Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Taken by Chance

SERIES:  The Goode Life

AUTHOR:  Isla Olsen

NARRATOR:  Kale Williams

PUBLISHER:  Moonwalker Press

LENGTH:  3 hours and 59 minutes

RELEASE DATE: July 14, 2022

BLURB:

Chance

There are certain rules of friendship that are pretty much written in stone:

1. Don’t hit on your buddy’s girl.
2. Back your buddy up when he gets into a bar fight.
3. Bail your buddy out when he gets hauled in by the sheriff for “requisitioning” a pair of goats.

Helping your buddy’s kid brother lose his virginity? Yeah, that’s not on the list.

It starts as a simple favor. Now that he’s home from college, my best friend’s brother Tucker needs a place to stay and I happen to have a spare room.

Then it becomes a confession. Tucker tells me he’s a virgin. And he’s on a mission to swipe that V card once and for all.

Ultimately, it turns into a challenge. While Tucker searches for the perfect guy to pop his cherry, I find myself growing more and more agitated with the situation.

I know why, of course. He’s my best friend’s brother, a kid I’ve watched grow up; it’s perfectly normal for me to want to protect him from all the assholes and users targeting him via his way-too-many dating apps.

It has nothing to do with the strange way my stomach seems to flip at the sight of his smile, or that the sound of his voice somehow makes me tingly all over. Or that I can’t seem to stop thinking about what it would be like to run my hands over his body.

Nothing at all….

Come visit Finchley, CA, where the sun’s always shining, the locals are always gossiping, and you won’t walk two steps without bumping into a member of the Goode family. If you’re lucky, you might find gold, or even better…true love.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the fourth book in this series and as such contains major spoilers for the previous books.

Tucker Goode has returned home after college.  Despite being offered a place potentially in the majors, he’s returned to his small town and family home to coach baseball at the local HS.  His parents are used to having the house to themselves however, so it’s an adjustment – for everyone 🙂  Tucker’s older sister Everly has a great idea!  Tucker can move in with Chance, her boss, whose old roommate, Lawson Hale has moved out with his boyfriend George Goode.

This arrangement starts out really well.  Tucker is happy to be out of his parents hair and Chance is the town lawyer and his brother Axl’s best friend.  Tucker is gay and he’s out, but he’s never had a boyfriend.  In fact, he’s a virgin.  He really really wants to rectify that.  So he’s trying to go on dates, but nothing seems to be working out.  Chance remembers his best friend’s younger brother, but he hasn’t seen him in a while since he’s gone off to college.  He’s happy to have the company and he finds he really likes Tucker.  But when Tucker starts trying to date, he finds himself being a bit put out by it.  What the heck?  Why does he now not want Tucker to be with anyone?  Why is it that he feels Tucker is his?

When he follows Tucker on his date one night and finds him with the grandson of another town resident, Lincoln Henshaw, he’s none too happy.  But Tucker has no interest in Lincoln except as a friend and the guy is not interested in Tucker either really.  Lincoln’s got his eye on Tucker’s uncle anyway 😉  Tucker figures out that Chance is jealous when he kisses him, but then things so a bit sideways when Tucker tried to take things too far too fast.  Chance isn’t sure what he’s doing but he knows he doesn’t want Tucker with anyone else.  They will have to figure things out together 😀

In the meantime, Chance’s brother is a big pain.  He wants Chance to move to Sac and join his firm – which Chance has NO intention of doing.  He’s got some other family drama stuff to deal with – but nothing heavy.  The biggest obstacle of course is telling Axl that his best friend is now with his much younger brother 😉  Tucker stands his ground though while Axl has his hissy fit.  At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what Axl thinks because Chance and Tucker are going to make a go of it 😀

This was another humorous and fun story from Isla Olsen.  I love this town and the quirky residents.  Their private FB group and posts are hilarious.  I love how people assume things or misrepresent things or misquote things.  It’s definitely entertaining to see all of these comments.  Tucker is adorable and a bit naive.  Chance is confused, but he eventually doesn’t care since he’s never had a connection with anyone like Tucker.  In the end, that’s the thing.  These guys are really perfect for each other.

Kale Williams does his usual outstanding narrating duties here.  I love all his voice choices – old people, kids, female, male voices.  They all work perfectly for this series.  I have already relistened to this series, it’s that good.  His performance can raise any book to another level and starting with the clever writing, this one is another winner.  Highly recommended for fans of this series and author.  Well done!

RATING: 

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