This is my first Briar Prescott read, and it was nothing particularly special, the three stars are generous. There was a workable premise of sorts, but once it found its groove, Prescott took the easy way out. I read a lot of MM romance. I believe most of the writers are sent to a conference where they are coached in the standard tropes and standard storyline directions. Most feel no need to stray from these paths because readers will throw five star ratings for just about any book. There were several opportunities for Prescott to veer off the prescribed path and offer a fresher experience, but that didn’t happen here.
The narration plays heavily into the experience. Kirt Graves deserved a five star rating for his narration of Law. Graves is consistent in his clear, warm, and understated narration. He was paired with one of the tightest wound narrators in the business. Which was a bonus for the listener, had someone like Alexander Candese been paired with Leslie – my god! Unlistenable.. I struggle with Joel Leslie. High marks for his incredibly clear diction and command of language so there is almost never a mispronounced word. It is his frantic undertones and reading pace that are like the verbal equivalent to the agitator in a top loading washing machine on the spin cycle. Between the flat, forced humor written for Andy and the frenetic delivery, that often dripped with a sarcastic tone, I never found myself rooting for Andy – such high stress! I will continue to rebel against the duo narration, it so rarely works. Even dream combinations like Christian Fox and JF Harding or Teddy Hamilton still have moments of disconnect. Switching from one vocal interpretation to another diminishes the listeners experience. Please Tantor and others – stop!
Let’s take a quick look at the actual story. There is an unnecessarily long prologue that establishes what a complete nincompoop Andy is – he enumerates all of his shortcomings and blandness, told is what is supposed to be a nonstop laugh fest of anecdotes leading up to his reality that he is in love with this best friend Falcon. Instead the listener is left with a panicky diatribe of flat one liners and relentless self deprecation.
Falcon is a friend from home who has served as Andy’s protector since before high school. Ok, we’ve heard this before. Andy and Falcon are in college, still besties. Heard this before too. Falcon is the captain of the Basketball team. Andy is a socially inept science nerd. Familiar? Keep in mind we are not told that Falcon is actually gay until nearly halfway though the book. So until that time the reader is left wondering if Andy’s quest is futile on more than one count. Falcon and the basketball team hate the hockey team at this Vermont based college. So naturally, the hockey team is going to figure prominently in the story. Enter Law. Law is the assistant coach, and grad student, who is surreptitiously tracking Andy down in the hopes of talking Andy into being a tutor for 7 members of the hockey team. Ultimately he is successful.
The plot now revolves around a Pygmalion-esque situation where Law will help Andy to transform himself into a man Falcon can love. Almost immediately Law realizes Andy is different. We aren’t ever formally told Law is gay/bi/pan, nothing. As the story reaches the midway point, we have confirmation Falcon is gay, Law has budding feelings for Andy, and we learn that Andy can’t see the forest for the trees. The story takes a crazier turn when Andy is afraid that his sexual inexperience will prevent Falcon from loving him. So it is Law to the rescue – Andy needs Law to be his sexual teacher. The key here is that Andy, misunderstanding Law’s concerns about adding sex to their friendship, promises Law that he will never develop romantic feelings for him and their friendship will remain untouched. Setting up the rest of the book to be nothing but unsaid feelings based on misunderstanding and misinterpretations. It becomes so incredibly predictable that it is painful.
I won’t go any further with specifics, because I don’t need to. We have all read a million misunderstanding plot lines to know how this one barrels along to the end. Along with a complete lack of originality, I will say is that I was also disappointed with how Prescott underutilized the supporting characters. Law struggles with his over achieving parents. Barely used. Andy’s parents? Barely used. Falcon? Andy’s reason for living? Barely used for how significant a role he plays in the narrative. I get this genre isn’t churning out War and Peace, or even Outlander. At the end of the day, you should expect that an author can at least try to break out of the confines a bit, differentiating their work from that of every other author in romance. With the lack of originality in the plot and the frenzy of Leslie’s narration, this isn’t a recommendation for me if you need to spend a credit.