Brian Kyle

Startling and impressive

Revisado: 06-09-24

This story took me places I didn’t expect, all with imagination and confidence in the love and loyalty of readers—not unlike the protagonists. The narration was perfect. Some dark stories make you hesitant to return, but I’ll be coming back to this one.

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Sedate but Fantastic

Revisado: 03-20-23

This is not an action-packed tale—it really is about a flawed but capable nonmagical ex-soldier finding his place at the side of an old man whose wealth and affinity for magic have not excluded him from the costs of his own actions or the avarice of others. The slow progression of detailed immersion into Roger's life as a butler is enjoyable and rewarding. I will listen to this again, and that's not something I would say often even about audiobooks I enjoyed the first time.

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Amazing

Revisado: 06-10-22

The characterization, build, heat, and action are the best I've seen in ages, giving some of my favorite action-fuck stories a run for their money. One of the other reviews said "I am in awe," and I can't put it any better.

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Fun, heartfelt, and brilliantly performed

Revisado: 09-24-19

This story is great, with just the right balance of dark, sweet, and wit, and the characters really come alive in the narrative and the dialog... but the performances make it a literal joy to experience. I would totally marry Greg Boudreaux and Michael Ferraiuolo for 1 million dollars. Sign me up.

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My favorite gay fantasy romance

Revisado: 06-29-19

I simply love this story. I love Simon, I love Baz, I love Penny, I love everyone in this story—even poor Agatha. Most of all I love Euan Morton's vibrant, clever, funny, nuanced, and basically brilliant performance. I've already listened to 'Carry On' twice and I already know that twice won't even begin to be enough for me. The combination of story, character, and performance makes me happy from beginning to end. If the combination of gay love and magic appeals to you at all, you must buy this book.

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A great book made special by the narrators

Revisado: 06-29-19

'Top Secret' is my new favorite nonparanormal gay romantic novel (because the top spot in gay paranormal still goes to 'Carry On' by Rainbow Rowell), and that's thanks to a top-notch audiobook. Teddy Hamilton and Christian Fox take these well-drawn characters and bring them alive with interesting and considered performances. As a result Keaton and Luke, already layered and well written, became a couple of guys I thoroughly enjoyed spending 9 hours and 25 minutes getting to know.

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A Great Premise Squandered

Revisado: 09-06-18

'Dead Speak' has a promising setup that should offer a lot of fertile drama and escalation of character interaction, but the characters are not written with the depth this context demands. There's little curiosity about either the police detective work or, even worse, what it really feels like to for Tennyson and his barely sketched friends to be exposed to the world of the other side, even in the chapters told from Tennyson's point of view. Both of those are mortal wounds, but what really killed it for me is the way Ronan blows up at absolutely everything, rather than letting his anger bank through the progression of the story and only exploding at moments of real crisis. The effect of Tennyson on his temper, hinted at early on, is also unexplored as a means of developing his character. The two leads develop affection for each other because the plot requires it, not because the narrative sells their connection, a major cardinal error for an action romance; and Ronan's ex is so awful that the recurring "I don't know what you ever saw in that guy" comments function as valid internal criticism of the novel's own backstory.

The dissonance between this story and what it could have been is highlighted by another book that covers similar ground, 'The Long Way Home' by Z.A. Maxfield. It, too, has a psychic drawn into a police case involving the abduction of kids, skepticism and difficult, piecemeal acceptance from the cops, backstories for both the psychic and the detective that bear on how they approach the case, and so on; and Maxfield shows how it's done, diving deep into the experience of psychic forensic investigation. It's also narrated very well by J.F. Harding. My advice: get that one instead, and if you already have it, listen to it again.

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Could not put it down

Revisado: 06-15-18

The expression works for audios, too—in this case, it was my headphones I could not put down. The Ritchies, Cendese, and Harding made me care about these guys even more than I already did coming out of the first one. Normally the dual-performer approach feels unnecessary, but here, as with the first book, the tactic helped to emphasize how these two powerful personalities were coming from very different places and were finding it amazing how close and compatible they'd become. I'm going to be coming back not just to this series but to this installment, a second book that deepens the affection and connections made with the first.

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A little too much Rhys

Revisado: 04-24-18

Normally I love Rhys Ford, author of several of my favorite series (Sinner's Gin was my first and still one of my favorites). But 'Rebel' goes too far with the Rhys Ford mannerism of making every description a metaphor. It can be effective to hear of a young man's heart beating against chains of his own forging, or blood burning with the fires of his past--but not when it's Every Paragraph on Every Page. Tristan James is a great and skilled narrator, but he responds to this flowery, mannered language with a languorous reading.

The plot was mainly about the backstory--there's very little conflict in the present--which might be what lent itself to the touch of excess style. And the backstory is powerful, but I would have liked for it to be mirrored by trouble in the present of corresponding magnitude, something Ford normally does extremely effectively. The characters have a lot of potential and my loyalty to Ford got me to stick it out to the end, but it was a little heartbreaking to have to 1.25x Rhys Ford and Tristan James.

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An intriguing start to a great series

Revisado: 01-11-17

Percival Whyborne, scorned younger son of a railroad magnate, wants nothing more than to hole up in his office immersed in ancient writings; but a small book of arcane spells sets him on a dangerous path filled with magic and monsters. His unlooked-for partner is private detective Griffin Flaherty—handsome, enterprising, and traumatized by an encounter with these same monsters during his time with the Pinkertons.

The first book, compelling on its own, is still only the beginning of what Whyborne becomes and of his deepening love with Griffin, as the hidden world of sorcery and unhuman beings is revealed to have potent and dangerous sway over the mundane. The series is an excellent example of mystical/historical world building, in the service of interesting characters you want to adventure with.

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