Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Elements of Retrofit

SERIES: Thomas Elkin #1

AUTHOR: N.R. Walker

NARRATOR: Nick J. Russo

PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books

RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2019

LENGTH: 3 hours, 10 minutes

BLURB:

Generation versus generation, traditional versus contemporary, these men are about to learn a lesson in architecture and love. Can they prove that the old and new can be the perfect design?

A successful New York architect, Thomas Elkin almost has it all. Coming out as gay and ending his marriage before his fortieth birthday, he needed to start living his life. Now, four years later, with his relationship with his son back on track, and after a few short-lived romances, this esteemed traditional draftsman thinks he knows everything about architecture, about life.

Cooper Jones, twenty-two years old, is about to take the architect world by storm. Talented, professional, driven and completely infuriating, Cooper is the definition of Generation Y.

Starting an internship working with Thomas, Cooper is about to knock Tom’s world off its axis. Tom can teach Cooper about the architecture industry, but Cooper is about to teach Tom what it means to live.

REVIEW:

When N.R. Walker announced she was going to produce, or rather Nick J. Russo, was going to produce the audiobooks for the Thomas Elkin series I was thrilled. This series is an old favourite of mine and I couldn’t wait to see what Russo was going to do with it.

Thomas Elkin is finally living his dream, most of it at least. He has a job he loves, he’s finally out of the closet and living openly as a gay man. His relationship with his son is finally back on track after the divorce from his mom. The only thing that was missing was someone to share it all with. The last thing he needed was something that rocked the world he so carefully crafted. And Cooper Jones was definitely determined to rock his world. This man, half his age, that not only was the most promising intern at his work, but also one of his son’s closest friends. Cooper Jones spelled Trouble with a capital T, yet they couldn’t seem to stay away from each other.

Elements of Retrofit was sweet, sexy and funny. I loved the banter between Tom and Cooper, but also the tender and serious moments. They had chemistry right off the bat and it kept simmering until that first kiss when it all just exploded. I loved how this book was mostly drama free, no (or at least very few) guilt trips with “this is wrong” and “he’s too young for me” no long inner monologues talking themselves out of what they both wanted. They wanted, they took. Sure there were and are obstacles that needs to be faced, their work and not the least Ryan, Tom’s son and Cooper’s friend and not all of it is resolved in this book and we will have to wait to see how the rest unfolds in the books to come.

You could almost believe that this book was written for Nick J. Russo to narrate. He nailed every single thing. He captured Tom just right, his matureness, seriousness and loneliness was there in his voice. Then there was Cooper, the much younger and eager Cooper. Every word was so vivid you could see it all unfolding as if you were there, standing beside them, in a non-creepy and stalkerish way.

Before starting this audio I had a dilemma; this is a story in three parts, one book is not complete without the other two. So should I wait so I could listen to them all in one go, or impatiently wait between the books for just one scrap more? Turns out I don’t have the self-restraint to wait for all three books and now have to resign myself to impatiently watching the clock to see if time could possibly move just a little bit faster to get that tiny bit closer to the next book.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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