Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Not That Guy
SERIES: Unpredictable
AUTHOR: Felice Stevens
NARRATOR: J.F. Harding
PUBLISHER: Good Man Press
LENGTH: 7 hours and 16 minutes
RELEASE DATE: October 9, 2025
BLURB:
Not him.
Not that guy, Weston Lively.
The one I’ve hated since law school.
The man who gets by on good looks, a fat bank account, and a powerful, political father.
Our more-than-just-a-kiss one drunken night changes nothing between us.
We’re both still straight.
And we still hate each other.
It doesn’t matter that we work for the same law firm.
We’ve put what happened behind us.
Except….oops.
It might’ve happened again.
And again.
Hmm.
Maybe we don’t really hate each other anymore.
But there’s a bigger roadblock in our way.
Weston’s evil father.
The two of us together could ruin his chance at becoming President.
Especially with the press digging into my past and haunting our every move.
Then his father makes Weston a terrible offer he might not be able to refuse.
It would mean breaking us apart.
And breaking our hearts.
It was easier when I hated him.
Now I can’t imagine walking away.
How did the man I once hated with a fiery passion become the one who now sets my soul on fire?
REVIEW:
Weston and Brenner were classmates and rivals in law school. Try as hard as he might, Brenner generally came in second by a razor’s edge. Still not bad for a foster kid up against a Senator’s son. Weston literally knows nothing about Brenner accept that he appears perpetually scowling. Brenner knows a lot about Weston because he’s kind of a smart mouth. They both go on to successful careers.
They move on from law school and both become successful partners in their law firms. Since they practice in the same area, they end up at a conference together. Their usual butting heads leads to something quite different this time though. A heated encounter in Weston’s hotel room leaves them both shaken. They are both straight, so where did this passionate desire come from??
Months later Brenner is offered a position with Weston’s law firm back in New York. Brenner is worried about having to be around Weston all the time. They continue to get under each other’s skin. But they are going to have to make it work.
A team building exercise gives them the first opportunity to realize just how little they know each other despite their shared past in law school. Turns out they were both very very wrong about each other. And others are beginning to question their seeming friction. Turns out these others are right 😉
When Brenner is injured and Weston decides to step in, Brenner is not happy. He’s made his way in life without handouts or support or even really friends aside from Christine Gigante and his foster parents. He has trouble accepting help, but he’s too weak and pained to fight it. The more time he and Weston spend together though, the more this heat simmering just below the surface threatens to explode. And explode it does!
Neither men have been in successful relationships, so they both make mistakes. Weston is also having to contend with his father’s presidential campaign. He’s basically gone no contact with his father (for reasons). But the father now wants him to play the photo op son. Until he doesn’t. Luckily Weston and Brenner have a solid support system in colleagues, friends, former lovers and more.
Oh how I love and enemies to lovers story 🙂 There is so much room for growth and looking at the world from someone else’s perspective and acknowledging that assumptions are too many times incorrect and a result of unconscious bias. Motivation is rarely so obvious from surface observation. In this case, both men have made assumptions that are wildly off-base. While it fueled their desire to succeed in law school, it also caused some pretty deep misunderstanding and misattribution of certain behaviors. Years later they are thrown together and as a result, they begin to build a very different relationship. I LOVED Brenner’s foster dad Bill so much! Brenner really did start out with the odds very much against him. He lucked out with his final foster parents and they supported him despite the stigma and discrimination his situation as a foster kid caused. It motivated Brenner to work hard and succeed and be there to help others. Weston is more motivated by how much he despised his father than anything. Turns out that leads to a pretty empty life though. Once he understands Brenner better, he knows he wants to be a better man and he wants his life to be with Brenner – not fighting him. Their chemistry is absolute fire, but more than that their growth as individuals and as a couple who know what they want and don’t want to let anything get in their way is really gratifying. I adored seeing characters from other novels by this author and I cannot WAIT for the next book in this series 😉 It’s going to be a good one, I can tell. I loved Grady and the other lawyer in the firm who understand what is happening between these two waaaaay before Brenner and Weston do. It’s highly entertaining, these I told you so’s. And Bailey, another law school classmate – his reaction is priceless. There are so many more characters to mine here and I for one am looking forward to a lot more in this world. PS – another love letter to NYC which acts as another character in this book. 😉
J.F. Harding. What can I say? I have nine audiobooks in my library featuring this narrator. He is definitely becoming a favorite and I hope to listen to many more hours of his performances. This book was amazing. There are a lot of voices and characters – older, younger, different boroughs, different areas of the country. Male and female, children. Doesn’t matter. They were all fantastic and authentic sounding and distinct. The emotions – including hurt, anger, jealousy, passion, disappointment, happiness, desire, lust, sadness – the entire human condition – were so on point here. Both men go through a LOT. And the arc of this story and performance were absolutely spot on. I could have listened for another 3 hours! The story really cam to life in this audio performance. Brava and Bravo to Ms. Stevens and Mr. Harding. Highly recommended and I hope book 2 is coming soon! Hint, hint!!
RATING: 
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