Oz and Silas are fundamentally likeable and caring guys who are pleasant to spend time with. They have jobs to do which provides a frame for their relationship. This frame allows for romance escalation and minor bouts of angst that are never directed toward each other, while still providing the necessary introspection about whether or not they should stick it out.
They have supportive friends, family, and community – with one notable exception. My only quibble is how little we see of the secondary characters. I routinely lost track of Milo & Niels (those might not be their names) despite Oz supposedly working with them. Were I to suggest any edits, it would be to have them be more present in the public scenes.
Other than skimping on the secondary characters, this was a solidly nice story. The premise felt plausible and I could sink into the atmosphere of it. This was my first book by this author and definitely makes me eager for more.
Steam: Medium-hot. While somewhat slow burn, there are several rounds of M/M sexytimes detailed on page. I hesitate to label it mildly kinky but some extra details beyond average are included.
Narration: While in general, I enjoy this narrator, I thought the accent work was inconsistent. It was more of a tapering off than dropping in and out. Not being local to either accent, this didn’t bother me overmuch, but having worked with folks with those accents, I did notice. Also the bit about me confusing the secondary characters was partly because audiobooks make it hard to flip back to refresh one’s memory. Other than that, well done. Nicely emoted.