Audio Book

The Quiet House (Audiobook) by Lily Morton, Narration by Joel Leslie: Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Audiobook Review and Giveaway

August 16, 2021 by Denise

Levi Black has mostly recovered from the events of a year ago. The only lingering effects are that he’s much more well-known in York than he’d like to be, and he’s a lot more cautious about walking around his house naked.

However, those events brought him the capricious and fascinating Blue, so he’s not complaining. On the contrary, he’s happy, in love, and looking forward to Blue finally moving in with him. And if sometimes he wonders what Blue sees in a boring cartoonist, he keeps that to himself.

Blue Billings is finally ready to throw off the memories of his past and move in with the person who means the most in the world to him. His psychic abilities have grown in the last year to his mentor Tom’s consternation, but Blue is determined to look on the bright side. He’s also focused on ignoring all the warning signs that he’s received lately.

However, even deeply buried secrets have a way of rising to the surface. And when a surprise from Blue’s past turns up and draws them away to a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors, Levi and Blue must fight for their survival once again.

From best-selling author Lily Morton comes the second book in the Black & Blue series. The books are intended to be listened to in order.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Audible

Heaving a sigh, Levi flicks the indicator and swings the car into a layby. Switching the engine off, he turns to me.

“So help me. You’d better tell me everything, Blue,” he says grimly. “I think it’s indicative of our strange life that I’m actually hoping you’ve picked up an animal familiar along the way.”

I bite my lip. “Not exactly an animal.” His fingers tighten on the steering wheel like he’s imagining it’s my neck, so I break into an explanation. “But would a grumpy-looking old git who can’t speak be any good to you?”

“What?” he says through gritted teeth.

I nod, smiling like a maniac. “Yes, and we could be seeing a lot of him too, because Tom says a Crow pops in for a visit when there’s trouble ahead.”

There’s a long pregnant silence. “So, that old bloke you saw in the back lane was actually a harbinger of doom and appeared on the night before your dad came into our lives, and you forgot to mention it?” I wince, and his eyes sharpen. “Or decided not to tell me because you thought I’d put my foot down about traipsing over the desolate moors to stay with some rich old bloke in a haunted house.” I try on a winning smile, and he huffs out another heavy sigh. “You can’t do this, Blue. You can’t keep secrets like this.”

My smiles drops away. “I know,” I say earnestly, grabbing his arm and squeezing it. “I do know,” I say. “And I’m so sorry, but I just wanted … I just wanted to know things,” I finish lamely. “And I didn’t want another row. Our last one made my stomach feel bruised for ages.”

He sighs heavily. “Wait here,” he commands.

I hold my breath as he gets out of the car and shuts the door behind him, leaving Tom and I sitting in silence. He crosses in front of the vehicle, the mist swirling around him like he’s a creature from a horror novel. I exhale in surprise as he throws his head back and screams very loudly.

“Well, that went well,” Tom says, his tone cheerful. I throw him a speaking glance. “Don’t look like that,” he advises me. “This is where keeping secrets gets you. Your boyfriend screaming himself silly in a layby.”

My original book review found here.

And now the audio version. Oh man I was excited for this. Loved the book and Joel Leslie is one of my favorite narrators. Bring it on!

It’s really well done. I had previously read and listened to the first book in the series, and although I loved it, the Irish accent lilted up at the end of every sentence to make it sound like a question and that drove me a little bonkers. This time, it’s there a little, but not nearly as prevalent and fairly easy to look past. Especially since this book has a fairly large cast of characters that we hear from often. I think there are about 10 different regular characters and that doesn’t include the scary ghost voices- and there are several of them as well. And yet every voice is different. In tone, accent, volume- all different. I honestly don’t know how the narrator kept track. But they are all so distinct you can pretty easily remember who is talking just by the voice.

And I will say that the audio is a bit scarier than the book. Ok, a lot scarier. Those ghost voices…shudder.

Joel Leslie brings these characters to life in a way that will make this a regular re-listen in your library.

4.5 pieces of eye candy

Lily writes contemporary romance novels, and specialises in hot love stories with a good dose of humour.

Lily lives in sunny England with her husband and two children, all of whom claim that they haven’t had a proper conversation with her since she bought her first Kindle.

She has spent her life with her head full of daydreams and decided one day to just sit down and start writing about them. In the process she discovered that she actually loved writing, because how else could she get to spend her time with hot, funny men!

She loves chocolate and Baileys and the best of all creations – chocolate Baileys! Her lifetime’s ambition is to have a bath in peace without being shouted by one of her family.

