Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Connection Error 
SERIES: #gaymers #3
AUTHOR: Annabeth Albert
NARRATOR: Sean Crisden
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Audio
RELEASE DATE: September 5, 2016
LENGTH: 6 hours, 29 minutes
BLURB:
A friends-to-lovers novella that came from Out of the Shadows because Nate and Dylan needed a story….
Nate and Dylan have been pals for a long time. So what if their friends think they’ve got a little bromance going? Doesn’t mean there’s anything more to it than that, right? And even if there is, Nate and Dylan are totally oblivious….
Until the night they share a drunken kiss, and everything changes.
REVIEW:
A video game programmer with ADHD and a injured, double amputee, war vet, sitting on a plane, K – I – S – S – I – N – G. Ok so there was no kissing – Ryan’s not that impulsive – though Josiah totally is.
Anyway Josiah is flying to Germany and the biggest meeting of his career as a video game programmer. His seatmate – the very handsome Ryan is on his way home after visiting family. Only a storm diverts the plane and strands them in St. Louis for the night. After some mishaps, a no brain-mouth filter and a bruised ego, the pair decides to share a hotel room and spend the night gaming.
They have an easy camaraderie and it’s not long until sparks fly. Ryan however has all intentions of not starting anything and forgetting all about Josiah as soon as they part ways the day after. Only a forgotten laptop on Josiah’s part makes that a tad difficult and is the starting point of a long distance friendship heavy on flirting. We follow Ryan through his physical therapy, learning to walk again with his new prosthetics, all the ups and downs. At the same time in another part of the country Josiah is doing everything he can to keep his team together, struggling with being a leader. I loved how they supported each other through it all.
You might already know this about me already, but I love survivor stories and stories with people with disorders and disabilities – done well that is. I want none of the pity and the author need to have done their research, but that’s another story. So this book screams my name – I mean an amputee and ADHD in one book. I’m there. I have to say I found both Josiah and Ryan very credibly written as were their “disabilities”. There was none of the poor me, miracle cures or judgment many books have. It was a part of who they were – take it or leave it if you don’t like or accept it. I loved that and enjoyed every second of this book. It was part of who they were, but it was never the defining point.
I really liked how Josiah and Ryan were together. Ryan made Josiah slow and calm down, quieting his overactive brain, making him focus. At the same time Josiah, with his carefree personality made Ryan get out of his head to stop overthinking. They fit and made sense. And I loved watching them support one another, through the ups and down of rehab and challenging management.
My only niggle with this book, and that’s not really a niggle with the book itself as such, but somethings just doesn’t work as well with audiobooks as they do in print. In this case it was the many emails Josiah and Ryan exchanged. The emails needed to be there, but listening to the To: From: and Subject line over and over got tedious after a while. When reading, you kind of gloss over that, but there is no such thing with audiobooks. So while it didn’t quite fit with the audiobook, it does fit with the story and all the emails need to be in there.
Sean Crisden knows what he’s doing and has a great talent for narrating / performing books. I’m always sucked in, held captive throughout the books and this is true for this book as well. I also feel like he captured both Josiah and Ryan really well, their personalities shone through Crisden’s narration as did their feelings and mind-sets. Another great listen that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Connection Error had everything that I was looking for in a great audiobook, a great narrator, wonderfully real and flawed characters and a plot that kept me interested throughout. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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