Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Better Than Good
SERIES: Better Than… #1
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
NARRATOR: Tyler Stevens
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2014
LENGTH: 6 hours, 5 minutes
BLURB:
Matt Sullivan understands labels: law student, athlete, heterosexual. He has goals: graduate and begin his career in law. One fateful night, Matt tags along with his gay roommate to a dance club and everything changes. Matt finds himself attracted to the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. All labels go flying out the window.
Aaron Mendez doesn’t believe in labels, and he’s leery of straight curious men. He makes it clear that he’ll hide his fabulous light for no one. While Aaron can’t deny the attraction between him and Matt, he is reluctant to start anything with someone who is still dealing with what this new label means—especially when that someone has a girlfriend.
REVIEW:
I adored this book, it was just so sweet and uncomplicated. It made me smile and left me with a happy feeling that I just know will last all through the day.
Matt Sullivan is having a night out with his friends and they end up in dance club. On the dance floor he sees a dancer that makes the music go quiet and the world disappear. In a daze he follows the dancer, because he just has to talk to the guy. They dance and have a great time. After leaving the club, he only know the guy’s name; Aaron. Weeks after the encounter he finds himself thinking about Aaron more and more. The only problem is, he has a girlfriend and he’s not gay…
Another chance meeting between him and Aaron changes things. Numbers are exchanged and they tell themselves that what they feel and do is only friendship. But they are barely fooling themselves and it’s not long before the girlfriend is history and Matt and Aaron explore a more physical relationship. These guys had some major chemistry right from that first meeting, so everyone loving some UST should definitely have a closer look at this book.
Better Than Good is a simple tale of two men falling in love. There is no major drama or angst. Sure there were some minor conflict, but it was never drawn out or felt out of place. Nothing in life is all smooth sailing and neither is this book. Another thing that I liked was that Matt was bi-sexual, that it didn’t turn into a gay-for-you kind of thing – or that he was suddenly gay and all the women he dated before didn’t count anymore. Bi-sexuality is a thing and I’m glad that Hayes embraced that.
I just said this was a simple story, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t jam packed with happy feelings. It made me happy while listening. You know that feeling that you get when you are around certain people, those genuinely happy that spreads that feeling around by just entering a room. This book gave me that feeling. And it was awesome, I could happily listen to many more hours of this book, these guys.
Tyler Stevens brought this book to life. He gave the characters voices that fit with their personalities and added plenty of emotion to them as well. He took you to that dance club and you were as mesmerized by Aaron as Matt was. He especially captured Aaron’s character, the flamboyant and mostly carefree sometimes intense guy that he was. A great performance. You lived with these characters for the duration of the book and had a blast while doing so.
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
[…] light for no one. While Aaron can’t deny the attraction between him and Matt, he is reluctant to start anything with someone who is still dealing with what this new label means—especially when that […]