Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Lovers Leap
AUTHOR: J.L. Merrow
NARRATOR: Mark Steadman
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 5 hrs 13 mins
RELEASE DATE: February 29, 2016
BLURB:
If they looked, would they ever leap?
Good-looking, confident, and doted on by his widowed mum, Michael is used to thinking only of himself. Getting shoved off an Isle of Wight pier by an exasperated ex ought to come as a wake-up call—but then he meets Rufus and he’s right back to letting the little head take charge. Rufus is cute, keen, and gets under Michael’s skin in a disturbing way.
Would-be chef Rufus can’t believe his luck when a dripping wet dream of a man walks out of the sea on his birthday, especially when Michael ends up staying at the family B&B. Life is perfect—at least until Michael has to go home to the mainland.
Rufus can’t leave the island for reasons he’s entirely neglected to mention. And though Michael identifies as bi, breaking his mum’s heart by coming out and having an actual relationship with a guy has never been his plan. With both men determined to keep their secrets, a leap of faith could land them in deep water.
REVIEW:
I don’t take on many audio books. To review or just for the pleasure of it. Mostly because in normal circumstances I can’t afford the cost, but even when they are graciously offered for free in exchange for a review I usually pass them over so someone else can have a shot at them. I have a hard time concentrating on the story while doing other things some times…and, well, I have an even harder time just sitting there and listening to the damn things with nothing to distract my hands while I’m doing it. Plus, it takes longer to listen to the things than it does to just read the book. So I don’t normally pick up audio books.
But I really like J.L. Merrow and someone had already beaten me to the review copy of the ebook, so I thought what the heck and offered to take up the review for the audio version. I am really glad I did.
You see while I was listening to this book I could tell that there were things that I would no doubt find problematic (Michael. Mostly Michael), but there was just something about Mark Steadman, the narrator for this book, that made all of that matter a lot less. He brought Michael (and the rest of the characters) expertly to life and he did it in a way that was extremely entertaining.
Michael is, in the best of terms, a bit of a twat. He is not a perfect character. He doesn’t say the perfect thing. He doesn’t think or act perfectly either. Despite heartily saying he is bisexual he is overly conscious of how he acts in regards to his attraction to men–Rufus in particular. He’s a bit of a homophobic prick, to be honest. Which is probably worse since he is bi himself. So. Not perfect.
There is however something about him that I really like. Maybe it is that he is not perfect. Maybe it is that he actually has room to grow in this story. That he has reasons for his assholishness and that for all of it he is not a bad guy. Just a bit of a twat. And I know that his personality would have grated on me if he had been the only voice in my head. I know it. But when it was Michael speaking thru Mark’s excellent (and dead dreamy) voice…it was more human. More understandable.
I fully believe that a narrator can make or break an audio book, and by golly did Mark Steadman make this book shine.
Not that I didn’t love the story outside of that. I found this lighthearted story to be just the thing for me this week. I get that it can seem a bit ridiculous at some points, but it was a fun story. It was a good story. And it was a story I really enjoyed getting a chance to read. Or well, have read to me (in a really fucking awesome British accent).
BOOK RATING: 
NARRATION RATING: 
BUY LINKS: