Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Virtually Screwed 
SERIES: Love & Luck Book #2
AUTHOR: Isla Olsen
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 5 hrs and 31 mins
RELEASE DATE: December 22, 2020
BLURB:
Blake
At 43, I’m supposed to have everything figured out, and if you’d asked me six months ago, I’d have said I did: head of my own tech company, beautiful fiancée, amazing future all planned out…life was perfect. Or, at least, I thought it was….
So now, I’m in New York after selling my company and fleeing San Jose, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I have nothing to fill my day – no meetings, no reports, no tests, no launch parties – and that’s how I manage to get hooked on Warpath 4 and, somehow, find myself sexting with a guy almost 20 years younger than me.
Say what?
Okay, here’s the thing: It didn’t start out dirty. It was all completely tame. Mild. Conversational. But then conversation turned to flirting, and flirting turned to dirty talk. And, well…let’s just say things escalated from there.
But it’s just a bit of fun. Right? It’s not like anything would ever work in real life. I’m too old, he’s still closeted. And let’s not get started on how I’m supposedly straight. It’s just way too messy. Definitely best if we never actually meet each other…
But what if we already have?
Turns out my virtual f–k buddy is actually Owen Kelly, my best friend’s kid brother. Which leaves me pretty much screwed….
Warning: This book is not appropriate for anyone who doesn’t like laughing, anyone who doesn’t like the word daddy, or anyone who doesn’t like when hot older guys and gorgeous younger guys have a hella lot of super-steamy sex.
Happily ever after included.
REVIEW:
ME: *browsing for a new audiobook*
ME: Oooooh … Joel Leslie narrated this one.
ME: *one-click*
ME: Now let’s go see what this book is about …
Seriously … it doesn’t matter what the book is; if Joel Leslie is on the byline as narrator, I click first and investigate the book later. #Truth
Here, the book is Virtually Screwed, the second book in Isla’s Olsen’s fabulous, flirty, fun Love & Luck series and it is fabulous. I happen to adore this whole series because it’s light, low-angst, sexy and romantic. Isla Olsen brings these characters to life so vividly that you can relate to them and can’t help but love them all. Joel Leslie takes it to the next level with his narration. Definitely a well-deserved one-click.
The Story:
Virtually Screwed is my favorite in this series. Blake is the long-time best friend of Shay Kelly (the oldest Kelly sibling). Blake and Owen, the youngest Kelly sibling, fall for each other over a video game. Fun fact: Retired billionaire, tech entrepreneur Blake happens to have developed said video game, although he ironically is not adept at actually playing it. This ineptitude created the opportunity for Owen and Blake to meet in-game; Owen provided Blake with much needed in-game rescue and support. From there, they start to play together and in-game chat, which leads to out-of-game messaging, which then progresses into sexting and Snapchat-like dirty pic exchanges. Yet, they don’t know each other’s names or faces. Well, you know how this goes … eventually they discover the other’s identity, much to their mutual shock.
While the scenario is trite, the author’s handling of it is unexpected. Neither Blake nor Owen react as I expected them to. The two main issues appear to be the 20 year age gap between them and Blake’s status as Owen’s brother’s best friend. Notably, the author spins conflict out of something altogether different from those two issues, though: Owen’s social anxiety. Owen is closeted, but I didn’t consider that as a separate issue or source of conflict between him and Blake. Owen’s choice not to come out stems from his anxiety. It’s part and parcel of the overarching problem. Owen does not want attention focused on him for any reason; coming out would put the spotlight on him so he just keeps it hidden along with the rest of him which he tries to keep in the shadows. Some seriously great storytelling shows how Owen and Blake work through that conflict and cut that proverbial Gordian Knot.
The author hit it out of the park when creating Blake and Owen. How I loved them both. They are so endearing and totally click as a couple, despite the large age gap. Further, the author conveys Owen’s youth and Blake’s comparative maturity while still preserving the integrity and authenticity of their pairing. Deftly handling that relationship coupled with balancing sex, romance, angst and humor with aplomb is what really sold me on this particular entry into the Love & Luck series. That and the Kelly clan, as brought to life by Joel Leslie.
The Narration:
The eleven siblings of the Kelly family form the backbone of the Love & Luck series. It’s a crazy bunch who love each other deeply. As the books go on, each of the brothers finds their HEA and a new man and set of connections enter the Kelly dynamic. Much as I love it, it can be overwhelming. Blake, Shay, Owen, and Jamie (introduced in this book as Blake’s son) create this convoluted quadrilateral of relationships. In later books, we get the introduction of more characters related to these four, further complicating things. There’s just a lot going on. This is where Joel Leslie’s narration is a huge value-add.
Joel Leslie makes any book better. He must wield magic or some other sorcery in his vocal cords because he honestly could read the phone book and I would be completely captivated. I’m fascinated by his phenomenal ability to distinctly characterize multiple people in a story. With a cast of characters like the Kelly crew and their partners and friends, that is a substantial challenge. The sheer number of characters, most of whom have similar accents (Mrs. Kelly is given a lovely Irish brogue and Jamie has a delicious British accent, but otherwise, the characters are American), will make your head-spin. On text alone, it can be damn confusing keeping straight who’s who. But that’s not a problem once Joel Leslie gives life to those characters and you hear them in your head. I know who every character is based on his voicing of their narrative alone. I don’t need to see text. I don’t need reference points or reminders. The Kelly clan group texts are hilarious, truly some of the best parts of these stories. But narrating them? That’s no small feat. It takes some serious skill and vocal agility to deftly transition between lines of text that shift back and forth between eleven or more characters in quick succession. For Joel Leslie, this is easy-peasy, or at least that’s how he makes it seem because he’s just that good. Additionally, he impactfully imparts all of the underlying emotions into the words he speaks. Listening to a Joel Leslie audiobook is like going to the theater. It’s an immersive performance piped straight into your ears and you can’t help but fall under its spell.
Recommendation: Grab this audiobook. You won’t be sorry.
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