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Excellent Historical Fiction Angsty MM Romances

Revisado: 10-25-24

This story was rich, textured, and full of twists and turns. Sometimes I thought the angst would get the better of me, but it truly is a HEA. I cringe hard at gratuitous and unceasing smut. Thank goodness there’s lots of plot and time for characters to develop a bond, so instead of the same old tired 🌶️ I felt like I was enjoying a moving historical romance. I’m sad I can’t time travel and listen again for the first time. Also, the story is beautifully narrated by someone who knows his way around regional British accents making this an immersive experience ✨❤️

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Nice shout out to my hometown, Marietta

Revisado: 05-20-24

This was a very moving story where you truly root for the characters. It was a hard-earned happy ending. I’m not quite sold on the narrators’ southern accents, but they weren’t over the top.

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Complex and deeply flawed characters well-worth a listen

Revisado: 05-05-24

First and foremost: performed by Gary Furlong. If nothing else, listen to this amazingly gifted actor.

Second: this isn’t your run-of-the-mill romance story with straightforward and plodding characters. The characters are complex and extremely frustrating, but those frustrations and the strong plot all make the angst worth it.

Two remarks: 1) I’d call this a HFN and 2) There are intimate scenes but they aren’t gratuitous and cringeworthy 😅

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Holy moly the level of suspense was amazing

Revisado: 03-24-24

Kudos to Gary Furlong. He is an amazing voice actor and not just a narrator going through the motions. He makes you feel completely immersed in the story.

I really enjoyed this story of two very stubborn and prickly individuals falling in love. The ending soothed my soul, although there was quite an escalation of suspense and angst on that journey. I’ve listened to some stories that suffered from gratuitous sexual content that obstructed the plot. Fortunately this story had a strong plot and would have been equally as satisfying with fade to black or no spicy scenes at all.

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Extremely moving: prepare to cry buckets

Revisado: 03-09-24

Jay Bell has tortured me again, but I went into this story with my eyes open, because I really wanted to continue experiencing this series. I delayed listening to this book for about six months, because my heart was still too full from reading the first book in the series.

Why it’s moving to me but very vaguely spoilery if you hadn’t read the first book:

It’s personally very painful to read about Jace’s outcome given what I experienced at the same age with my own health. I’m obviously here a few short years later to write this review, but the beauty of this story is that it made me reflect on that time and cherish my loved ones.

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A sweet romance of humanoid AI in a hateful world

Revisado: 02-05-24

This story really moved me. The romance is very sweet and pure and shines in a future version of the world full of war and hatred towards humanoid AI. The descriptions are very vivid, so you can easily immerse yourself in the story. There are many dark themes, depictions of violence, and a side character I’d love to strangle. I like that there are multiple POVs in the story.
It’s a happy ending, so the suspenseful and angsty parts are worth it.

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From Sweet to Tragic to Frightening: Buckle Up

Revisado: 09-05-23

Buckle up for this one. It was 100% worth a listen for me, but if you are not a fan of some heavy trigger warnings (things happen off 'page'), I probably wouldn't choose this one.

This is my second Jay Bell book, my first being Out of Time Into You, which turned me into a puddle of tears.

In this story, things seem to start out sweet and calm for a few hours, but watch out, your heart will be squeezed and bruised.

I was so there for this, since I've been reading a lot of sugar-sweet books that haven't had me gasping and clutching my pearls.

Observations: IMHO, these high schoolers are absolutely wild and pretty much the opposite of my peers and me: always drinking, partying, smoking weed, and being super casual about sex (or sex positive depending on your perspective). The parents in this story are incredibly hands-off but accepting of their children.

Notes: No explicit smut. The suspense emotional rollercoaster are what will have your heart pounding.

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A must-listen but be prepared to drown in tears.

Revisado: 09-03-23

You must read and or listen to this one, my fellow mm romance aficionados.

I have never ever cried while reading a romance novel, but this one got me. This is a beautiful story of love, time travel, and heartache. I just finished listening to this and am drowning in tears but each tear was worth it.

I would classify this one as a happy for now ending. I would love to see this story told from Daniel’s perspective as “Book 1.5,” since my poor heart misses both him and Reggie so much.

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Healing Story with Excellent Message💕💕

Revisado: 08-23-23

If you’re looking for a feel-good story with a positive message and characters who behave realistically, please give this a listen. This is a plot-driven story and the 🌶️ scenes are not gratuitous. The relationship builds nicely. Both characters are thoughtful and mature when deciding the next steps. I appreciate this.
Narrator: Joel Leslie is at his best when doing an Australian accent, because it cuts down on the highly aspirated, breathy vocal fry that I hear when he does North American accents. He’s wonderfully talented, but some of my buddies and I cannot appreciate the vocal fry 🙉

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Hard-earned HEA

Revisado: 08-08-23

Top-notch performances. You cannot go wrong with these two narrators.

This really is worth the credit.

That being said: I honestly didn’t expect a HEA, because of the heavy content and suffering of the MC. I felt boiling rage toward one character in particular. The MC really has one of the worse families I’ve read about since beginning my MM romance reading journey.
This book is leaps and bounds ahead of the first in the series. I was blown away by this one. Truly blown away.
5/5

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