Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Straight from the Heart
AUTHOR: Lynn Van Dorn
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 8 hours and 38 minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2023
BLURB:
Ben is having a bad week
Life is never easy for Ben, but this week in particular has been the pits. You name it, it’s gone wrong. What he needs is a prince to come and rescue him.
Simon has a bad heart
Forced to retire early as the CEO of his company because of his health, Simon is immediately bored. He needs a project, or a pet, or a very pretty man to rescue.
Together, they’ll save each other
Once Simon has his hands on Ben, he doesn’t want to let him go. But Ben knows that fairy tales aren’t real and dreams never come true.
Or do they?
Straight to the Heart is a 79k sweet, low-angst MM age-gap romance with a swoony billionaire in his 40s, a much younger man who could really use some help, snarky staff, difficult mothers, amazing suits, and a lot of love.
REVIEW:
Poor Ben. He’s had it rough. He’s been on his own for a while making ends meet – well mostly – by living in a hovel in Chinatown working maintenance and cleaning houses for a living. His main job is at The Prince Building downtown in the loop. His supervisor doesn’t like him and always gives him the worst jobs. He’s undernourished, overtired and being taken advantage of by a horrible landlord in a routinely flooding basement room. The only thin he really wants to do is draw and paint, but he rarely has the time or energy or supplies to do so. He’s very observant though and draws the people he sees daily at his work. He has nicknames for them and everything 🙂 His favorite is Silver Fox.
Simon Prince is retiring. He’s 48 and has inherited some pretty bad genes. His grandfather died at 44, his father at 46 from heart attacks. He’s done everything right and he’s already had one himself. So his doctor tells him he has to reduce his stress and maybe will need a liver transplant at some point. So much to his mother’s chagrin, he’s doing it and leaving the CEO job to his nephew. His adopted nephew. But he’s made up his mind.
Then as Simon and his driver arrive at the building with his nephew shortly after retiring and shortly before Christmas, they witness Ben collapsing outside the building while shoveling snow. He’s obviously in bad shape and so Simon and Hudson, his driver, take him to Northwestern in his car. Ben has walking pneumonia, anemia, is underweight and very dehydrated. Simon stays with him at the hospital. When he’s ready to be released, Ben tries to figure out how he’s going to pay for everything and how he’s going to get home when Simon comes back and has Hudson drive him home. Once they see the place and the landlord, Simon insists on bring Ben home with him to his Gold Coast townhouse.
Ben cannot believe what is happening. He’s been miserable for a while and he kind of falls apart from Simon being so nice to him. He buys him clothes and takes care of him. He has his cook Roberta prepare meals for him. They are in their own little bubble. Ben’s never celebrated Christmas, has never celebrated anything really. His mother was very religious and kicked him out once she discovered he was gay. He did get a couple of years of college in, but then the money ran out and he ended up in low paid jobs. Simon wants to show him everything. Ben’s never watched movies except at school. He’s never been to a play. They bond over A Christmas Carol. But then Simon realizes that he maybe wants more from Ben. He’s never been attracted to a man before, but he definitely feels something different for Ben. He’s shocked and confused and wants to protect Ben from himself. Hudson gets a good laugh out of this. Basically Simon needs to figure himself out 😉 Ben is happy to assist.
But then the the bucket of cold water is thrown on them. Ben reacts badly and Simon is crushed. He’s determined to make Ben his though, no matter what anyone else thinks. The course of true love never did run smooth 😀
Oh swoon! This story is so beautifully written. It’s a bit of a fairytale story, wherein a dashing older prince saves the younger rather desperate pauper. But then the pauper saves the prince right back 😉 I adored all the Chicago references and how clueless Simon is. Hudson and Roberta and Celia, Simon’s assistant are awesome. Even Simon’s mother is more than a caricature here. It’s kind of a instalove type story, but Simon literally falls for Ben when he first sees him. Ben has everything to lose though and is dubious about having the rug pulled out from under him. Simon hasn’t been in a relationship before so it’s tough for him to know what to do either. I loved how they figured themselves out though. The epilogue is *chef’s kiss*. Holiday setting with a beautiful HEA. PS. LVD, can Hudson please get a story???
Michael Ferraiuolo does a wonderful job with this story. I loved his choices for Ben and Simon. Even though Simon is older, he’s proabbly the less experienced of the two, certainly with relationships and men. He’s never been with a man before nd he’s not sure what’s going on with him, and I thought Mr. Ferraiuolo really conveyed his uncertainty about himself. I loved the choices for the other characters – the lout of a landlord, Hudson, Simon’s assistant and his mother really stood out. This author and narrator suit each other so well. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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