to deal with it. The rest of the book was Rupert and Josh hiding how they feel about each other, and trying to figure out how to bring up redefining their relationship.

This love story was cute and sweet albeit too much sex. I like how Rupert didn't judge Josh's choices and saw the guy underneath it all. The characters were so likable that I was rooting for them almost from the beginning. Jay Northcote's writing was entertaining but narrator was just okay. I would have enjoyed a little more variation when changing characters. Thankfully, this book was written in third person, so it was easy on audio to know which character was speaking. I was able to follow the conversations with ease. This is a decent rent boy story and lacking in heaviness or angst.

*Special Thanks to the author for the audiobook given in exchange for an honest review.

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Highly enjoyable!

*audiobook review*

I had already read this book and given it 5 stars so I knew going into it, I already loved the story and the book. This is a really well done rent boy/escort book and the development of Rupert and Josh's relationship was hot and steamy. As a bonus, we got to see Jez and Mac again from the first Housemates book.

In regards to the audiobook, I liked it a lot. I've never listened to narrator, Mark Steadman, but he sounded great. As an American, I am a complete sucker for a British accent. The only thing that detracted from it was that he did not distinguish his Rupert voice enough from his narration voice. Overall this was a very enjoyable book and audiobook and I highly recommend it!

**I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author**

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4.5 Stars

Any additional comments?

Let me get this out of the way first, okay? WOW! Josh is a sex worker?! What a FANTASTIC plot twist!

I knew when reading Helping Hand I wanted more of Josh. And boy did Jay deliver for me!

I loved this! I loved how much Josh and Rupert began to feel for each other, I loved the hesitancy in admitting their feelings, I loved how Josh wasn't willing to compromise in the end, I loved all the super, fantastic, hot, hot, hot sex, and mostly? I absolutely loved that despite Josh being paid for sex - this wasn't all dark and angsty.

I thought Marc Steadman lived up to his name...the narration was steady (I didn't notice any overt pausing or tone problems), it had a nice flow, and Steadman offered good character voices.

One of the things really imperative in getting the narration for this story right, in my opinion, is the sex scenes. With Josh being a sex worker, but also really liking, and eventually falling for, Rupert, it was important for the heat to come through in the narration and Steadman definitely brought out the passion they have for each other.

All in all I thought Steadman did really well and I hope he'll continue to carry on with the series.

Recommended!

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2 people found this helpful

Like a Lover

I seem to have forgotten most of what happens in the books of this series.
Its like I am getting to experience them all over again for the first time while listening to the Audiobooks. I Love Josh and Rupert's story. How they met, Josh being an escort and Rupert is just an adorably sweet guy. Rupert just wants companionship and to form a relationship with Josh, no matter what the "cost" is, he is willing to do, and overlook pretty much everything to be with him. This book is super Cute and I love the dynamic and personalities we get with these two guys. So while I do really like this book and the story I wasn't super impressed with Marks narration on this one. I almost felt like he was "reading" in some spots were there should have been just a little more emotion thrown in to the actually narration of the book. But it was good and I still enjoyed this one, just not sure it will be my favorite of the series when it comes to the narration specifically.

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