I loved Colin and Patrick gay awakening, opposites attract, fish out of water historical romance with a side of culture shock. This book gave me all the swoony swoons while also pulling at my heartstrings with all the emotions. There were big feelings here. This is a single POV (Colin’s) only. I usually prefer dual POV but this was done very well and the descriptions of the other characters allowed fairly accurate assumptions about their thoughts and motivations. This book is set in the 1830’s when sodomy was still a crime in England. Colin is the son of a rich English family. Patrick is Irish and takes care of the family’s horses. When Patrick is caught with another man, Colin admits to his feelings in order to save Patrick’s life. They are both put on a ship bound for the penal colony in Australia. The journey to their HEA is eventful and emotional as they travel by ship and then through the wilds of Australia to assist a widow with setting up her cattle station. To get to their happiness, all the MCs need to deal with their pasts because they continue to negatively impact their lives and much of the angst comes from these issues. The story included sweet moments, steamy scenes, chuckles, supportive friends, messy families, painful pasts, evil actors, henchmen, healing, and heart squeezing love. The story was well written and included witty dialogue, three dimensional characters who grow, and an engaging storyline.
Joel Leslie did a fantastic job narrating the story and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly.