Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: For Real

SERIES: A Spires Story

NARRATOR: John Hartley, Paul Berton

AUTHOR: Alexis Hall

PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing

LENGTH: 13 hrs

Release Date: November 30, 2015

BLURB:

Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of going through the motions of submission.

Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable.  Everything Laurie can’t remember being.

Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love.

The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It can’t mean anything.

It can’t be real.

REVIEW:

I have to say that this story was really different for me. I usually don’t read stories with such young MC’s and yet, I’m actually glad that I got a chance to listen to this story.

Toby…golly, I really liked this kid. He’s young…19 years old and I have to say…this kid is just so wonderful to me. I liked that he knew what he wanted. I mean, at 19 I couldn’t even decide what I wanted my hair to look like on a day-to-day basis. Yet, Toby…he knew what he wanted when it came down to it. I liked that he was so damn persistent when it came to Laurie and what he wanted and needed.

Laurie…now I can totally understand where Laurie was coming from the entire book. Laurie was 6 years out of a long-term relationship. He was with his ex for 12 years and that’s an awful long time. I get that he was still in love with the relationship that they had and then to see that Robert had moved on and yet, he couldn’t find anyone that fit for him. I liked that Laurie was really worried that falling for Toby and allowing Toby into his life.

I love the push/pull going on between the two of them. I mean, to see these two men fall for each other. I liked seeing them each have to deal with their own insecurities and doubts. I really liked see open up to each other. These two men aren’t perfect and yet, they were really kind of perfect for each other. I liked that about them so very much. I liked that Toby was young and awkward and inexperienced and in his own head a lot. I liked that Laurie was older, more experienced and yet…he allowed this young man to take over and dominate him in the ways that satisfied them both.

Now, as this is a story with BDSM elements, I have to say that it was very tastefully done. I didn’t find that it was gratuitous in nature and that it was actually a sweet progression of how their relationship grew. They didn’t have any problems in that area, in the least.

I have to say that the author gave so much into this story and you can totally tell. I felt the emotional turmoil that these guys were going through. I felt their happiness and joy and love and I felt their pain. The way that the author wrote was so lyrical and just so damn…brilliant…it kept me listening until the story ended. I wanted to see how their story would end…I needed to see how their story would end.

Now, I have to say about the narration…that was Amazing!! I loved the two different narrators. Each narrator brought the character that they were reading to life and I truly BELIEVED that they were the character!! I believed everything they said because they BECAME the character that they were reading. I can’t say enough about how wonderful these two gentlemen did. I loved getting inside each of these character’s head’s as these two narrators brought them to life.

AUDIOBOOK RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Riptide Publishing

Audible

Amazon