Narration: Joel Leslie narrated this MM Contemporary Romance. I like his voice, and I thought it fit the story. There was a good cadence to his reading, and the sound was great. I listen to audiobooks at my day job, and this was easy for me to follow as I moved around. The story was based in Cambridge, and I thought the accent he used was good, but it could have been better. I’m warming up to Joel as a narrator.
Story: The story was a bit slow at first. I actually stopped it and started another because it just wasn’t hitting what I wanted. After that second book, I thought I’d give this one another try, and I’m glad I did. Once I was a little more invested, I really enjoyed the story.
I found myself looking forward to the characters and what happened to them. I loved how the time in the story moved forward so that this wasn’t a love-at-first-sight. Paint the Sky was written in Ben’s point of view, and we learn at the start that he’d been watching Vinnie for more than a year. In the beginning, he was kind of a slut as well. He’s ready to give all that up for Vinnie, though. He wants to be a writer, but his dad wants him to help in the family business because his brother incompetent.
Vinnie is the typical lone artist going to College with Ben. His backstory is tragic, but he seems to have overcome that. His brothers are amazing, and I liked reading about them. There’s a great dynamic there.
When I read the blurb and parts of the story, I think the author was going for more of a jealousy-caused-problems relationship, and she wrote Ben’s side well for that. However, I felt more for him by that point than Vinnie. Either way, I was cheering for them until the end.
I’ll be looking for more from this author, and I hope she’ll have more audiobooks out soon!