Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Painted Lace 
AUTHOR: K.M. Neuhold
NARRATOR: Iggy Toma
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 5 hours and 12 minutes
RELEASE DATE: August 9, 2021
BLURB:
Austin never realized he was painting his life with shades of gray, until Keaton came along and injected a rainbow of color.
Keaton is a tornado of chaos and paint, which turns out to be more exciting than I ever would’ve imagined. I love my organized, predictable life…or at least I thought I did. But what started as a casual hookup is slowly becoming so much more, and I find myself loving the beautiful mess more than I expected.
Can two people so different really make it work once feelings get involved?
Note: This is a stand-alone story and was originally published as Kiss and Run in the Valentine’s Inc series. It has since undergone significant changes and doubled in length.
REVIEW:
Austin has been in a rut since his college boyfriend dumped him after three years – just when he thought they were going to make a permanent go of it. He gets an invite to said ex’s wedding. What?? UGH! He hasn’t been seeing anyone and his boss/BFF Luke tries to persuade him to at least meet people and get on the M4M app. When Austin chats with a bartender named Keaton, it seems like there might be a little something there.
Keaton is a free spirit. He’s an artist and he does other odd jobs for cash when he needs it. He likes his little encounter with Austin and when they decide to meet in person, things go really well 😉 But he doesn’t hear from him again after passing out basically after the sex portion of the evening 🙂
Austin decides he has to go to the wedding and so his friend Luke hires him a date. You can where this is going right? 😉 The date ends up going really really well and they have a great time – again. But then Keaton leaves without a word and Austin is back to trying to figure out what he should do about it. He has fun with Keaton, but it’s so far from his usual life that he’s a bit worried.
Austin does hit up Keaton again on the app and they end up with a sort of standing arrangement. But both are trying to figure out what this means. As they spend more time together, it’s clear that this is much more than a hookup. But what is it really? It’s certainly nothing either of them expected.
This is a delightfully sexy stand alone story that hits all the right buttons of the opposites attract trope. Add in the closure for a previous relationship and waking up to what real love is and the story is a sweet tale of realizing new possibilities for both MCs. What I really liked the most though was that each guy got to see himself through the eyes of one so unlike themselves. Each man learned to appreciate the other and himself in a whole new way. While Keaton kind of thinks of himself as a free spirit and Austin sees himself as a boring regimented guy, the two of them together just fit. They each provide a different perspective but they really care about each other. Both guys want to support each other without essentially changing each other. I mean Austin does seem to have a bit more fun with Keaton than he has been having on his own since his breakup with Harry. But he slowly begins to break out of the rut he’s fallen into after believing what Harry told him when he dumped him. And Keaton realizes that maybe he can have success without giving up what makes him feel so free creating his art.
Iggy Toma is always a fantastic narrator and I loved his performance of this story. Austin’s uptight persona and reluctance to deviate from his normal life/schedule were clearly conveyed with the voice choice here. Keaton’s more playful personality and more laidback approach to live was also well done. As usual, the story is “acted” rather than read and I really appreciated both the funny moments and the more subdued moments in this audiobook. Highly recommended – especially for those who love opposites attract stories 😀
RATING: 
BUY LINK:
Audible