Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Moving On
AUTHOR: Felice Stevens
NARRATOR: Kale Williams
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 7 hours and 28 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 27, 2023
BLURB:
When his roof caves in, Sean Lovett thinks things can’t get any worse. Until he loses his job, adding yet another bump in the rocky road of his life. None of his so-called friends can—or will—help. And asking a favor from his abusive ex? Hard pass. Luckily, his sister comes to the rescue and offers him a great apartment—in the city, no less—until he can get back on his feet.
Sweet deal.
Until a gorgeous man unlocks the front door and strolls right in with a grumpy attitude and a claim that his boss—who happens to be Sean’s brother-in-law—promised him the same apartment.
Former NYPD detective Tristan McDermott hasn’t stopped running since the death of his best friend. After almost two years of living in his own personal hell, he returns home to New York, hoping he can move on, but guilt still follows his every step. He’s grateful to have the perfect apartment until he can settle into a place of his own. But there’s a cute guy already living there. And only one bedroom. And no way is Tristan leaving. He’s staying put.
Sharing the space is tough, but Tristan can ignore sweet Sean and his sunshiny smiles.
Kind of.
Except Sean’s brother-in-law asks Tristan to keep an eye on Sean so he doesn’t make any bad decisions.
Uh oh.
Keeping an eye on Sean is easy. Keeping his hands off him is much, much harder.
And sleeping together…well, that isn’t a bad decision. Not when it feels so good.
Right?
From Lambda Literary award winning author Felice Stevens comes the story of a grumpy, green juice-drinking ex-detective running from the past and a sunshiney singing waiter who can’t catch a break. It features a meet-cute, only one bed, learning to trust, and a surprise lap dance.
REVIEW:
Sean has really had the deck stacked against him his whole life. He has the perfect storm though when his apartment is demolished taking everything he owns with it except for his laptop and the clothes on his back basically and then his lecherous boss fires him for trying to get his feet under him afterwards. But he’s nothing if not resilient. His rather newly found sister is his safety net – even though he doesn’t want her to be and he’s tired of needing help from his younger sister and her husband. He’s had to pretty much rely on himself his whole life after being dumped by his single mother into the foster care system when he was 3 and finally aging out and being on his own again. He’s done his best and has been a people pleaser a lot of the time, but nobody has ever stayed. And his last abusive ex is a perfect example – one where not even his sister knows the full story. He can’t take staying out on Long Island with her and her 3 small children though and he wants to get back into the city where he can find a job and maybe someplace else to live. His sister Charlotte and her husband Ray have an apartment in the city that they normally rent out but the last tenant had left so it’s currently empty. Sean can use that as his base until he gets back on his feet. He’s just gotten a little bit settled when he gets yet another surprise.
Tristan has suffered a tremendous loss of his NYPD partner a couple of years prior. He’s retired from the police department and he has left the city and spent the previous 18 months in London heading up Security for a multinational bank. He’s returning to NYC and a new job with the bank and having difficulty finding a place to live, so Ray, a NY colleague who is in London offers his empty apartment to Tristan until he can find a place. Oops!
Let’s just say Tristan’s arrival in NY after travel delays, flight changes and no sleep does not go well. In fact, he barges in, finds Sean there and bulldozes his way into the one bed in the apartment. Sean tried to approach him and he literally takes him down. Sean is literally one step away from being homeless and he truly has no options. Tristan wants to buy a place but it’s been impossible to conduct a search overseas. Sean needs to find a job or he won’t be able to find a place to live. His old apartment was a dump, but at least it was his alone. Tristan has never lived with anyone and he does NOT make a good roommate at first. Like at all. He’s short with Sean and he’s pretty much silent and watches sports and eats his green shakes. He’s appalled by Sean’s junk food diet, but Sean doesn’t really care 🙂 Tristan assumes that Sean is very young because he has sort of a young naive appearance. Sean hates that – because he is a 32 year old adult who has been on his own his whole life from his perspective. He hates to be underestimated.
Sean struggles to find a job and he begins busking – and surprise! He finds a niche and an audience. He’s making as much busking as he did working as a server and he’s enjoying it. When he entertains at his twin nieces’s birthday party, he gets lots of interest in doing other kids parties. Between the gigs he’s getting in the city and now the ones on Long Island, it seems like he might have a viable business. Tristan has begun to see Sean in a different light. He’s impressed that Sean has stayed so positive and resilient given how rough his life had been with very little support up to age 18 and really until Charlotte contacted him. And it seems the chemistry between them is not to be ignored. When Ray asks Tristan to keep an eye on him, Tristan is pretty sure that hooking up is not what he had in mind.
Tristan has not very successfully dealt with his survivor’s guild over his partners death. Despite therapy and reconnecting with his partner’s wife and his old boss at the NYPD, he’s still have difficulties. Sean and the others really want him to live, not just exist. There is also an issue with Sean’s ex that has him in knots and he has a real knack for saying just the wrong thing to hurt Sean when he doesn’t mean to. But there connection is built on more than just sex and it may be that they’ve each found the person that can provide the love and support they each need.
Oh this was a really compelling story! I have to say, I was NOT a fan of Tristan when he showed up. Frankly, he was kind of a jerk to Sean when clearly it was not Sean’s fault. He was obviously very guarded and it took him a LONG time to act like a normal human with Sean. He seemed to lack some basic communication skills which eventually we can understand why, but it’s some time in coming. He’s dealt with the physical trauma, but he’s still dealing with the mental trauma and guilt and hasn’t made enough progress in the previous two years to be in a place to really connect with anyone. Sean is unbelievably resilient and creative in finding a way to do what he loves and make enough money to survive. He doesn’t have grand illusions, but he really does want to entertain and sing and make people happy. I loved how things worked out for him. Charlotte and Ray are supportive family for Sean, even though there are a few missteps. The great thing about them is they don’t think they are perfect and admit when they mess up. Tristan and Sean struggle with some of the same issues and eventually they are able to get to a place where they are able to communicate much better. I particularly loved that everything wasn’t wrapped up in a nice bow and those who made really bad choices and then tried to claim to be the victims were not given a pass.
Kale Williams did a really fabulous job performing this story. There are some really tense and emotional moments here for both Tristan and Sean. Neither have had an easy path and just remembering and sharing the difficulties that they’ve been through was rough going. It broke my heart when each had suffered because the adults who were supposed to care for them just weren’t up to the task. I really respected how far each had come and how they were able to make successful lives and other relationships despite their bad breaks. Mr. Williams provided his usual great sense of pathos and joy. And he can narrate the heck out of a steamy scene! This is another example of why he is a fan favorite. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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