A good friends to lovers and coming out story.

Streets Apart was the first book I read by H. J. Perry back in February 2016. I’ve now been able to experience it all over again by listening to the audiobook.

The story was a very enjoyable one – it was the first I’d read by Ms. Perry – and there were lots of HOT scenes with Aaron and Joe. It’s a good friends-to-lovers story – Aaron and Joe played together as children but they grew apart as they got older. A chance meeting sets things in motion for the two of them to get together. It’s also a sweet New Adult coming out story. Joe is out as gay but Aaron is just coming around to admitting his sexuality and this causes a few bumps in their relationship.

The author is English so there are some terms and references throughout the story that I wasn’t familiar with when I first read it (I’ve since read many, many books by British authors), but this didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the story one bit. Every time that “football” was mentioned I had to remind myself that they were talking about what we Americans call soccer. This wasn’t a bad thing, I only mention it because I had to smile to myself as I read and tell my brain to understand football as soccer.

While I might not be familiar with all of the terms (some I suspect were slang) I was able to get the gist of what the author was trying to get across. There were funny moments in the book, too, as Aaron (a virgin) found his way while he and Joe explored their budding relationship.

As has often happened for me, the audiobook of Streets Apart: Hearts Apart increased my enjoyment of the story from when I first read it. It’s the first book I’ve listened to by Piers Ryman and the first one where the narrator uses a pretty heavy British accent. I don’t know the proper term for the regional accent used but many of the characters in this story were plumbers and construction workers and I expect that might be why the accent is the way it is. It took me a bit to get used to it but I soon began to enjoy his narration.

A complementary copy of this audiobook was provided by the author but my review was voluntary.