Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: Feuds and Reckless Fury
AUTHOR: K. Webster
NARRATOR: Teddy Hamilton & Greg Boudreaux
PUBLISHER: Audible Studios
LENGTH: 9 hours and 6 minutes
RELEASE DATE: June 1st , 2021
BLURB:
The hatred began when my father proposed to another man in a shocking moment that rocked my family to its core….
Now I’m on a quest for revenge against my father.
That means hitting him where it hurts – the new fiancé and the son he thinks so much of.
Alister Sommers.
Alis is a bleached-blond perfectionist thorn in my side, who’s used to everything going his way. Grades, money, track – he dominates it all despite his short, insignificant frame.
Was one dad not good enough that Alis had to take mine, too?
Soon, we’ll be stepbrothers.
Until then, I vow to make his life a living hell.
Maybe Dad will regret his terrible mistakes.
Maybe he won’t.
I know I won’t regret wrecking their lives like they did mine.
I’ll give up everything, even my girlfriend and football, if it means I get a chance for retribution.
It’s reckless and risky, but I don’t have much to lose.
The havoc I wreak might ease some of the pain Dad caused my mother.
I’m willing to give it a shot.
What starts as a family feud will become a war…one I plan on winning no matter the cost.
There’s only one small problem.
I may have underestimated my opponent.
REVIEW:
Since this title seemed to require it, my review is longer than is usual. I’ve divided it into sections. Please feel free to skip over any sections that you care to.
Trigger Warning: One of the main characters suffered traumatic levels of neglect and abuse as a child. Even after years of living in a loving adoptive home, he’s still damaged, with frequent bouts of zero self-esteem and abandonment issues. The tale also depicts several nightmarishly harrowing flashbacks.
M/M Romance: Watching sworn enemies Canyon and Alister fencing for position and seeing both of them come to better understand facets of each other’s character makes this a mesmerizing tale. As Canyon starts to recognize homoerotic feelings amidst his flood of resentment for his soon-to- be step-brother, the story becomes even more fascinating. Both boys are nearing adulthood. They are pretty much equal as to the power dynamic in the relationship. For me, those two factors pretty much eliminate any “ick” factor regarding the fact that these boys are romantically involved despite being destined to be step-brothers.
Audiobook Presentation: As to the audiobook factors here, both voice actors are great. Teddy Hamilton has cocky young voice that perfectly fits the athletic and hot-headed Canyon. Meanwhile Greg Boudreaux’s voice has a more overly-cerebral quality as though he’s continually analyzing everything and just barely keeping it together. Also, Boudreaux’s interpretation of the panic stricken pre-teen Alis that we hear whenever Alis has a severe panic attacks is truly heartbreaking.
Flashbacks: Though the flashback/panic attack episodes in this tale are incredibly powerful, part of me wishes that they could have been left out, or toned down in some way. Experiencing them, and understanding the horrifying recollections that plague Alister’s dreams, explains his inability to trust even his own adoptive father. At the same time, its some of the saddest writing I’ve ever encountered. The back-seat author in me wants to believe that the friends to enemies story arc and these boys’ chemistry might well have been enough to carry this tale. Perhaps even a post adoption flashback scene showing Alis somehow getting a wrong-headed impression about just how much his adoptive father loves him.
Plausibility Issues: At several points in this tale I was pulled out the story by developments that I just found hard to swallow. Reader’s should give an author some latitude to tell that they wish to tell but some plot developments (both minor and major) can make that difficult.
Perhaps the easiest such gaff to dismiss was the boys’ Florida school team the silly name, Blood Gators. I’ve lived in Florida on and off since ’79 and have never heard anything called that. While it’s trivial, every time I heard the term I was momentarily pulled out of the story.
Less trivial was Alis’s inability to talk to his father about his concerns. Early on, we never see enough to understand his fears. I ended up having to “chalk it up” to his early pre-adoption parental abuse. Even with that excuse, I almost ran out of chalk (and patience).
Next there was the over-reliance on the teen-male libido. If the boys were as fearful of discovery as they both repeatedly say that they are, then there would have been fewer sex scenes. I’m not against sex, and I enjoyed the frequent encounters here, but after a while it seemed ridiculous for the boys to be engaging in risky behaviors after just telling us how fearful they were of discovery.
Finally, there’s the whole scenario toward the end where Alis is sort of re-absorbed into his bio-dad’s business. That level of immersion without any overt suspicions or carefulness seemed laughably naive. Iif I hadn’t already been so emotionally invested in the main tale by that point, I would have dismissed this book for that alone.
Final Opinion: Overall, this was a sweet enjoyable romance, and an erotically satisfying story. Once one gets past the plausibility issues (maybe just hum to yourself while listening to those parts) the rest of the audiobook is very enjoyable. I enjoyed spending time with the charming boys in the tale, and for the most part, their friends and family. Sometimes people (even fictional ones) are worth the frustration they put you through.
RATING: 
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