Sometimes love is a lot closer to home than you think.
Charlie Burroughs can’t keep a man. All he wants is a good relationship like the ones he sees his friends having, but none of the men he picks ever work out. Despite him trying to be the perfect boyfriend, the men are either threatened by his looks or his epilepsy or a combination of the two. It’s lucky that he has his best friend Misha to turn to. The two of them are closer than peas in a pod and fiercely loyal to each other. He can’t imagine his life without Misha in it.
Misha Lebedinsky is the complete opposite of his best friend. Being the support system for his mum and twin sisters leaves Misha with neither the time nor the inclination for a relationship. Quick and frequent hook-ups are his favourite means of communication and any other pesky emotional needs he has are met by Charlie, who he’s devoted to. He lives a life of happy compartmentalization with no intention of ever changing.
All of this changes when the two best friends move in together. Being in close proximity means that they suddenly start to see each other in a very different light. But Charlie struggles when his drive to be the perfect partner clashes with the fact that he’s in love with a man who knows every little thing about him. And even if he can get past that, can a relationship ever work with a man who’d need a dictionary to tell him what love means?
From bestselling author Lily Morton comes a love story about a sunny librarian who has relationship written all over him and a cynical banker who doesn’t even have it in his blurb.
Amazon Ebook – KU
Audible
My original book review from last year here.
Story wise, I don’t have a lot to add to the review. I really enjoyed the book, the quirky characters and the representation of a disability. So let’s talk about the narration, which is ultimately what I am reviewing, right?
Overall, I enjoy Joel Leslie’s narration. He isn’t one to shy from verbalizing sex scenes well and his tone is very nice. Within the story you can tell who is speaking by the tone, which is very helpful as I tend to flip to the beginning of a chapter to see who is speaking because I can never remember.
This is the second Joel Leslie in a row that I have listened to, so maybe I need a break. Although the characters are differentiated by voice within each book, those same voices seem to carry from book to book. Charlie sounds like the main character in the one I just listened to that was a different author. Misha the same. Charlie’s step dad Aidan has the same Irish lilt as Blue Billings.
I probably wouldn’t have really noticed that much if I didn’t listen to Joel Leslie back to back.
My biggest complaint is that when it is an intimate scene- not just sex wise- his tone goes from a regular speaking voice to almost a whisper at the end of each sentence. It gets to a point that it is almost hard to hear. Like the difference of watching a tv show and then the commercials are so much louder. I’ve tried with ear buds, through my car stereo and with a bluetooth speaker. All the same. I understand WHY he is doing it, but I feel like I miss so much because I am straining to hear. If I turn it up, the regular speaking voice is far too loud.
Ultimately, I think I need a Joel Leslie break. I am sure I will go back to listening to him, but some new voices and better modulation would be great.
3 pieces of eye candy