I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey. Disappointing.
Tag: queer (Page 1 of 35)
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Time to Shine by Rachel Reid. Charming, delightful and funny. Recommended.
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles. Just delightful.
Even if the Sky is Falling by Taj McCoy, Farah Heron, Lane Clarke, Charish Reid, Sarah Smith & Denise Williams, narrated by Adenrele Ojo, Soneela Nankani, Karen Murray, Marissa Hampton, Donnabella Mortel, Joy Beharie & Teddy Hamilton. Loved the premise and there were some real gems in the anthology.
Even if the Sky is Falling is an anthology of stories by BIPOC authors which all have the same basic premise: an alarm blares alerting everyone that some space junk (or worse) is imminently going to crash into the earth and everyone should take shelter. Only the people in the first story know that it’s a false alarm and there’s no risk. Each story takes the forced proximity trope and the setup and takes it somewhere different. I love this idea; it’s illustrative of how romance itself is so diverse – just because the ending is the same doesn’t mean the stories are. Here the premise is the same but the stories are all very different.
Some of the stories are Black romance, others feature at least one character of colour, most are MF, one is FF. It’s difficult to talk about each story in detail here but I’ll at least mention each one briefly.
Taj McCoy’s All the Stars, narrated by Adenrele Ojo, kicks things off and sets up the world. NASA employees are putting the finishing touches on a nationwide emergency alert system for space debris, part of a wider worldwide effort. An accident happens and the alarm goes off. This story was the weakest of the anthology for me; the incompetence of the character who messes up (neither of the love interests fortunately) was astounding; I didn’t get how, in a team of four, the FMC and the MMC had so much downtime; especially as the FMC was the Team Leader. When the crap hit the fan why was she able to go for a nap rather than pitch in to help? This novella also featured a second chance trope and I found the reason for the break up unconvincing – I’m not sure the MMC deserved to be given that second chance. The narration was very good though.
Keep Calm and Curry On by Farah Heron, narrated by Soneela Nankani, was in my top two novellas from Even if the Sky is Falling. Set in a large undercover market, the protagonists, both of Pakistani heritage and the children of immigrants and former best friends each have a food truck. Their dads are no longer friends but can Tariq convince Maya that their generation doesn’t have to be at odds? Can Maya’s Masala Girls food truck coexist beside Tariq’s Curry Junction? Do they need to be in competition? There is also a hot guy in a Henley with the sleeves pushed up and a (the same) hot guy reading a romance novel! (I believe it’s a Tessa Dare book but it’s never named). There’s also a cat. I haven’t listened to Soneela Nankani before but her narration was excellent. She had great characterisation and bought into the somewhat meta nature of the story, adding a touch of humour to those beloved tropes so it never edged into too much.
My Lucky Stars by Lane Clark, narrated by Karen Murray is the only queer romance in the anthology. The only two Black girls in their law school class do not get along. Jones is prickly and aggressive, Diana is not. Enemies to lovers is something of a tricky trope for me at the best of times; I don’t like it when characters are mean to each other. Here, Jones was pretty mean to Diana and I didn’t really like her which made it difficult for me to root for them as a couple. I figure that people who don’t struggle with E2L will like this one a lot better than me. The narration was good though. Karen Murray is also a new-to-me narrator but I’d happily listen to her again.
Bunker Buddies by Charish Reid, narrated by Marissa Hampton was my other favourite of the anthology – my first story from this author. A bookshop owner with a bunker underneath (inherited from his prepper grandad) has been crushing on a customer for months. A university professor who keeps coming to the bookshop to order obscure books just to have an excuse to see said hot bookseller happens to be the only customer in the shop when the siren sounds. All alone together in the bunker while the world may or may not be ending. All that unresolved sexual tension has to go somewhere, right? The only thing that let this one down was the speed of the narration. Ms. Hampton’s pacing was too fast for me. Otherwise, her characterisation and voice differentiation were very good.
