Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)
TITLE: Leaning Into Touch 
SERIES: Leaning Into #4
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
NARRATOR: Nick J. Russo
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 7 hours 50 minutes
RELEASE DATE: April 16th, 2018
BLURB:
Josh Sheehan is unlucky in love and now… newly unemployed. He’s not sure what to do next, but he’s sure he should give up on romance. Especially after last time. His friends warned him that falling for the hunky Irishman was a bad idea. Josh can’t help feeling torn even though he knows it’s best to move on. But when an unexpected dose of family drama blindsides him, Josh finds himself leaning on the one man he’s supposed to forget.
Finn Gallagher is driven by success. He makes no secret that building a name for his tech company is his number one goal. Finn left home a decade ago with a ton of regret, a heavy heart, and a vow to never repeat the same mistake twice. However, there is something undeniably appealing about the self-deprecating man with the silly sense of humor that makes it difficult for Finn to remember why falling for Josh is a bad idea. It soon becomes clear they’re both in deeper than they intended. There is no way to remain untouched. And there is so much to gain, if they’re brave enough to lean in.
STORY REVIEW:
Leaning Into Touch continues the stories of four college friends begun in Leaning Into Love. Eric and Zane paired up in books one and two, Nick paired up with an outsider named Wes in book three, now we get to see Josh pair up with Finn, also an outsider to the group.
At the beginning of this book, Josh the art geek, is just finishing up a job at a museum that he absolutely loves. Unfortunately he’s not qualified to continue on at the museum, not being fluent in French. Josh has a pretty stable family life, folks divorced some time ago, but have stayed friends. His love life is also fairly ho-hum…. He had a fuck-buddies arrangement with a guy named Finn, that started when Nick attempted to get him to gather intel from Finn, as Finn’s company and Nick and Eric’s company do business together. Josh and Finn actually hit it off and spent some time fucking, but Josh wanted more than Finn could give and ended things. As Josh is finishing his last project, he’s startled to see Finn with a beautiful woman on his arm in his museum. The two exchange words, but part ways quickly. Then run in to one another again when Josh is drunkenly making his way past a bar after drinking with his work friends. This gets the two back in to their old shenanigans initially, but it quickly turns to more.
Since this book is all from Josh’s perspective, we only see Finn through his eyes, and only learn Finn’s history as Josh does. My interpretation of Finn is that he is a guilt-ridden, stubborn, workaholic. He’s definitely more focused on work than life. As his story comes out, and as we get to know him better, my interpretation morphed a little. He remains pretty stubborn, guilt-ridden, and focused on work, but I guess I began to feel some sympathy and understand more where he was coming from. He did a bad thing in Ireland when he was younger, and got caught, hurting the people that he loved. Now he’s happily wearing a hair-shirt, ten years later, suffering for his sins. The only thing that brings him out is Josh and his brightness.
This story really focused on the relations between the characters. Certainly on Josh and Finn, as they try to stay in Fuck-buddy Land, but of course that doesn’t work. Also we see Josh and his family drama. A big thing happens with his dad, and Josh initially has a hard time dealing with it. Josh and his dad spend some time together working through their issues. We see Josh and his mom, as she stresses about the situation with his dad. Finn helps with both of these family issues as well, being a bit more experienced in life than Josh. There’s also a thing going on with Finn’s best friend/beard Scarlet, and we see that relationship change as well. Especially at the ending of the book! We also see the four friends interacting, and rallying around Josh as he has some relationship troubles…. So lots of relationship stuff of various types. All good things to see!
But the real treat is Josh and Finn. They go from casual fuck-buddies, to nearly a relationship, only to pull back, then….. you’ll have to read it! And they have lots of lovely sex, I loved the emotional connection between them, even when they are trying to keep casual. And Josh is just such a sweetheart! The perfect counter to Finn’s somewhat cold exterior. Underneath he’s a softy, but on the outside, a bit cold.
I like this series a lot, the characters range from pretentious an obnoxious (Nick, I’m looking at you!), to sweet and lovely (Josh, I’m looking at you!). I love the connection between the friends, even though they are very different. I love the setting, San Francisco is such a diverse and beautiful city, and Lane uses it well. I love that each book has some drama, but always resolves and ends in a happy place.
As always, Lane gives us great characters, an interesting story, some drama, some really hot sex, and a happy ending! Just what I expect from her books.
I can’t wait for the next book! If you haven’t read them, give them a try!
NARRATION REVIEW:
Well…. I’m not sure this was the best book for Nick J. Russo to narrate, I’m sad to say. I have listened to a bunch of books he’s done, and normally I love him. And really, he was ok for 3/4 of this book, but Finn’s Irish accent was a totally miss for me. There was an accent, but I wouldn’t call it Irish by any means. He did great with the rest of it, but the author frequently has Josh noticing Finn’s accent, and I just didn’t hear it. So I went back and forth the rating, story-wise I would have gone higher, but the narration brought it down a little bit. I tried to ignore it, but every time I heard Finn I cringed…
RATING: 
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