As a fan of both the author and narrator, I jumped at the chance to review this book for the Audio Review Tour. As usual with Joel Leslie, the narration felt spot on. The softer tones used for Adrian were great vs. the harder voice of Marty.
The story itself was really good. I was thrown off a bit at the beginning when the pov was from a main character in the previous book and not one of the ones in this book. But it was good to see a glimpse of Adrian from a neutral perspective as he navigated the bullying years of high school. If I had heard it from Adrian himself, it might have been harder to forgive Marty for his actions, or rather, inaction during that time.
The main part of the story starts when the previous couples from the first two books double date at a drag club where they meet Adrian/Adrienne almost a decade after he left town. He is fabulous and fierce and there are barely any traces of the boy he’d been before. He’s kind of new at the club so he is slowly making friends with the other drag queens. After a few weeks a frequent customer comes in that the others all know and warn Adrienne about. All the warnings in the world can’t stop the shock at seeing his old high school crush and bully.
Marty is living a lonely life. His only excitement is going to the drag club, but he still hides who he is and what he really wants. His bullying of Adrian in high school was more watching his friends pick on the smaller guy, not taking any real action himself. He had his own share of problems at home. In an ideal world, he would have stood up for Adrian but we all know peer pressure is a real thing, and parental pressure too. It’s easy to be annoyed with Marty but especially after learning what he was struggling with it’s hard to hate him.
Adrian isn’t feeling the love right away though and through Adrienne he enacts a little bit of revenge. I don’t feel angry that he did it so much as some of the other people in Adrian’s life do at witnessing it. I admit to being a little petty at times. But I’m glad for those characters for making Adrian (and me) see what he did was wrong.
Both men have a few regrets about their actions in the past and the present. And when they get the courage to talk to each other, they manage to work through hard feelings to admit an attraction still exists for them. The story doesn’t really focus on their relationship after as much as it did the obstacles both needed to get past. Family still presents a few problems for Marty but it only feels like the issues were touched on and not completely resolved. That’s probably down to it being a novella vs a full length novel. A few loose ends didn’t feel tied up, but I really came to love Adrian and Marty. They were sweet and totally hot together. There are great side characters also, from the previous MCs to some of Marty’s co workers. I definitely recommend the story and the audio for sure. It was a great author/narrator combo.
4.5/5 Stars