Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: System Overload
SERIES: Divorced Men’s Club, Book 5
AUTHOR: Saxon James
NARRATOR: Nick J. Russo
PUBLISHER: May Books
LENGTH: 7 hours and 20 mins
RELEASE DATE: January 12, 2024
BLURB:
Keller
Banging my son’s bestie was a total accident that will never, ever happen again. I’m sure of it.
While he might be gorgeous and caught me in a weak moment, when it comes right down to it, my son has been my entire life for the last twenty-six years. I don’t know how to be anything other than his dad.
But with Molly heading off to Seattle, he leaves me with a parting gift: Will.
His best friend.
And my new roommate.
Still, I’m determined to focus on my plan of finding someone to settle down with and to start living for me.
Then Molly hits me with another gift: he’s asked Will to help find me the perfect partner.
Will Molly leaving me to run away across the country made one thing very obvious. I crave stability. I crave a life where I get to control what happens to me, without the constant threat of having to move home to my homophobic family.
All I need to focus on is work and making enough money for the down payment on my own place.
Except now I’m living in the spare bedroom of the man I’ve been in love with for years.
The same bedroom where we had one very messy, very quick, accidental frot sesh.
Now I’m cooking for him every night, and we’re working out together every morning. It’s all feeling very domestic and my heart can’t separate reality from the fantasies in my head.
I know I’m going to get hurt.
It’s only a matter of time.
But when it comes to Keller, it’s impossible for me to walk away.
REVIEW:
Saxon James’ Divorced Men’s Club series is notable in that each series book is markedly different from each other, not just in plot and romantic pairing, but in tone. Perhaps that comes down to the well-drawn, diverse cast of characters that make up the eponymous Divorced Men’s Club (DMC) and James’ creative pairings. In this book, System Overload, we get an age-gap romance that follows on the heels of another age-gap romance in Employing Patience. Yet, Art and Joey’s story is very different from the best friend’s father, forced proximity, roommate romance between Keller and Will.
I loved Keller, the tough-looking teddy bear, single dad who raised his son Molly all on his own and has devoted his whole life to Molly. Keller is totally chill and I liked his equanimous approach to life. Will is a sweetheart and his head-over-heels idolization of Keller is adorable. On paper, I wasn’t sure if Keller and Will would work as a couple, but surprisingly, I found they had palpable chemistry. Will has an intriguing duality to his personality, though, that fell a bit short of authentic. He vacillates from flighty train wreck barely able to compose a sentence around Keller to a flirty, confident, take-charge Will wooing Keller into bed. The transitions between the two felt abrupt.
We get some interactions with the rest of the DMC group, mostly Art and Joey, but I would have liked more. That chosen/found family dynamic is the highlight of this series and it’s a wasted opportunity to not leverage it more.
Overall, I enjoyed this story, but the biggest detractor for me is the linchpin in the plot – Molly. He’s the ostensible reason why Keller and Will try to resist each other and it’s the threat of Molly’s anger and lack of forgiveness that drives the storyline. Call me annoyed because Molly is an unlikeable character (in my opinion) and the simple fact that these two great guys were keeping themselves from happiness because of Molly just felt all kinds of wrong. Maybe it’s a me thing, but I’m astonished that such an unpleasant, selfish character is pivotal to not one, not two, but three of James’ stories. Molly tries to break up Ford and Orson in Budding Attraction, then takes off for Seattle to try to deal with his “issues” where he falls for Seven in Not Dating Material from James’ Accidental Love series, and even in the wake of his leaving, he casts a shadow over the lives of Keller and Will in this book.
I’m sure many will disagree with my view, but throughout System Overload, I couldn’t help but feel Molly like an ever-present burr in my side. Thankfully, Keller and Will end up together where they belong. I just wish I could have spent less time hearing and thinking about Molly in the process.
Nick J. Russo continues his narration of this series and does a fine job on the System Overload audiobook. While not curing it, he did soothe (somewhat) my annoyance with Molly throughout his due to his invested portrayal. His technical precision and emotional connection make this an easy listen.
RATING: 
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