Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Follows with Intent
SERIES: Hazardverse Sidetracks
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
NARRATOR: Kale Williams
PUBLISHER: Hodgkin & Blount
LENGTH: 7 hours
RELEASE DATE: January 31, 2025
BLURB:
Keeping your eye on the prize isn’t always a good thing.
Nico knows he’s difficult; he has the string of exes to prove it. But staying sharp was the only way to stay safe in the cutthroat world of modeling, and it turns out, graduate school isn’t any gentler. Career first. Boys…later.
Jadon knows he’s burning out; his partner at the Metropolitan Police is more than happy to remind him of that fact. But the last time he let himself get distracted, people died, and he’s not going to let it happen again. And Nico was nothing but a distraction.
When a chance encounter brings them together again, Nico isn’t interested in apologies, and Jadon isn’t interested in Nico—or at least, that’s what he tells himself. But when the stalker Jadon has been trying to catch marks Nico as his next target, they have no choice but to stick together. And the longer they’re together, the more they realize that what they want might not be what they need.
REVIEW:
This is another story that takes place in the Hazard and Somerset world. This time the protagonists are Nico, Emery’s ex and a former model, and Jadon a St. Louis Police detective that Nico had becomes friends with and shared some pretty intimate truths with over text. That is until Jadon totally ghosted him.
When Nico goes to St. Louis for a seminar and to present a paper that he hopes will help open doors to the right PhD program, he runs into Jadon at the coffee shop he stops in on his way to the first seminar meeting. Jadon is surprised to see him there. Turns out Jadon is there for a sensitivity seminar that he and some colleagues have to attend.
Nico is still pretty bitter that Jadon just stopped all communications. Jadon was going through some stuff and he just thought he needed to concentrate on that and he didn’t want to drag Nico down. He realizes that he didn’t handle it well though. He wants to make it up to Nico. He asks if he can meet up later.
They end up going to dinner and Nico misinterprets a lot of Jadon’s motives. Jadon really isn’t trying to control Nico or his choices, but he is concerned. There have been a series of assaults on the campus and Jadon sees someone following Nico on the way back to his dorm. Jadon gives chase but loses the guy. From then on, he’s determined to shadow Nico and keep him safe. Needless to say Nico chafes quite a bit at this.
As they spend time together though, they get closer. Both men reveal more of their past and what keeps them from moving forward – both together and separately. Both have a lot of feelings about what they have been through since both were assaulted/kidnapped by killers in the past. The chemistry is there and they give in. Nico is convinced though that he’s not worthy. Jadon has similar fears but for different reasons. He’s very much bottled up.
Jadon does sweet things for Nico though. He is interested in Nico’s research and he supports him doing his best. He also is cued into the lecherous professor who clear wants more than to be Nico’s advisor. This leads to a terrible fight where both say some very hurtful things. Jadon storms off and Nico is certain his academic career is over before it’s even started 
But honestly that is the least of his worries. Things are about to get a LOT worse for both of them.
Whew this is a doozy. I just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and boy did it. I’m not going to spoil the mystery of the stalker. There are a number of suspects and red herrings. The suspense was perfectly paced. Just when I thought maybe things were in the clear, nope. Jadon gets help and support from his ex and Nico begins to see that maybe he was wrong about his assumptions about where his life is going. Turns out these two might be right for each other after all.
This new book has a new narrator for this series, Kale Williams. For fans of this genre, Mr. Williams has performed many of our favorite books. He is a consummate performer and gives real urgency to both Nico and Jadon in this book. Both men have been through pretty harrowing ordeals. There is a push/pull dynamic to their relationship that was played out in this story. Each voice choice and the emotional heft to the past and breaking down the walls each man has erected to protect himself were really well done here. For me, this was a perfect match between story and narrator. Highly recommended for fans of a slightly torturous road to a happy ending.
RATING: 
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