REVIEWED by Alexander

TITLE: Love, Hypothetically

SERIES:  Theta Alpha Gamma book 2

AUTHOR:  Anne Tenino

PUBLISHER:  Riptide Publishing

LENGTH: 3 hours, 2 minutes

NARRATOR: Nick J Russo

BLURB:

Paul’s been called many things – graduate student, humanities tutor, jock-hater, even broke – but “forgiving” isn’t one of them. When the new women’s softball coach at Calapooya College specifically requests Paul to tutor his athletes, Paul’s forced to put aside his strict “no athletes” policy for the sake of his paycheck.

Enter Trevor Gardiner, former Major League Baseball player and Paul’s high school boyfriend. Yeah, that one – the guy who sacrificed Paul for the safety of his closet and his future career. But Trevor’s come out and retired from baseball, and now he’s looking for forgiveness and a second chance.

There’s no earthly reason Paul should give him one, but he keeps letting the man state his case. And touch him. And take him sailing. The waters are far from smooth, though, and Paul says awful things to Trevor he isn’t sure he means. Now Paul has to decide: apologize and forgive Trevor for everything, or chalk it up as revenge and move on.

REVIEW:

I was excited to listen to Love, Hypothetically for a few reasons, first, I really enjoyed the world created by Tenino in the first book, and second, I really wanted to learn more about that cranky bastard, Paul.

It was interesting to learn of Paul’s backstory, and to watch his interaction with Trevor, who may have been a class-A jerk as a teen, but grew up to be one solid guy.  Thankfully Paul’s reaction to Trevor’s return was consistent with who we already knew, but where Tenino excelled was in Paul’s growth as a character, which was slow and deliberate, and felt totally real.

Trevor’s growth had already occurred by the time we met him, and we learned enough about his past and what brought him to where he is, that his insane level of patience was believable, and his remorse, genuine.

The story itself was fun and even though I was not technically reading it, it flew by too quickly.  The cameos by Brad and Sebastian from the first book added a nice bit of continuity, without overpowering the current MCs.

I must admit that Russo did a good job with Frat Boy and Toppy, but in Love, Hypothetically he was perfect.  Now I’m not saying that he did anything differently, but rather that the pairing of his narration, the character voices, and the book fit together like PB&J on white bread.  That’s not to say that the performance on a technical level was perfect, but it sure was one of the more enjoyable books that I have listened to in a while.

Tenino has hit the mark with Love, Hypothetically, and since it is a continuation of the first book, I guess I have to recommend both to you.

AUDIO BOOK RATING:

BUY LINKS:

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