Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Revenge Agenda
SERIES: Accidental Love, Book 3
AUTHOR: Saxon James
NARRATOR: Teddy Hamilton
PUBLISHER: May Books
LENGTH: 6 hours and 41 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2024
BLURB:
Rush
When I show up to surprise my boyfriend in a barely-there festive outfit, I’m expecting him to be alone.
Not hosting family.
His fiancé’s family.
Down one boyfriend and up a lot of embarrassment, I flee with my tail between my legs. The broken heart will fade. My humiliation, not so much, but my saving grace is the fact that I never have to see either of them ever, ever again.
Until I walk into work and come face to face with my new boss.
Hunter
I never, in a million years, would have guessed the man hiding under his desk at work would be the one person I hoped to never see again.
My ex-fiancé’s side piece.
Apparently I can’t fire the guy because of personal issues, so I try to play nice, which is a whole lot harder to do when I find out my ex is still texting Rush. The same ex I haven’t heard from since I walked out on his begging.
Rush tells me he didn’t know about me. He tells me there were others. He also tells me our ex still wants him and so, we come up with a plan. To show him what it feels like when you want someone who doesn’t want you back.
All we need is a camera. His number. And one shared kiss.
Revenge has never been sweeter.
REVIEW:
The Revenge Agenda, aka the enemy of my enemy is my friend lover, continues Saxon James’ Accidental Love series, which is centered around the found family of five friends/roommates who share a house together, one they affectionately call Big-Boned Bertha. Each of these men has a painful history but through each successive series installment, they each find a HEA with their perfect mate.
Personally, I have found this series to be very up and down so far: I adored The Husband Hoax, a virtually no-angst, joyful read full of warm fuzzy feelings and silly shenanigans; however, I didn’t much care for Not Dating Material because of an inability to connect with Molly. The Revenge Agenda sits somewhere in the middle. I liked it, but didn’t love it, although Teddy Hamilton’s narration of the audiobook does a lot in advancing engagement with the story. More on that in a minute.
All of these characters are eccentric – it’s what gives this series such color and provides seemingly endless material for hilarity. But it also provides texture to these characters that makes them and their stories unique. Rush and Hunter’s relationship is a revenge pact made into romance, with the complexities of navigating their work relationship on top of that. Rush’s found family of loony roommates are fully invested in the revenge plotting which is equal parts humorous and annoying, yet despite how crazy it all seems, James for the most part makes the romance feel authentic, even when the plot contains completely outlandish, implausible elements to it, as this one does.
A few tweaks could have elevated the story. For example, I appreciated James’ thoughtful and (mostly) sensitive handling of Rush’s struggles to manage his ADHD. She generally conveys that Rush (appropriate name if I ever heard one) has a mind that runs too fast in too many directions at once, but is nevertheless someone his friends can rely on. They don’t doubt him even when his condition causes struggles. I think James could have rounded out the ADHD portrayal by showcasing a few more of Rush’s successes. Whether intended or not, the story does contain a veiled subtext that people with ADHD are inherently unreliable when in fact, in the real world, expectations are set around timeliness and reliability – which people with ADHD capably meet every single day – and I would have liked to see more Rush success stories in dealing with his challenging condition rather than the chronic tardiness for work.
As for Rush and Hunter, they fit well as a couple, but I just couldn’t get excited about them – I didn’t feel the chemistry – at least not on paper. However, nobody narrates sultry, steamy content like Teddy Hamilton, and that helps add a lot of dimension and connection to Rush and Hunter’s relationship. Hamilton is always excellent – delivering a thoughtful, engaging performance. His fundamentals are spot-on and he succeeds in creating an immersive environment that pulls you into the story much more than on text alone.
Overall, The Revenge Agenda is an enjoyable story on its own but I recommend you listen to it – it’s even better.
RATING: 
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