Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Love and History
SERIES: The Script Club, Book 6
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
NARRATOR: Alexander Cendese
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 6 hours and 10 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 7, 2022
BLURB:
Love and History
The sporty roommate, the professor, and a history lesson….
Holden
Ezra might be the most annoying roommate ever. He’s loud, obnoxious, and full of himself. So what if he’s a tall, muscular, tattooed jock? His tendency to strip to his boxers in the kitchen while helping himself to my food isn’t endearing in the slightest. Nope. Ezra has to go.
However, I have to admit, he’s the perfect fit to play the king for my historic reenactment event. Ezra in a royal robe…oh, this could be quite tantalizing indeed.
He won’t do it, though.
Unless I trick him into a history lesson.
Ezra
Holden is the kind of dude who wears top hats and great coats while teaching astrophysics to brainiacs. Weird, right? But I gotta respect that level of commitment. And I respect him.
Sadly, Holden doesn’t feel the same way about me.
I guess I can’t blame him. Cranking his gears has been a highlight of my stint in geek land. I’ve never seen anyone get riled about yogurt like him. He makes me laugh. And think. And he makes me want things I’d never thought possible.
So yeah, I’ll take that history lesson. If it leads to something more, I’m in.
Love and History is a Bi-awakening geek/jock romance featuring a messy law student, a picky professor, and a lesson neither will forget!
REVIEW:
Love and History is the final installment in Lane Hayes’ The Script Club series. The series is ostensibly premised on this group of brilliant, quirky, and socially challenged scientists/professors pushing themselves outside of their comfort zones and using a “script” of sorts to help them. But that really isn’t what this series became. Despite these men sharing genius minds and eccentric personalities, Hayes doesn’t stereotype these characters, creating unique individuals who then find unique romances with very unexpected partners. The “scripting” theme doesn’t reflect that, and perhaps Hayes recognized that too because it fell away as the series progressed. Where it landed is a good one – a collection of absorbing opposites-attract romances – and Love and History is perhaps the best in series.
We’ve seen Ezra and Holden before, especially in the previous book, The Professor’s Date. They’ve been chafing each other, antagonizing and sniping to the point that even calm, usually silent Thomas runs out of patience and yells at them. Ezra and Holden seem to have endless tolerance for their mutual pigtail pulling – not so much for those around them.
Ezra presents as a cocky, self-centered jock, but we see here that there’s a lot of depth beneath that facade. Holden is perhaps the most eccentric of the group, with his Renaissance history cosplay and hyper-structured, genius mentality. He surprisingly discovers a mutual love of history with the most unlikely of candidates – Ezra, who Holden thought was just a dumb jock. As we’ve seen throughout this series, making premature judgments and presumptions is not only unfair but interferes with getting to really know other people. Ezra is case in point.
Hayes couldn’t have chosen a better narrator for this series in Alexander Cendese, and this is his best vocal performance of the series. There’s an OTT nature to these characters, especially The Script Club core group of brilliant, quirky, nerdy geniuses, and of all of them, Holden is the most eccentric. He wears period clothing around the house and does “method acting” even though he’s not acting. 🤣 He inhabits these roles, and while we didn’t understand why, we learn here it’s his way of engaging his students in learning a subject he loves, history, and loves teaching even more.
I expected Cendese to be spot on with Holden – he does that OTT, geeky persona so well, using an erudite, nasal, formal delivery that works perfectly for Holden’s Renaissance enthusiasm and kind-hearted nature, and it’s perfectly hysterical. I did not expect Cendese to nail Ezra’s performance, but he does. It’s a spot-on characterization with a deep, resonant tone that captures that Ezra is a sometimes arrogant, but always confident jock, while also capturing that Ezra isn’t always as cocky as he may appear. He’s got a sensitive side and hidden vulnerabilities that affect him deeply. He’s also intelligent and kind but has unresolved emotions about his father and his family life that are belied by his free-spirited, chaotic behavior and attitude.
In the Love and History audiobook, Cendese brings depth and immersion to Hayes’ terrific source material. Hayes deftly creates a believable romance between these two opposites, finding common ground, mutual attraction, and ultimately love where they each last expected to find it. Of course, the previous couples appear, and we get plenty of feel-good found family. Overall, a very enjoyable, sweet, and at times sexy romance to close out the series, and I highly recommend you enjoy it in audiobook format.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] Reviewed by Larissa […]