Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: All in with Him
SERIES: Men of Summer Book 3
AUTHOR: Lauren Blakely
NARRATOR: Teddy Hamilton, Jacob Morgan
PUBLISHER: Lauren Blakely Books
LENGTH: 6 hours and 51 minutes
RELEASE DATE: August 27, 2021
BLURB:
Performed by Teddy Hamilton and Jacob Morgan, the emotional, romantic, and sexy All in with Him is the final novel in the utterly addictive Men of Summer series!
Once upon a time, all I needed was baseball, friends, and extracurricular activities. Then everything changed when Declan Steele stormed into my life and upended all my priorities with his heart, his love, his passion.
So my next five-year plan will include this new ground rule — love big.
Only, that’s easier said than done when my man and I come face to face with hard truths and new troubles about what it means to be all in.
That’s when I learn that finding love isn’t the hardest part. Keeping it is.
All in with Him is the final novel in the Men of Summer series, and should be listened to following Winning with Him.
This audiobook also contains the novella Thirst Trap, performed duet by Shane East and Joe Arden! (*See my Thirst Trap review here)
REVIEW:
**All in with Him is the third part of the three-book Men of Summer series, which must be read in order. This review may contain spoilers for Book 1, Scoring with Him, and Book 2, Winning with Him.
* * *
“[I]f one game can throw you off in baseball, if one moment can end your season, how little would it take to derail a relationship?”
The ubiquitous phrase “all in” has become all but cliché. It’s now generally used in everything from sports to business to politics, pretty much anywhere, anytime someone wants to convey a full commitment to something. But to really understand and appreciate Lauren Blakely’s All in with Him, the masterful third and final installment in her Men of Summer three-part series, we need to consider what the phrase “all in” really means.
“All in” primarily derives from poker, meaning you put all your chips into the pot. The scenario that plays out has the player either winning the hand or going broke, losing it all. Given this context, we see that “all in” represents a dramatic act with potentially devastating consequences, not the denuded meaning used in common parlance. When you go “all in”, you gamble everything you have on the thing most important to you knowing you could irrevocably lose it all. This is what Ms. Blakely’s All in with Him is about. The sweet, sexy, swoony story of Grant and Declan’s epic, soaring love as they gamble everything, flying without a safety net, to make it last forever.
This consuming story gives us a window into Grant and Declan’s lives after Winning with Him closed, on a very happy note I might add. We see them wholeheartedly loving each other, coming together for a lot of hot AF sex (written Lauren Blakely style), and jointly confronting and resolving the many and varied small slights and challenges presented in real life. Basically, the typical adjustment needed after a couple gets together, along with their learning to communicate effectively and compromise, allowing themselves to be emotionally vulnerable and trust, and putting the work in to keep the relationship fresh.
However, Ms. Blakely doesn’t leave it at that. She creatively puts a twist on what might easily become a banal story by adding deep, meaningful subtext. What Grant and Declan encounter in All in with Him is no joke, no trivial endeavor for them. Despite their overwhelming love, it could all fall apart if they don’t banish their ghosts.
Grant still struggles with abandonment issues, as his absolutely heartbreaking, tear-inducing plaintive plea “Don’t leave me” makes painfully evident. Declan wears the scars of loving an alcoholic father. A man who would show up drunk and make a scene, throwing the spotlight on Declan in all the wrong ways. And worse, eclipsing Declan’s hard-won moments of triumph on the baseball diamond, overshadowing any sense of pride in his accomplishments.
Even all these years later, putting himself on display in social situations makes him panicky. In contrast, Grant wants nothing more than to share their love story with the world. Maybe he’s trying to convince the world, and himself, that he is worthy of being someone’s choice. That someone wants him and isn’t throwing him away.
Make no mistake, Grant and Declan’s hard-won HEA at the end of Winning with Him, was just the start of the real work. The three-book series displays an epic story arc and everything Grant and Declan get, every moment of happiness together, they fight hard for and earn.
Teddy Hamilton and Jacob Morgan continue their narration of the series in the All in with Him audiobook. In a bonus interview included in the audiobook, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Morgan explain the rare opportunity they were given here to record all three books back to back to back because they were all written and ready to go. As a result, they approached each subsequent book as simply an extension of the prior; parts two and three of book one. They were able to really sink into their characters and deliver a highly nuanced performance because of the immersion. Like Method acting for audiobooks.
When you listen to the audio for All in with Him, the success of their approach is unmistakable. They both were able to authentically recreate Grant and Declan and connected with them on an inherent level despite each male lead having two voices. Mr. Hamilton is the primary narrator for Grant, but Grant is voiced in Declan’s chapters by Mr. Morgan, and vice versa for Declan. Yet the portrayal of both men is remarkably seamless.
Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Morgan’s vocal performance in All in with Him is quite simply, sublime. Delectable. Impactful. Masterful. Auditory theater at its finest.
Evan Parker narrates the one chapter written from River’s point of view. The shift to a third narrator felt a bit jarring and no doubt included as set up for Ms. Blakely’s upcoming novel The Bromance Zone, River and Owen’s best friends to lovers story. Nevertheless, it provided a welcome view from the outside of Grant and Declan’s relationship, confirming for us that they are rock solid and forever loves, and all is right with the world.
I can’t say I went “all in” for All in with Him because I didn’t gamble a thing by reading and listening to this book. For the reader, there’s truly no risk here at all. The All in with Him audiobook follows a proven, winning formula: Lauren + (Teddy + Jacob) = auditory bliss. Ms. Blakely concludes the sweeping, epic story arc of Grant and Declan’s deep, abiding love as only she can: with three highly rewarding epilogues. Undoubtedly, All in with Him proves to be a winner. Get this book. Full stop.
P.S. You’ll also get the deliciously sultry audio of Ms. Blakely’s novella Thirst Trap with narration that’s worth the price of admission on its own. Truly, you hit gold with the audiobook of All in with Him Enjoy.
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