Interlude narrated by Sarah Smith, narrated by Donnabella Mortel – a composer and jingle writer spends the maybe-end of the world in her basement with her cat and the hot contractor who, when the alarm went off, was at her house to give her a quote on replacing her kitchen cabinets. I found this difficult to get into because precious word count was wasted on things which didn’t really matter. There was too much time spent on things which didn’t really impact the story and it made my eyes glaze over a bit. On the other hand, the narration was great. Ms. Mortel is another narrator I’ll be looking for again. The story didn’t work super well for me but she kept me entertained nonetheless.
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better by Denise Williams, narrated by Joy Beharie & Teddy Hamilton was another that suffered (for me at least) as a result of the enemies to lovers start of the story. I’m not sure I really bought why she didn’t like him in school when he didn’t do anything beyond being related to the founder of the university. Trapped in an empty college together, the pair eventually work their way through the misunderstandings that plagued their school years (I’m also not a fan of the Big Mis) and find their way to a HFN – and likely HEA. The narration by both performers was very good, with solid tone, pacing and emotion. It’s difficult to say new things about Teddy Hamilton – AudioGals readers know he’s a favourite here!
Like many anthologies, Even if the Sky is Falling was a bit of a mixed bag but I loved the premise and I did find some new-to-me authors and narrators to follow which was an even bigger plus.
Grade: B/C
Hard Job by Annabeth Albert, narrated by Kirt Graves. Enjoyable but not my favourite.
Hard Job is the second book in Annabeth Albert’s A-List Security series. This time, Duncan Lubov finds his HEA with rock star Ezra Moon.
The first book in the series, Rocky Start, Duncan’s younger brother, Danny, ended up with Duncan’s good friend and contemporary, Cash. It was a best friend’s younger brother, with a bit of age gap story. This time it’s younger brother’s best friend (Ezra is Danny’s BFF) and age gap.
There were enough similarities to the storyline that some of the conflict felt forced to me. For instance, why would Danny react badly to finding out Duncan and Ezra are together? He didn’t like it much when Duncan reacted badly to him being with Cash – but then he did the same thing!
Duncan owns A-List Security and is trying to grow the business. He is the son of a famous and notorious movie producer/director who has had multiple marriages and scandals. Duncan wants nothing to do with dear old dad and actively tries to avoid trading on the Lubov name.
Ezra and Danny used to be a on a TV show called “Geek Chorus” – I imagine it to be something like Glee – and have remained friends. Ezra went on to become a successful rock star with his band We Wear Crowns but he’s in trouble with his record label after an incident where a fan was injured at a concert. Ezra is in need of new security and does not wish the record label to choose who that is. Danny persuades Duncan to do the job personally.
Duncan ends up joining the We Wear Crowns tour and is therefore in close proximity to Ezra. Each has secretly been attracted to the other for some time and Duncan is a closet Crowns fan. Duncan doesn’t believe in love and relationships, having seen the example of his father and is generally a reticent type of guy. Ezra grew up with loving and supportive parents and is extroverted and open.
After some initial differences, Duncan and Ezra give in to their attraction. Duncan does not want to get a reputation for sleeping with his clients and does not think there can be anything long term for them anyway, so they keep it a secret.
Over the course of the remainder of the tour though, their feelings deepen and grow. But Duncan is stuck on what people will think if he’s in a relationship with Ezra. Ezra is hurt that Duncan puts his business and rep over their happiness.
I admit I was a little lacking in sympathy for Duncan here. I didn’t quite see how it was a big deal for him to be in a relationship with Ezra. In fact, I thought it was better that it was an actual relationship rather than just having a fling.
Duncan and Ezra were both likeable enough but there wasn’t anything in the story which truly grabbed me. It was enjoyable enough but it didn’t wow me.
Kirt Graves’ narration was good but there were a few vocal errors and a couple of instances of unusual (to me at least) pronunciation. Also, and maybe this is just me, but it sounded like Mr. Graves spoke with this jaw clenched sometimes and that was not my favourite. I found it easy to tell when Ezra or Duncan was speaking – the character voices were well differentiated – and the emotion and pacing was fine too. Like the story, the narration was enjoyable but not a standout.
Grade: B-
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles. Delightful.