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Out of Character: A Rivals LGBTQIA New Adult (True Colors Book 2) by Annabeth Albert: Audiobook Review – narrated by Joel Froomkin and Kirt Graves

August 12, 2021 by Denise

Jasper Quigley is tired of being everyone’s favorite sidekick. He wants to become the hero of his own life, but that’s not going to happen if he agrees to help out his former best friend turned king of the jocks, Milo Lionetti. High school was miserable enough, thanks, and Jasper has no interest in dredging up painful memories of his old secret crush.

But Milo’s got nowhere else to go. His life is spiraling out of control and he’s looking to turn things back around. Step one? Replace the rare Odyssey cards he lost in an idiotic bet. Step two? Tell his ex-best-friend exactly how he feels—how he’s always felt.

Jasper may be reluctant to reopen old wounds, but he never could resist Milo. There’s a catch, though: if Milo wants his help, he’s going to have to pitch in to make the upcoming children’s hospital charity ball the best ever. But as the two don cosplay for the kids and hunt for rare cards, nostalgia for their lost friendship may turn into something even more lasting…

Amazon

Audible

Okay, not gonna lie. I generally pass up audiobooks with two narrators…I’m stereotyping I know…but usually one is not as good as the other (in my own mind)…blah blah, whatever random reason I’ve come up with that basically comes down to, if it’s not done by one of my favorite narrators, I don’t want to listen to it. BUT…here…I’ve got one of my favorite authors, writing a great book, with two of my absolute favorite narrators, who are so very different in their approach it made the book without question a 5 pieces of eye candy audiobook review.

First, the book itself. I will say, I didn’t read book 1 (My mistake! I meant to, and realized as we were introduced to the characters from book 1 that I didn’t…back to that later). So, I had no basis for these characters, or even what Odyssey was. Having never played a card game similar to Odyssey, I had no idea of the intricacies in them. The author managed to convey to those of us who have not played these types of games, the complexity of it, without it being so complex that I dropped out of the story. I was very impressed, because that’s a very fine line to walk, and the author managed it perfectly. Either she is a game player herself, or she did a ton of research to fake it. Either way, well done.

The MC’s, had a history, best friends as children until Milo turned away from Jasper. However, I loved how Jasper grew from that, and later realized that they may have never become the people they were without having separated and worked on finding themselves…even if they were still a work in progress. Milo was still navigating how to become the man he wanted to be, for himself, as well as his brother and Jasper. Owning up to the consequences of his actions, accepting those consequences, and moving forward all worked to shape Milo further. And along the way, they fell in love, slowly, carefully, but without question.

Now the narration. I love Joel Froomkin. He brings such character and life to every character he narrates, each in a very different way. I’ve said before that if I re-read a book that Joel has narrated, I usually hear his voice in my head as I read. Without question, if Joel narrates it, it is an auto-buy for me.

Kirt Graves is also an amazing narrator, with such a gritty voice that reflects the characters he is narrating from a real world, often blue-collar type perspective. If Kirt narrates a book, I know I will be drawn in immediately.

These two narrators together, absolutely made this book even better. I’m not sure the audiobook would have been nearly as good, for me, if only one had narrated. They worked well together. When Joel read Jasper, it was a crisp, genial tone, happy at times, pensive at others, but always what I would have expected from Jasper’s POV. Meanwhile, Milo, having grown up a jock, rebuilt a car with his father, and was going through such a challenging time, needed a deeper, more resonant tone. He needed a tone that showed he was slightly depressed, unsure what his life had in front of him other than a dead-end job, no prospects, no college degree, and no future boyfriend. It was more gritty and spoke to the Milo that needed to learn to love himself as much as he loved the people around him. These two together were perfection for this book.

Side note: I’m also generally a fairly slow audiobook listener. I start and stop all the time, so that I can concentrate. I prefer doing that over missing pieces because I had to focus on the email I was just sent, or the spreadsheet that didn’t balance. I gobbled this one up very quickly. Now, I’m behind at work. lol Totally worth it! 🙂

Final determination was a huge 5 pieces of eye candy…a number I rarely give out, but absolutely worth all of it! Now back to book 1, Conventionally Yours, which, coincidentally, is narrated by Joel and Kirt. And it’s already in my Audible library (because auto-buy)??? Lucky me!!!! 😀

Upside Down by N.R. Walker: Audiobook Review

February 4, 2021 by Denise

Jordan O’Neill isn’t a fan of labels, considering he has a few. Gay, geek, librarian, socially awkward, a nervous rambler, an introvert, an outsider. The last thing he needs is one more. But when he realises adding the label asexual might explain a lot, it turns his world upside down.

