Well-written and thoughtful with no magic cures.

Years of ice hockey, a brutal car accident, and multiple surgeries have left 28 yo Brent Weyland with permanent physical limitations and pain. His father, who championed his sports career, now berates him for ‘giving up’. When a friend practically forces him into a night out at Vino & Veritas, Brent is transfixed by the singer. A single father in his forties, Jon Norquist is still coming to terms with his divorce and his ex-wife’s new man. In the aftermath of the derailments of their dreams, both men will take a chance on each other and hope their lives improve. Phew, I liked this angsty romance a lot but it was heavy going! While it wasn’t deliberately morose, there were a lot of times Brent and Jon dwelt on their frustrations and insecurities - it felt realistic but became exhausting. I had hoped Jon’s son would play a larger role and soften the blows, but it was mostly their dogs that provided the cute moments. Props for tackling ED, not an easy topic for a romance. Audio superstars Greg Boudreaux (as Brent) and John Solo (as Jon) were excellent.

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A real life romance

This was both an engaging and exhausting story. Both characters are full of self doubt that has them constantly questioning their own and each others actions often with the wrong conclusions/interpretation of the others intentions which leads to further angst and breakups.

Sensitive topics of ED and depression where written well and you could empathise with both characters on their journey of self discovery. Their interactions with Cody with his issues and his general life questions where something most divorced parents and new partners contend with and you could feel the hesitancy as they tried to balance answering the questions without colouring them with their own bias.

Brent’s fathers may be the most unlikeable character I’ve ever met, he’d no redeeming features and I was exhausted listening to him so easy to under stand how Brent felt after 29 years of listening to him ;)

Would have loved one more chapter before the epilogue that showed the characters finding their feet in their relationship again. Felt it was a sudden ending as they got back together one minute and epilogue the next and while the epilogue gives that extra info would have liked that as part of another chapter with an epilogue a little later into their relationship - but that’s mainly as I was invested and wanted to know they really had a long term HEA.

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Heartfelt, Emotional, Amazing

The story delved into some seriously emo tional subjects and was told in such a detailed way. The narrator's were phenomenal in their reading. The expressive emotions they were able to portray had me in tears sometimes and laughing in others. Such an amazing booth. Thank you.

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awesome

John and Brent are awesome. physical and emotional pain from a life of hockey and a debilitating car accident. meets a guy emotionally scarred by divorce the coming together and rocky road to staying together really opens your eyes to the life of someone in chronic pain and the love these men slowly grow into is beautiful to watch manifest. heartfelt thanks for the insights

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1 person found this helpful

Long but ultimately satisfying

This book was long and frustrating but also enjoyable and ultimately satisfying. A rich storyline with complex characters and the narration was mostly good (not a fan of dual).

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