Reviewed by Alexander
TITLE: Second Hand
SERIES: Tucker Springs
AUTHOR: Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 5 hours, 11 minutes
NARRATOR: Iggy Toma
BLURB:
Paul Hannon moved to Tucker Springs for his girlfriend, but she’s left him with a house he can’t afford and a pantry full of useless gadgets. All Paul wants is to get back to normal, even if he’s not sure what that is anymore. When he wanders into Tucker Pawn for a gift to win her back, he meets El Rozal, pawn shop owner and all-around cynic.
El Rozal doesn’t do relationships, especially not with clueless straight boys still pining for their ex. El may make his living dealing in castoffs, but that doesn’t apply to men. Still, when Paul starts clearing out his old life, pawning kitchen equipment he never wanted in the first place, El is drawn to Paul in spite of himself.
Paul and El have nothing in common except a past full of disappointments. There’s no reason to believe the two of them could fit, but in El’s line of work, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. When it comes to love, El and Paul may learn that secondhand doesn’t mean second best.
Publisher’s note: This novel is part of the Tucker Springs series, which do not need to be heard in order.
REVIEW:
Second Hand is the second book in the Tucker Springs series, and is a standalone novel.
Normally hapless characters bug me, but there was something about Paul that drew me in, and made me smile as he followed his path of self-discovery. Now El was one cool customer, and I loved his personality, and how he took Paul under his wing, and the two of them together were a constant source of entertainment as El tried to figure out Paul, and Paul tried to figure out everything around him.
But where the depth came in was when we witnessed El’s interactions with his family, the backstory, the emotion, it was woven into the story so well and made El that much more human. That’s not to say that Paul didn’t have a depth of his own, because he did, it just took longer for it to surface. So both guys demonstrated growth, El’s being more pronounced compared to Paul.
Second Hand is a character-driven story, which I love, because it is the character interaction, their by-play, watching the push and pull, trials and tribulations that bring them to their HEA that leaves me satisfied. Another thing that I liked about the story was the minimal sex. There is a time and a place for it in many stories, but sex for the sake of sex does not appeal to me, and so when Paul and El do become intimate, it is well done, appropriate, and advances their relationship and therefore the plot.
Make no mistake, but Toma is one of the best narrators out there at the moment. He is in my top 5 favorites, and has a great narrative voice, as well as superb character voices as well. The production quality Toma brings to the table is as close to perfect as you will find anywhere. Mispronounced words? Nope. Good pace, intonation, emotion, and diction? Yes, on all counts.
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