Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Friends Like Them
SERIES: Redemption Ridge
AUTHOR: Aimee Nicole Walker
NARRATOR: Lance West
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 7 hours and 34 minutes
RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2024
BLURB:
Owen Doyle’s rough beginnings taught him not to form attachments, yet he’s drawn to Tyler Booth like a magnet. Their relationship has blossomed from strangers to the best friends, with each twist in the journey weaving their connection tighter. But Owen has a six-year secret that’s become unbearably painful to keep. As the seams of his resistance fray, Owen will lean into a new mentoring opportunity to keep from ruining the best thing in his life.
Tyler will never regret going to jail and getting sober because meeting Owen saved his life and taught him how to trust again. Their inseparable bond has earned much teasing over the years, but Tyler doesn’t recognize himself without Owen. When he senses a yawning chasm between them, he’ll turn to mutual friends for help. Their well-meaning advice opens Tyler’s eyes to unexplored possibilities and will snap missing puzzle pieces into place.
Some hopes are too big to stifle, and some truths are too big to ignore. A photo booth, smoking-hot kisses, and honest revelations will take Owen and Tyler’s intimacy to a new level. But before they can achieve their happily ever after, they must unload the baggage from their pasts.
Contains mature themes.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the fourth book in this series and there are spoilers for the previous books.
This is a best friends to lover story that has one partner, Owen, who has secretly been in love with his best friend for years and Tyler, the best friend who thought he was straight 🙂 Once Keegan, a young man who was abused by a cult and “conversion therapy” joins the ranch, Tyler has new feelings of jealousy around how much time Owen spends with Keegan and how Keegan seems to follow own like a puppy.
Tyler and Owen have a long history. Owen took Tyler under his wing when Tyler was sent to jail after trying to buy street drugs from an undercover cop when he was addicted to painkillers after a knee injury. He kind of got the book thrown at him and he came into jail addicted. Owen looked after him and protected him while he was detoxing and afterwards. They became best friends and ended up on the ranch together. Now Tyler’s feelings have changed. But he has no idea what to do about it because although he’s always known Owen was gay, he didn’t think about his best friend that way. But was that because of his upbringing? Because he sure thinks of him that way now.
When Owen discovers Tyler’s interest, well this changes his world as well. They embark on a relationship as a couple. Tyler has no idea what he’s doing. Owen is more than happy to be his tutor. They keep waiting for the rest of the guys to give them hell because Owen in particular has bet on everyone else’s relationship status over the years. He’s been a bit of a nosy Nelly in the past 🙂
But the ranch is busy with other things – including a wedding and helping Keegan get back on his feet. Both Keegan and Tyler have a lot of ground to make up since they haven’t really taken a walk on the gay side. They both have some surprises in store 🙂
All isn’t complete roses and sunshine though. Both men have to deal with some family baggage. Tyler’s upbringing led him to believe that coming out was going to be a problem so he’s pulled away from his family He also feels shame and guilt for what he put his family through with his arrest, etc. Owen’s upbringing was much rougher. Although his mother has pulled herself up by her bootstraps, he’s still a bit worried about introducing her to Tyler. He’s got feelings of inferiority too do to his lack of education. Luckily it turns out that these worries were a bit overblown 🙂
So while I enjoyed this story, it is VERY heavy on sex scenes. If that isn’t your jam, you’ve been warned. Good news is that there is little angst in this story and this couple move pretty easily from friends to lovers with a little bit of questioning about codependency. As usual, this author does a great job of pulling in the previous couples and the ranch is still a wonderful place and safe haven for the guys. The wedding is also lovely 😀
Lance West does a great job with the characters here. This is the next to the last book in this series and he continues to perform all of these characters with consistency and vigor. I’m really looking forward to Rueben’s book which will be the last one. These audiobooks are quite well done and worth a listen. Recommended.
RATING: 
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