Hennessy Lang moved to Surry Hills after splitting with his boyfriend. His being asexual had seen the end of a lot of his romances, but he’s determined to stay true to himself. Leaving his North Shore support group behind, he starts his own in Surry Hills, where he meets first-time-attendee Jordan.

A little bewildered and scared, but completely adorable, Hennessy is struck by this guy who’s trying to find where he belongs. Maybe Hennessy can convince Jordan that his world hasn’t been turned upside down at all, but maybe it’s now—for the first time in his life—the right way up.

Audible

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Read Erin’s review of the ebook here.
As for the audio…

I am very picky with my narrators. Shocking, right? I know. Glen Lloyd was new to me. I was a bit wary because I am used to Joel Leslie narrating the “not serious” stories NR Walker writes. But let me tell you something. Glen Lloyd NAILED IT.

He absolutely brought the characters to life. He used slightly different voices for Jordan and Hennessy, but nothing over the top or obviously fake. If that makes sense. Jordan was a bit more nasal and Hennessy spoke slower. Jordan also says “motherfucker” a lot in the book. It is a thing. Like a reflex, he can’t NOT say it. And I was waiting for the first one. And the tone was absolutely perfect. He says it almost conversationally, but to himself. So funny.

I really loved this book so when I got my mitts on the audio, it was make or break time. But this absolutely made it. I will definitely listen to this again.

4.5 Pieces of Eye Candy

The Engineer (Magic & Steam, Book 1) by C.S. Poe: Audiobook Review

October 26, 2020 by Denise

1881—Special Agent Gillian Hamilton is a magic caster with the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam. He’s sent to Shallow Grave, Arizona, to arrest a madman engineer known as Tinkerer, who’s responsible for blowing up half of Baltimore. Gillian has handled some of the worst criminals in the Bureau’s history, so this assignment shouldn’t be a problem. But even he’s taken aback by a run-in with the country’s most infamous outlaw, Gunner the Deadly.

Gunner is also stalking Shallow Grave in search of Tinkerer, who will stop at nothing to take control of the town’s silver mines. Neither Gillian nor Gunner are willing to let Tinkerer hurt more innocent people, so they agree to a very temporary partnership.

If facing illegal magic, Gatling gun contraptions, and a wild engineer in America’s frontier wasn’t enough trouble for a city boy, Gillian must also come to terms with the reality that he’s rather fond of his partner. But even if they live through this adventure, Gillian fears there’s no chance for love between a special agent and outlaw.

Based on the short story, “Gunner the Deadly.” Entirely revised, newly expanded, and Book One in the exciting new steampunk series, Magic & Steam.

Audible

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

I’m slow at audiobooks, even ones that are only 2.5 hours long. But I enjoy them so much. (I wish I could focus on them, while doing other things like working, but sadly, often I can’t). This one took me a little while to listen to simply because I was finishing another, but I loved the book when I read it so much that I knew I had to listen when given the opportunity.

This is a prelude to how these two guys get together, and begin their adventures, and honestly, it’s super cool. Steampunk can be anything you want it to be. So, the author has so many historical references and language, it’s obvious how much research goes into her books (and if you follow her online you know that is the truth). However, then there are all kinds of magical things that very obviously are not from that time, but just make it that much more enjoyable. The descriptions of the train, and all it could do…just fun, loads of fun.

However, the MC’s, they had to feel their way around each other (hahaha literally and figuratively) due to the historical time period, but finally finding what they needed in each other. Yes, there is a small cliffhanger, but this isn’t surprising simply because we know there is a book 2 coming, The Gangster (Magic & Steam Book 2) (preorder it!) where we get to see exactly what is in store for their impending romance.

This narrator was new to me, Declan Winters. His narration was succinct and appropriate for the time period of the book. I liked his narration, and enunciation, but felt like I needed more energy. That being said, it could very well have been his interpretation of the character of Gillian, who himself was a very serious character.

I’m looking forward to more of Special Agent Gillian Hamilton and Gunner the Deadly, in both visual and audio formats.

Story: 4 pieces of eye candy

Narration: 3.5 pieces of eye candy

Redemption: Second Chance Gay Romance by Garrett Leigh: Audio Book Review

September 24, 2020 by Denise

Reformed gangster Luis falls hard for his boss. When friendship turns to love, it’s up to Paolo to convince him second chances are worth the pain.

