Reviewed by Larissa

 

 

TITLE:  Roommate Arrangement

SERIES:  Divorced Men’s Club, Book 1

AUTHOR:  Saxon James

NARRATOR:  Nick J. Russo

PUBLISHER:  May Books

LENGTH:  7 hours and 44 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  January 20, 2022

BLURB:

 Payne:

In search of: Room to rent.

Must ignore the patheticness of a 40-year-old roommate.

Preferably dirt cheap as funds are tight (nonexistent).

There’s nothing sadder than moving back to my hometown newly divorced, homeless, and lost for what my next move is.

When my little brother’s best friend offers me a place to stay in exchange for menial duties, I swallow my pride and jump at the offer.

I need this.

I also need Beau to wear a shirt. And ditch the gray sweatpants. And not leave his door ajar when he’s in compromising positions…

Beau:

In search of: Roommate.

Must be non smoker and non douchebag.

Room payment to be made in meal planning, repairs, and dumb jokes.

Since my career took off, I barely have time to breathe, let alone keep my life in order. I’m naturally chaotic, make terrible decisions, and scare off potential dates with my “weirdness”.

So when Payne gets back into town and needs somewhere to stay, I offer him my spare room with one condition: While he’s staying with me, I need him to help me become date-able.

And while he does that, I can focus on my other plan: ignoring that Payne is the only man I’ve ever wanted to date.

REVIEW:

With Roommate Arrangement, Saxon James delivers an excellent start to her new Divorced Men’s Club series.  Found family is one of my favorite elements of M/M romances.  With the Divorced Men’s Club, that’s baked into the premise, and Ms. James effectively capitalizes on it.  This group of men gathers together through a shared connection, albeit due to unfortunate circumstances, but they provide support, advice, and camaraderie for each other.  Perhaps most importantly, they make each other laugh.  The text messaging threads between them are well-done and extremely funny.  They reflect authentic interaction between these similarly situated men and establish their growing bond.

For Payne, the Divorced Men’s Club provides needed support and guidance as he navigates an unexpected attraction to his brother’s best friend, Beau.  Payne and Beau are opposites, yet they work together as a couple, filling in the other’s open spaces and vulnerabilities.  As improbable a couple as they may seem, Ms. James develops their relationship slowly and organically, so it makes complete sense.  I found both characters endearing, but I particularly appreciated how Ms. James portrayed Beau’s ADHD/Asperger’s type personality.  While she doesn’t diagnose him as such in the text, what resonates in her description are the hallmark characteristics of someone challenged by a lack of focus and who struggles with social interaction, both of which are likely compounded by his creative mind.  Beau’s relatable and Ms. James’ characterization of him is spot-on accurate.  

The premise of this romance relies upon an arrangement between Payne and Beau about Payne’s moving in with Beau because he needs a place to live.  Beau’s condition is that Payne agrees to help Beau become someone “dateable”.  Payne’s puzzled by the ask, so despite ostensibly agreeing, it’s clear he doesn’t actually agree with it at all.  Ms. James displays Payne’s unwavering acceptance of Beau’s idiosyncrasies and his steadfast refusal to encourage Beau to change himself to attract a boyfriend.  Payne is swoon-worthy in an understated way, reflecting how he treats Beau.  His actions, attraction, and support for Beau are subtle but ever-present. 

As usual, the story is written in Ms. James’ carefully constructed prose with humor, steam, and a rewarding HEA.  She immediately establishes the emotional connection between Payne and Beau, and it resonates strongly, despite the age gap and the brother’s best friend dynamic.  

Nick J. Russo narrates the audiobook for Roommate Arrangement and does a fine job with his even, smooth delivery.  He delivers nuanced emotions with subtlety, which is a perfect match for Payne in particular, yet still provides the characters’ reactions and feelings and the emotional impact of the words being said.  Mr. Russo’s inflection work has gotten better and better.  His use of it here is excellent, accurately capturing the tenor of the scenes.  

Mr. Russo consistently distinguishes between the character’s voices across the narrative, which is impressive given their similarity.  This dovetails with my thoughts about his pitch choice for Payne.  He gives Payne a high baritone/low tenor voice in contrast to Beau’s tenor.  Beau’s voice is softer, but the pitch is not that different from Payne’s.  Payne’s voice has a harder tone to it and is lower, but not by much.  Mr. Russo executes these nuances thoughtfully and effectively.  However, Payne and Beau are opposites, with Payne being the more burly or “masculine” of the two.  In my view, a more significant pitch distinction would have better mirrored that, for example, by sitting Payne’s voice squarely in the baritone range.  That being said, Mr. Russo commits to his choice, and he doesn’t fail in making clear who is who.

I’ve generally found Mr. Russo’s pacing to be the most problematic aspect of his vocal performances. He tends to uniformly use a moderated pace for his narration without variation in speed despite the content he’s delivering. It’s like he’s trying to be so precise that his delivery isn’t natural. I see improvement here, though.  At times, the pacing was still too slow, not mimicking natural speech patterns, but the pacing seemed appropriate overarchingly and did not impact my enjoyment of the story.  

I highly recommend the Roommate Arrangement audiobook.  It’s a terrific, well-written, sweet, sexy story featuring two endearing men within a solid found family atmosphere, brought to life effectively by Mr. Russo.  I both read this book and then read and listened, and despite my quibbles about pitch and pacing, Mr. Russo’s performance undoubtedly elevates the experience of this absorbing Saxon James story.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible 

Amazon