Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Signs of Desire 
SERIES: Desires Entwined #4
AUTHOR: Tempeste O’Riley
NARRATOR: Jeff Gelder
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: July 27, 2016
LENGTH: 6 hours, 35 minutes
BLURB:
When a night out turns into a matchmaking scheme, they thought communication would be their biggest challenge to their happily ever after….
Simon Tyler knows his job as a gay romance author makes his lack of faith in love more than a little ironic, but he’s tired of being used for his wallet. When a night out turns into a matchmaking scheme orchestrated by his best friends—though he’s not the target—Simon’s not thrilled, but since he’s sworn off happily-ever-after anyway, he goes along with it… until he meets the object of their efforts, Adrian, and finds perhaps he hasn’t given up on love after all.
Professor Adrian Keys has tried to date hearing men before, but being deaf himself, he’s never had any success at making a connection. After his friends con him into going out and Adrian realizes it’s all an elaborate plan to set him up, he braces for yet another failure, only to discover there is a spark—except it’s not with the man his friends had in mind, but with Simon Tyler instead.
Not all their friends have found a way past their romantic failures, but Simon and Adrian might be on the path to happily-ever-after.
REVIEW:
I have many weaknesses and many loves. And one of them is for stories with disabled main characters. Their stories always inspire me, leaves me in awe of their strength – no matter the disability. And it makes me humble, and so very grateful for all the things that I take for granted – listening to audiobooks being one of them.
Adrian Keys is far from happy when his best friend cons him to tag along to a night out with some of his friends. Friends he’s never met before. And not only that, he later discovers that said best friend has set him up. Only things doesn’t really turn out the way anyone planned – for any of the involved. The set up was a no go and a fail, at least in the sense of the intended “victim”. The romance writer Simon Tyler though is very fascinated, and there is a spark that cannot be ignored.
Simon Tyler does not believe in that elusive happily ever after. After one too many boyfriends using him he’s sworn off love and relationships. Still there is something about Adrian that he’s drawn to. Making him question his decision of giving up on love.
I liked Simon and Adrian, and I loved how Adrian’s deafness was never an issue between them. That the language barrier was as simple to solve as Adrian taking ASL lessons and learning to sign. It was never a question, of if he should do it, it was just a natural progression to their evolving relationship. And I loved how Adrian was never treated as less, less of a human just because he was hard of hearing.
The couple had chemistry from the first night they met and that was never the issue. What they did have to work on were their respective preconceived notions. Hang-ups from lessons learned from the past. Simon trusting another person not to use him, but loving him for who he was. Adrien realising that his lack of hearing was never an issue for Simon, just a fact. Still new relationships needs work, and these two made it seem, not effortless, but not overwhelming either,
This was my first book narrated by Jeff Gelder, and while I wasn’t blown away by him, I can’t say that it was bad either. He had some change in his voice for the different characters, but it still wasn’t enough all the times, especially when there were a lot of people speaking at once. Another thing I did want was some kind of change in his voice for when Adrian was speaking, just to anchor the story to the narration a bit further. I don’t mean adding a robotic voice or anything over the top, just adding something that doesn’t sound perfect – most people born deaf does not have a perfect accent, there will be some intonations that will be a bit off.
I haven’t read any of the previous books in the series but I didn’t feel like I was missing anything pertinent to the story. Sure I didn’t know the side characters or their stories, but I didn’t need them in order to enjoy this book. And in the end, what I got was a rather sweet love story about two gun-shy men taking a chance at love.
RATING: 
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