Reviewed by Roberta
TITLE: Jesse’s Diner
SERIES: Hope, Book 2
AUTHOR: Cardeno C.
NARRATOR: Paul Morey
PUBLISHER: The Romance Authors
RELEASE DATE: December 22, 2015
LENGTH: 2 Hrs & 49 mins
BLURB:
Two men with a shared history and a mutual attraction must be honest with themselves and each other so both their dreams come true.
Quiet, unassuming Tanner Sellers spends his time running a diner in Hope, Arizona. Not particularly social, 22-year-old Tanner keeps to himself and enjoys his simple life, but he longs for someone to call his own. In his most secret fantasy, that someone is sexy Steve Faus. But Steve is his friend’s father and mentor’s widower and therefore off-limits.
Despite some challenges, 39-year-old Steve Faus has had a good life. He’s extremely successful at work, has a great relationship with his college-age son, and lives in a wonderful town. Eighteen months after losing his partner, the one thing Steve lacks is someone to share his life with. If Steve is honest with himself, that someone is the young man he has known and cared about for years. Steve and Tanner want one another; all they need is a little push in the right direction to make both their dreams come true.
REVIEW:
I usually keep up on my Cardeno C, and I was surprised that I hadn’t seen this book yet, so when the chance came to listen to the audio book, I was all about it. A younger man in love with an older man, On It!!
Tanner is this young man who has pretty much led a simple, quiet life. Tanner is the quiet one, the one who barely speaks. Tanner moved to Hope when he was 16 yrs old. His mother having sent him there to stay with his grandmother while she was off doing her partying ways. Tanner has ALWAYS had the hots for Steve, even knowing that he’s Jesse’s partner and his best friend, Mike’s father. Tanner avoids Steve because he can’t seem to think straight…pun totally intended. Tanner is that sweet, loving and so damn kind. You really just want to hug him and make all his dreams come true.
Steve Faus is the older, wiser man. All of 39 yrs old and he’s lived his life. A former wild-child who got his life together and found his own family after his birth family wouldn’t speak to him for being gay. Steve has had to overcome a few things in his life and some…well…you’ll just have to listen/read to find that out. Steve is that guy who is still young enough to know that his life hasn’t stopped just because Jesse passed away. Steve is so cute in the way that he seduces Tanner. I like that as the one with the most life experience, he takes his time with Tanner.
Now as you know, Cardeno C does really good sexy times and this book is no exception. I have to say that I really like the fact that they spent time together that wasn’t just about the sex. It was also getting to know each other as equals. Now…I know that sexy time is important and it was in this case as well. However, I will say that these guys made it seem as if it wasn’t just sex. It was a way to express their growing feelings and desires for each other.
I know that some people might have an issue with how fast these two fell in love…insta-love…but I thought about it and it wasn’t. They have been in each other’s lives for 6 years and they have had feelings for each other. The only thing that switched was the direction of their feelings. I didn’t mind it at all. It made the story sweeter.
Narration:
Paul Morey is a man whose voice is so distinctive that when I saw that he’d be narrating…I was on it. Now, I think that I really liked his voice as he did Matter of Time Vol. 1 & 2. I kept waiting for Sam to show up.
I have to say that Paul did a really good job on giving each character a “voice” that allowed you to know who was speaking. Paul brought these two characters to life for me. I felt as if I really knew them and really wanted their lives to be intertwined.
Paul has always had a way of making each character stand out on their own and yet, bring them all together with his talented voice.
RATING:
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