Luis Pope is back on the street after a six-year stretch in prison, but life on the outside seems just out of reach, especially when the whole neighborhood knows his face for all the wrong reasons.

Paolo’s temper makes it hard to keep staff, and he knows Luis’ rep all too well. But his nonno believes in redemption, and Luis isn’t the tough guy Paolo remembers. Prison has left its mark, inside and out, and all the kindness in the world can’t fix the three inch scar on Luis’s skull.

And it can’t keep ghosts locked up. Luis is the best worker Paolo’s ever had, and Luis is happier than he’s ever been. But his old life doesn’t want to stay in the past. Trouble comes to call, and when it makes him an offer he can’t refuse, keeping Paolo safe hurts the most.

Redemption is an angsty, stand-alone M/M romance novel, with second chances, found family, friends-to-lovers, and buckets of hurt/comfort themed loveliness.

Audible

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

I read this book and really enjoyed it. As I really enjoy all of Garrett Leigh‘s work. This is my first audiobook by this author. As as much as I really enjoyed the story, the audio was a little above okay for me.

Now, I am picky. If you’ve read my reviews before you know this. I stopped another audiobook less than 5 minutes in because I HATED the voice they gave the main character. This was almost the opposite. There was almost no difference between the characters and how they were read.

I am not expecting an Oscar worthy performance. But there was almost no difference at all between the inflection and accent of Luis and Paolo. In fact, even the narrative was basically the same.

Several secondary characters, like Paolo’s grandfather, had distinctive accents. But he was Italian so he spoke with an Italian accent. Luis’ brother had a bit of a different accent that almost sounded Jamaican to me.

The cadence of the narrator’s speech was very even toned. But Paolo is a hot headed Italian. And the narrator never raises his voice or gives it any inflection. Same with Luis when he was fighting with his brother. Even hot sex scenes were all spoken with the same tone.

Overall, as a story-it is great. The narration is fine. But it definitely did not immerse me in their world and stories like I had hoped.

Story (read original review here): 4 pieces of eye candy

Narration: 3.5 Pieces of Eye Candy

Warrior’s Way: Coulter and Woodard, Book 1 by M.J. Calabrese: Audiobook Review

August 28, 2020 by Denise

Friends since childhood, Albuquerque detective Eagle Woodard and criminal profiler Adam Coulter are dragged into a serial killer case. Gay couples are being murdered and tortured and the FBI needs their help to capture the sadistic murderer.

Deciding to implement a plan to trap the killer, Adam and Eagle go undercover as an involved gay couple. Or is it really pretend?

Faced with their toughest challenge yet, they must find the active serial killer before he strikes again. With the powers that be not cooperating and the killer proving to be elusive, will Eagle and Adam be able to stop the murderer while navigating their changing relationship?

PLEASE NOTE: This is the first book in an ongoing story arc. Although the case is solved, the relationship ends on a cliffhanger. Contains graphic violence and scenes of torture.

Audible

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

There is a lot to unwrap with this first book in the series. I will say, I am very much looking forward to books 2 and 3 to complete (I believe) the series.

Adam and Eagle had been best friends since they were children. Adam is, frankly speaking, a hot mess. I won’t go into it all, as that is an integral part of the book. However, his best friend Eagle doesn’t know that Adam is bisexual, even though they have been living together (as roommates) for several years, since Adam’s last marriage imploded. Eagle, meanwhile, has his head on his shoulders, due to a son he had very young, who helped to get him on the right path.

These two men had at least one “experiment” in their past, that Adam just basically ignored, then never spoke to Eagle about. All the while, Eagle has been in love with is best friend since they were kids. See? Hot mess = Adam. And it only gets worse as the book concludes on a cliffhanger.

The main plot, with the serial murders is intriguing, and very well done. I will warn, there are some graphic descriptions that some readers may not find palatable as they read. It isn’t for the weak of stomach. Very well researched and written, though, so just know you will be drawn in, if you don’t mind reading these descriptions.

Also, be aware this does end on a cliffhanger, sending you right into Book 2.

Nick J. Russo does a great job with his narration, as always, keeping his dialects, and voices distinct, so that the listener can delve even deeper into the story. I always feel that great audio narration creates an even better love for the story, than just reading it. (Of course, the opposite can be true with not as good narration.) Nick does a great job of creating that environment to sink your teeth into that story.

Story: 4.5 pieces of eye candy

Narration: 4 pieces of eye candy