Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Stick Shift
SERIES: Big Bull Mechanics
AUTHOR: K.M. Neuhold
NARRATORS: Tim Paige and Liam DiCosimo
PUBLISHER: K.M. Neuhold Publishing LLC
LENGTH: 6 hours and 38 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 26, 2023
BLURB:
Is it possible my straight best friend had a sudden stick shift?
I made peace with my hopeless crush on my straight best friend, Journey, years ago. It helps that he’s never in the country long and our relationship consists of sporadic texts and video chats at odd hours.
Now Journey is back. Back in the country, in my space, sharing my bed, and something is changing between us.
Neither of us has a clue how to run the small farm his uncle left him, but I’m willing to be the idiot standing next to him, figuring it out. Learning how to shear an alpaca or keep a rogue mini cow out of the kitchen looks easy compared to navigating the sudden change in Journey.
Is he looking at me differently? Is he touching me more? Straight guys don’t normally kiss other men, right? I don’t know what’s happening between us, but I’ll put things in gear and floor it all the way.
Stick Shift is a bi-awakening, best friends to lovers story with farm animal shenanigans, nosy mechanics, and all the steam and sweetness you can handle.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the second book in this series and this story has some overlap with that book. While it can be read as a standalone, I think it’s more fun if you’ve read Crankshaft first.
Red is a mechanic at Big Bull Mechanics. He’s watching his coworkers couple up. He figures that’ll never happen for him because he’s been secretly in love with his best friend for years. Then his bestie is suddenly back home after traveling the world as a travel blogger for the past 15 years.
Journey left town and has made his living as a travel blogger and traveler for years. But when he receives word that his uncle has passed away and he’s inherited his little hobby farm in his Wisconsin home town, he has to come home. He texts Red, his lifelong best friend and ends up at his place.
When they get to the farm, the person who worked with his uncle is there, but she’s getting ready to move. There is a binder of all the stuff for the farm and Red and Journey decide to take it over. This is a big change for both of them, but they fall back into their best friend ways. But there is only one usable bedroom. And bed 😉
Suddenly Journey is feeling things that he’s never felt before. For his best friend. And at first it freaks him out. But then he decides to go with it – even though he’s worried about making screwing up their friendship. He gets some good advice from the owner/bartender at the local gay bar though and decides he needs to be honest with Red. There are some stops and starts, but it’s clear that these two are matched set.
Well this story was adorable! I loved the whole darn story. The farm is awesome and I love Highland Coos! How sweet that Angie was a mini 🙂 Journey and Red finally have their happy ending after years of travel and random and less than satisfying hookups. Red couldn’t be happier that his best friend that he’s been in love with since they were teenagers finally gets his heart’s desire – which is a TOTAL surprise to him. Journey figuring out that he’s actually bi and demisexual is kind of a surprised to him, but luckily he doesn’t seem to have issues with it – just surprise and wanting to make sure it doesn’t ruin their friendship. There is plenty of humor and found family with the guys from Big Bull and the Four Bears guys. I always love seeing Stone and the rest of the construction guys 🙂 K.M. Neuhold really knows how to write sweet, funny and steamy stories and this one is another winner. I loved these two. Would have maybe liked to hear more about Red’s family and see them in the story, but it didn’t really impact my enjoyment of Red and Journey’s love story.
Tim Paige and Liam DiCosimo are just perfection narrating these stories. They have done another outstanding job here with another story in this fun Wisconsin universe KM Neuhold has created. There are a lot of characters here, but they are able to keep the continuity from the previous stories while adding the new members of this found family. The steamy moments are fan-worthy. Two really talented voice performers that I NEVER tire of listening to. I hope this series goes on forever because I really enjoy the tender and hilarious moments with the whole gang. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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