Good enough story but Repetitive and next level Angsty.

Story concept was great but lacked a bit on the execution. Really more of a 3.5 stars but as that’s not an option I rounded up. Could have benefited greatly by some selective trimming as the themes and ideas were driven well home without repeating countless pages of the exact same thoughts, situations and dialog.
Epilogues are often used to quickly move through time and add details to expand on a story which is nice but I don’t like when they are used as an excuse to otherwise not really finish a book with an ending, it expresses lack of effort or laziness.

Narrator performance, all 3 stars above are for Greg and he deserves a full 5! Might just be personal preference but wasn’t a fan of Johns “choices” for portraying and voicing these characters, too whiny and often increased speed, volume and intonation where it didn’t seem warranted while also putting pauses in the middle of some sentence phrases and running on others making me have to rewind to understand exactly what really was being read. He really took away from the over all enjoyment of the story. Almost broke down and resorted to Reading the John chapters but was listening while commuting so powered thru.

Spoilers ahead ⚠️
Book suffered a bit from the “gay men being written by female writers” situation and because of the constant repetition and angst dialed up to 11 it became more of an annoyance than usual. For example there is no way two sexually active men, especially gay/bi men, wouldn’t have at least suggest, discussed or tried a cock ring! It’s also entirely possibly to achieve orgasm thru anal/prostate stimulation alone with zero penile involvement or erection needed. These are super common items, situations used by guys who have no erectile problems but in the story it was “ED OMG I’m Broken and can’t see a doctor for 4 months I’m DOOMED” on broken record repeat.
I guess online shopping doesn’t exist in this world either because listening to the entire Adult Store Angst scene was bad enough but then for other character to later reiterate and give extra credit for the bravery and strength it took to go into a store and purchase a sex toy, give me a freaking break they are adult men!
As a man I’ve never encountered a hot tub where the water was “Too Hot” that it made erections Impossible but lowering the temp a bit and we’re good to go, wtf? Would typically read over and ignore such things as a one off but after the 4th time it was stated it was harder to ignore.
Additionally didn’t make much sense that Author established that these two characters openly and honestly talk about deep personal issues when it suits the story or is used to move the narrative along but then are incapable of having simple and basic relationship conversations when needed to create problems and I unnecessarily increase the Angst!?!

2 people found this helpful

Enjoyable

I loved the story line and the characters and a double bonus two of my favorite narrators. Will say even though I enjoyed the story it was still a little sad in parts.

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Great narration but….

Both narrators were great. But the story…. It felt like the characters had the same conversation over and over and over and over again. It got really old and annoying.

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lovely

loved this story! can't go wrong with Greg Boudreaux but I have some problems with John Solo

1 person found this helpful

A very real situation

Handled with care! A great read for anyone who is dealing with E.D. Two words

1 person found this helpful

Not the same old same old - and I freakin' love it

L.A. Witt is an author with depth and intention. I went into this book after listening to two other books in the series- with expectations of similarity. I should have realized my error. The characters are both living in the aftermath of something devastating to their lives. And for Brent there is an aspect that I've never seen covered in m/m romance and I am HERE FOR IT. I wont get into it and spoil the book but I will say that Lori , as always .. doesn't disappoint . Be aware this is not a fabulous light hearted romp though the sex life of two people - but I cannot recommend it enough! Its amazing !

welll..... there's one thing that I didn't love. The narrator for Jon was way too breathy and "sighy" and frankly I felt like he made the character sound whiny .. about 50% in I downloaded the book on KU and read his chapters .

1 person found this helpful

A little long-winded

First thing, I love the narrators on this book. Their styles worked well together and the characters were consistent through the changing POV’s. The story was a little repetitive… “I’m not good enough for him” over and over. The story was good with interesting nuances, esp. about pain management. But at least two chapters of angst near the end could have been omitted.

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Awesome series

I love this series. I love how all the characters have different issues to over come and not just the copy paste scenarios that most books have.

Unique out of hundreds of books

Brent, an NHL hockey player, was in a car accident he shouldn’t have survived. He’s lucky to be able to walk; hockey is out of the question. He will live every moment in pain; the doctors tell him his goal is to make the pain manageable. His best friend drags him out of his depression and into a bar where he meets a nice, gorgeous man who he wants to spend the night with. Things don’t go as planned. But maybe it eventually goes better than planned.

I’m going to avoid spoilers…

Of the hundreds of MM romance books I’ve heard, none have covered this taboo topic. And the author made it hot. The characters were perfect for the story and well developed. Performed by my two favorite narrators, this book is even more special.

This was cute or whateva

Lol nah but seriously I loved the plot and the story. John is a beautiful soul and he was beyond perfection. I fell for him. Brent deserved someone like John after all the hardships he’s had to endure. I seriously love this couple.
A couple of things got on my nerves a little. The first thing being the thinking in circles. This is something some ppl (myself included) actually do. We stir and stew over something start getting to the point, then repeat the thoughts we just had. I have ADHD and this is very much my thought process. While that is ok for me and my inner thoughts it’s pretty unproductive and time consuming for a book. I think about half this book was John and Brent repeating a thought they literally just had. Say for example, how many times Brent repeated that “pain would be a constant in his life” or that “it would never go away” or that “the pain would always be there”? He repeated these same thoughts multiple times in a single chapter. I don’t mind repeat thoughts but the author overdid it in this.
I Honestly like both these narrators they’re new to me and so is the author, with that being said Greg Boudreaux kinda irked me from time to time. Whenever he announced the chapter he said it like he was speaking to a timid child and it was a little annoying and he would sometimes staccato his words. It wasn’t a deal breaker though and just my personal preference. Other than that I have no real complaints the story was beautiful and I love a story that involves a person with a disability mental /physical or an illness where it doesn’t magically get fixed in the end. Thats real and I love it.