Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Nothing Special
AUTHOR: Casey Cox
NARRATOR: Grant Cartwright
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 6 hours and 43 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 17, 2023
BLURB:
Benji: Crafting swoon-worthy happily ever afters is literally my day job. Being a quirky introvert with an overactive imagination, underwhelming social skills, and a few pounds overweight, I’m no leading man.
My best friend, though? He’s total cover model, call the plumber because I just flooded my basement material. He’s also outgoing, charismatic, free-spirited, and basically the best guy ever.
I may know romance, but I’m no dummy when it comes to reality. I’m nothing special. And the truth is, a guy like Darren would never fall for someone like me.
Darren: I’m the poster child for failure to launch. Twenty-seven, didn’t make it in Hollywood, forced to slump back home to Australia.
The only bright spot in my life is nabbing the apartment next to my best friend, Benji. He’s like no one I’ve ever met. And yeah . . . I am so stupidly in love with him it’s not even funny.
When Benji needs some inspiration to clear his writer’s block, I gladly help out. He wants to write a friends-to-lovers romance, and I’m his best friend. This should be a cinch. It’s not as if he’s suddenly going to fall in love with me. And the fact is, Benji could do so much better than me.
Contains mature themes.
REVIEW:
Benji and Darren are besties. Benji is a romance novelist and is very much a homebody – not quite agoraphobic, but he does not like going out where there are people and cars and chaos. He’s been like this for some time. He’s a bit overweight and has pretty low self-esteem despite being a successful author. He lives in a building in Brisbane with his brother Finch and his bestie Darren living in two of the other units. There are three retired ladies and a retired gentleman who also live in the building.
Darren is a gorgeous guy who is a failed actor. He tried in Australia to break into the business and then tried his had in Los Angeles, but it just didn’t happen for him. His father has a very successful business and wants him to take it over, but Darren hasn’t given up on his dream exactly, but his heart does not lie in his father’s work. He doesn’t see himself as leadership material. So upon his return, he moves into the building with his bestie and he’s working two job – one for his dad’s company and also a second job at night as a bartending to pay back his dad for the down payment on his unit. Darren also suffers from low self-esteem because of his failed acting career and also because all anyone ever sees of him is his looks. Oh, and then there is the little thing about him being secretly in love with his best friend for 10 years.
Benji is writing a new book. The trope is friends to lovers, but he’s having trouble with the story. It’s an M/F romance and Darren offers to help. And they (Benji and Darren) will act as the best friends to see how this could work 😉 Smart ploy Darren! So they start taking walks together and then there is kissing. And this of course leads to more, but all under the ruse of trying to get the book right. Benji could never believe someone like Darren could ever really be interested in someone like him – he’s nothing special. But to Darren, Benji is everything. Benji is just a big clueless.
As their plotting of the book continues, Benji makes some changes. He and Darren are getting closer and closer. Things are going really well in fact. But just as they make a real breakthrough, there is an incident that throws Benji completely off. There are a lot of unresolved issues that these guys have to work through if they are to really get their HEA.
Overall I enjoyed this story, but I will confess that it started off a bit weird for me. There is an exceedingly long prologue and then the beginning of the story is a bit slow and drawn out. In my opinion, a bit of an edit there might have been in order to speed of the pacing. I really enjoyed Benji and Darren’s neighbors. They were a hoot. Also the families of both of these guys were wonderful and supportive. I really appreciated how both fathers supported their sons. There is a twist that I saw coming a mile off, but it was well written. If you’re in the mood for a friends to lovers story with the added benefit of an Aussie setting and some romance writing scenes thrown in, I think you might like this one.
RATING: 
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