Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Paul Hannon moved to Tucker Springs for his girlfriend, but she’s left him with a house he can’t afford and a pantry full of useless gadgets. All Paul wants is to get back to normal, even if he’s not sure what that is anymore. When he wanders into Tucker Pawn for a gift to win her back, he meets El Rozal, pawn shop owner and all-around cynic.El Rozal doesn’t do relationships, especially not with clueless straight boys still pining for their ex. El may make his living dealing in castoffs, but that doesn’t apply to men. Still, when Paul starts clearing out his old life, pawning kitchen equipment he never wanted in the first place, El is drawn to Paul in spite of himself.
Paul and El have nothing in common except a past full of disappointments. There’s no reason to believe the two of them could fit, but in El’s line of work, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. When it comes to love, El and Paul may learn that secondhand doesn’t mean second best.
This was an average story. Nothing really wrong with it but nothing that made it stand out either. Paul has gone through a bad break up and while looking for a gift for his ex-girlfriend he meets Eli. The two men become friends and while Eli realizes immediately that he has feelings for Paul, Paul just cruises along cluelessly. Paul bordered on getting on my nerves with his cluelessness. At other times though I felt for him and I thought the internal discussions/fears/etc he has over his sexuality were probably pretty realistic. Eli I liked throughout the entire story. I didn’t really feel the emotional attraction between the two men. It just felt like they were friends unless they were in the bedroom. The bedroom scenes though were great. The chemistry just jumped off the pages. Unfortunately hot sex scenes isn’t enough to carry an entire book for me. I needed more relationship development. Again, I didn’t love this book but I didn’t dislike it either.
The narration by Iggy Toma was just ok. Overall I did not really care for the narrator. He did a wide range of voices and did them all differently which is a plus. I didn’t like some of the voices though. This is probably a matter of taste. While it didn’t work for me it might for others. I suggest listening to a sample of the audio first.
The narration by Iggy Toma was just ok. Overall I did not really care for the narrator. He did a wide range of voices and did them all differently which is a plus. I didn’t like some of the voices though. This is probably a matter of taste. While it didn’t work for me it might for others. I suggest listening to a sample of the audio first.
Cover art by L.C. Chase. I like the cover. I think it is a good representation of the main characters and their story.
Audiobook Details:
Audible Audio
Published January 22nd 2016 by Audible (first published September 1st 2012)
Original TitleSecond Hand
SeriesTucker Springs #2 settingColorado (United States)
Published January 22nd 2016 by Audible (first published September 1st 2012)
Original TitleSecond Hand
SeriesTucker Springs #2 settingColorado (United States)
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 