Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Pins and Needles 
AUTHOR: A.J. Thomas
NARRATOR: Jason Riley
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: January 12, 2018
LENGTH: 8 hours, 57 minutes
BLURB:
The truth is rarely seen on the surface, and getting to it might mean digging deep….
After a devastating accident and a long stay in the hospital, the last thing petroleum engineer Sean Wilkinson wants to deal with is the settlement the oil company tries to force on him. He’ll never be able to work in his field again, his education is all but useless, and his surgeons are pessimistic about whether he’ll ever walk again. He needs someone in his corner, but most lawyers take one look at his tattoo-covered father and turn their backs. It’s just Sean’s luck that the one attorney willing to give him a chance is also the hottest guy he’s ever seen.
As a trial lawyer, Nate Delany has a lot to prove – to his father, the world, and himself. Sean intrigues Nate, and he struggles to reconcile the gifted tattoo artist he can’t stop fantasizing about with the quiet, brilliant engineer. His investigation reveals facts left out of the accident report – including an illicit affair, greedy coworkers, and a vicious corporation that will do anything to protect its bottom line. When Sean’s life is threatened, winning Sean’s case, and his heart, becomes a lot more dangerous.
REVIEW:
I don’t have enough words to say how much I enjoyed this book! The first part of the book was amazing. Heartbreaking. Anger inducing. Awe-inspiring. Plain and simple everything you might want from a book and so much more.
A horrible accident at work has left Sean with only one leg, increasing hospital bills, and on top of that, the company he worked for is trying to force him to sign a settlement that won’t even cover the hospital stay and recovery, let alone the pain and suffering he’s been going through. Enter Nate, a trial lawyer striking out on his own and in need of a good case to sink his teeth into. During the weeks and weeks they spend together, something more than client/lawyer is brewing.
I fell head over heels in love with both Nate and Sean the moment they appeared on the page, and they held me captive to the very last word. The slow burn romance that develops between them is just right. It’s tentative, yet the connection between them is strong, and it grows stronger every time they meet. And together they make each other whole.
Family is about more than sharing a few bits of DNA with someone. It’s about who you want to build and share your life with.
The second part of the book sadly didn’t wow me as much. Some of the suspense related twists were a bit too much to be believable for me, and the magic of the first part was dimmed a bit. It was a bit too much focus on that part and not enough of the amazingness that was Nate and Sean and their relationship.
This seems to be the first book Jason Riley’s ever narrated (I might be wrong, so don’t hang me). I did not know this going in, in fact I did not know this until a minute ago when I tried to find out if I’d listened to other works of his. So yeah, I had no indication of that while listening to the book. He has a great flow and pacing, and a great voice to listen to. What I did miss was the performance and true feeling, he tried at times but not really consistently. Then again, that’s highly subjective and a matter of preference, and I do think that as he narrates more and more books, we can expect great things to come.
All in all, Pins and Needles is a book I’d highly recommend to anyone liking contemporary romance with a lot of substance and bit of suspense in the mix.
RATING: 
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