Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5
When a night out turns into a matchmaking scheme, they thought communication would be their biggest challenge to their happily ever after….
Simon Tyler knows his job as a gay romance author makes his lack of faith in love more than a little ironic, but he’s tired of being used for his wallet. When a night out turns into a matchmaking scheme orchestrated by his best friends—though he’s not the target—Simon’s not thrilled, but since he’s sworn off happily-ever-after anyway, he goes along with it… until he meets the object of their efforts, Adrian, and finds perhaps he hasn’t given up on love after all.
Professor Adrian Keys has tried to date hearing men before, but being deaf himself, he’s never had any success at making a connection. After his friends con him into going out and Adrian realizes it’s all an elaborate plan to set him up, he braces for yet another failure, only to discover there is a spark—except it’s not with the man his friends had in mind, but with Simon Tyler instead.
Not all their friends have found a way past their romantic failures, but Simon and Adrian might be on the path to happily-ever-after.
My fourth audiobook in this series and it’s the one I liked best. Both MCs are sweet and special in their own way. Adrian is a professor at the local college and a computer expert. He’s deaf but that doesn’t stop him from doing whatever he wants to do. He’s the cutie we met in Chase’s story when Chase was trying to date him and Rhys got super jealous.
Simon is his newest love interest. Simon, one of James’s friends, has been around from the beginning of the series. He’s sweet and shy and an LGBTQ+ romance writer. He’s also extremely wealthy from a rich and powerful family who are pushing for reform that will counteract all the work done by gay rights groups. Needless to say, Simon doesn’t associate with them, but he’s been burned before by guys who only wanted his money, and he’s at the point where he doesn’t trust easily. When he meets Adrian, though, things change for the better.
From Adrian’s perspective, Simon is a great person to get to know better. He seems unlike many of the men in his past who treated him as if he was inferior, and he’s far from that. Simon immediately signs up to learn sign language and spends as much time as he can with Adrian so they can get to know one another.
The angst in this story comes primarily from Simon’s family and from both MCs’ distrust of relationships based on their past experiences. Overall, it’s a great romance and one that I would recommend to those who want to read something sweet and hopeful.
The narration was not bad, the vocalizations varied, but it could be better. This is the same narrator as books 2 and 3, and I finally figured out what I don’t like about his narration—he makes an extra-long pause at each comma. But it’s not just at each compound sentence comma—it’s each and every comma. This means he pauses for the commas used in direct address, appositives, and interrupters. It becomes annoying quickly. If I could wave a magic wand, I’d ask that he not do that, and then I’d be able to say the audiobook was perfect.
Cover art by Reese Dante is similar to the other books in the series with a soft, watercolor background. In this case a man’s hand, with forefinger and pinky raised, symbolizes sign language. The hand rests against books that symbolize romance writing, thereby capturing the spirit of both men.
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Audiobook Details:
Audible Audio
Published July 27th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press LLC (first published November 30th 2015)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDesires Entwined #4
When Master Damien Richardson (Day to his friends) takes over the front desk manager job at the Iron Eagle Gym, he knows he’s going to need an assistant. But finding the right person for the job is harder than he thought it would be. When he meets Saw, he thinks he’s found the solution to all his problems, and maybe something more.
Project Director Zane Caldwell has a major problem-a charming, go-getter hotshot from Chicago named Ford Trionni, recently hired at Widdley Finch Inc., a Connecticut-based marketing research company. The man, whom the secretarial pool nicknamed “The Italian Stallion” based on his stunning good looks and sexual aura, has also gained the reputation of a superstar in the industry due to his innovative analytical techniques. The trouble is, the man wears his accolades like a badge on his lapel, strutting around the office like a peacock.
