Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Revenge is Sweet
AUTHOR: Felice Stevens
NARRATOR: Kale Williams
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 7 hours and 6 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2023
BLURB:
Falling in love is the sweetest revenge.
What do you do when your best friend runs off with your fiancee on your wedding day?
If you’re me, Lyon Elliot, you don’t get mad.
You get even.
Which means seducing my ex–best friend’s younger brother, Miles Halloran.
The quiet one.
The man I’ve known all my life, but never paid attention to.
The one I was told to stay away from because he’s way too nice for someone like me. Maybe they’re right.
But see, this is where it gets a little more complicated.
Because the more time I spend with Miles, the more I like him.
Want him.
Now I need him and his sweet smiles in my life.
If this is still a game I’m playing…who’s fooling whom?
From Lambda Literary Award-winning author Felice Stevens comes a story of a player who never gets played, until the quiet bookstore owner gives him a prize worth winning—Love.
REVIEW:
Lyon Elliott is left at the alter on his wedding day. But the betrayal is way worse than his business partner/fiance not showing up. It’s that his lifelong best friend is the one she is not showing up with. And that they’ve eloped. And it only gets worse from there. Lyon is furious with his fiance, but devastated by the loss of his best friend who was truly like another brother to him. He sets his sights on Miles, Dan the betrayer’s younger brother who he’s been warned off of 20 years before. He would have his revenge by doing the one thing Dan would hate more than Lyon – using his younger brother.
But Miles isn’t the pushover Lyon thinks he is. Miles sees through Lyon even as he cannot squelch his longtime desire and crush on Lyon. But Dan has also done a number on Miles and Miles is just as furious. He can’t believe his brother would do this to his best friend. He’s got his own reasons for sticking it to Dan and so they agree to this “fake relationship” to get back at Dan on both of their behalf.
A funny thing happened on the way to their revenge though. They found out they actually liked each other. Miles gives Lyon a reason to actually connect with someone and Miles finds Lyon’s attention and belief in him to give him the strength to stand up for himself. They actually are good for each other in ways neither of them foresaw. Needless to say when Dan finds out.
Lyon and Miles are both damaged. Lyon’s abandonment by his parents has caused deep abandonment issues. His Great Uncle Harry is the only one who has any idea of just how traumatized and tied up in knots Lyon has always been. Lyon’s brother Scott is the one person he has always been able to be honest with and knows the real Lyon, Miles has had a number of unfortunate dating relationships and he’s not been entirely honest with Lyon at the beginning. They both eventually are able to share their pain and find solace and true support from each other. While it starts out as a fake relationship, it get real pretty fast and neither one of them expected that. Despite the setbacks, they are there for one another when it counts.
Whew. This is a rather hard story. Betrayal by your ride or die is the worst. When it comes after a lifetime of difficulty due to parental abandonment, it’s devastating. I know Lyon appears on the surface to be a bit cold and calculating, but I never disliked him, even when he gave lip service to using Miles as his revenge device. He wanted to hurt Dan and he does certainly try to seduce Miles, but it’s clear right away that Miles is not going to be anyone’s plaything. Miles has his own issues and he’s devastated in his own way because of Dan could betray Lyon, his brother in every way but biological, what’s to stop him from doing the same to Miles? Dan’s infantalizes Miles and assumes for far too long that he will just bend to his will. When Miles calls him out, he digs his own grave. When it’s clear that Dan doesn’t care about what he’s done, Miles realizes that their relationship either has to change or it’s over as well. Scott and Uncle Harry are awesome supports for Lyon and Miles as it turns out. I absolutely loved Harry and his tell it like it is attitude, particularly towards the end of the book. He wanted Lyon to be the best person he could be and he saw that with Miles, he had a chance to be there if he could only get out of his own way. Lyndsey and Dan deserve each other and in the future I envision for them, they get what they deserve 😉
Kale Williams. What can I saw. He’s an absolute master and this book is an amazing performance. Lyon and Miles could not be any more different. Yet they were both stronger than they even imagined and not in ways they could see initially. Mr. Williams did a wonderful job of conveying the hurt, the anger, the distrust, and the passion of these two characters. He imbued Uncle Harry with just the right world-weary tough love father figure that Lyon needed. Every characters was pitch perfect in tis wonderful audio rendition of a tough story, Highly recommended!
RATING:
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