Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Hay: A Made Marian Short
SERIES: Made Marian
AUTHOR: Lucy Lennox
NARRATOR: Michael Dean
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 2 hours and 36 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 26, 2019
BLURB:
When sports journalist Hayworth Buchanan lands the interview of his dreams, he gets the chance to visit famous NFL coach Christian Lasley at his secluded ranch in Wyoming. Despite the cold weather outside, things get plenty steamy inside when sparks fly between Hay and his celebrity sports crush. But Hay’s been down this road before, and he knows from experience hot connections never turn into the real deal for him. After all, everyone he’s ever been interested in has left him for their childhood love.
So when Christian’s on-again, off-again childhood love shows up at the ranch hoping to reconcile, Hayworth knows he a decision to make. Does he hand over the ball and slink off the field, or does he step up and try to make the winning play?
While Hay is set in the Made Marian world, this story stands completely on its own.
REVIEW:
Note: This short is set in the Made Marian world and takes place in the timeline after the initial books in the series covering the brothers and their SOs. However, you don’t really need to have read the series to appreciate this story – although there are several spoilers from that series. Also, if you haven’t read the Made Marian series yet, I highly recommend it.
Hay has moved to California after he came out. For those familiar with the Made Marian series, Hay was a friend of Beau Talmadge’s in Moving Maverick. He needed to get away from his life in South Carolina and start over. He enjoyed his new found freedom in San Francisco and partakes of a lot of things he’s missed out on by not coming out earlier. He also starts a sports podcast that has become quite popular.
When Christian Lasley, the first NFL coach to come out, grants and interview and Hay gets it, he’s over the moon! Chris has been his crush since he was in HS and Chris was a highly decorated college player. When he finds out exactly why Chris has chosen him, he’s even more flattered. When Hay meets with Chris at his ranch in Wyoming, he definitely gets a lot more than just an interview. He’s flattered, intrigued, and already half in love with the guy by the time he leaves.
But of course things can’t go that smoothly. Hay has never been chosen first and always seems to lose out to the childhood sweetheart, so when Chris appears to also have one of those lurking in the wings, Hay doesn’t think he can take being shoved aside one more time. But he’s not sure that he’s down and out yet.
So I really liked this story when I read it after it first came out. I’m sorry to say, I didn’t really enjoy the narration of this book. Something about the voices or the pace of the narration just didn’t work for me. I love Hay and I still like the story, but I’m afraid as an audio experience, this one was not among my favorites. Hay still is as sweet as ever, disbelieving that he could be really be in this kind of relationship with the guy he’s always had a huge crush on. For his part, Chris immediately feels protective of Hay and his career and he really really just likes him – his intelligence, his humor, his easy way of being. I liked their chemistry and relationship a great deal, but I just found Chris’s voice and cadence grating. I’ve not tried any of the other audiobooks from this series, and I admit I’m reluctant too now because I really do love this series. As usual, YMMV.
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