Gripping, Intense & Heartrending! Excellent🎧📚🎧

I am not a fan nor do I condone bullies or bullying, yet I enjoy bully romance, probably because I love watching the victim prevail and overcome the ones who are bullying. I was expecting this book to be just that, but not even close, it is so much more, bullying and hate on a different level, the one thing I learned in this book is to be glad I do not live in the bible belt or know anyone who shares similar thoughts as those homophobic haters. That said, this is an intense and meaningful story, one that has some gut-wrenching moments. Jonah’s family moved from the west coast to the south because his father, a preacher, transferred to the local church there. His father and his beliefs and condemnation for homosexuality fit in perfectly there since there are locals who believe the same. Jonah does not share those same beliefs, he has no interest in girls, his interest is in boys, but he keeps this to himself, not even sharing this with his sister, Mary, who he is close with. He knew starting his senior year of H.S. in a new school was going to be hard, but he was not expecting it to be as hard as it was or that the most popular football player of the school to have it in for him. Roman King’s life is not as it appears, his abusive father makes his home life a living heII and Jonah, the new kid in school, is the perfect person to take his anger out and even that is not as it appears. Despite how angry I was with Roman’s behavior, I still felt bad for him. Thankfully, he redeems himself in the end, becomes the person he was meant to be. Jonah and Roman’s story is not an easy one to endure, it is a well written the story with plenty of drama, angst, heartfelt emotions and steamy romance. Andi Jaxon, thank you for this heart pounding and thought-provoking story.

🎧📚🎧  And for the amazing narration, Tim Paige and Liam Di Cosimo are talented narrators and versatile voice artists. Their portrayal of these characters was spot on, they gave each character their own voice and grasped every side of their personality. They set the perfect tone for this story, captured all the character’s emotions, their angst and projected it into their performance and had you feeling every single one. These entertaining storytellers are a pleasure to listen to and their narration enhanced this story to another level. Thank you for another great listen.

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MORE...

Narrator - GREAT
Story Line - GREAT
OVERALL - AWESOME

MORE, more, and when you think you're done we need more!!

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Brutal

This is a brutal storyline. These characters love each other but can’t be themselves as society doesn’t accept it. The heart wants what the heart wants. A great performance.

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More than one bully here!

Definitely read the content warnings. I would add “religion-based hatred” to that list. Jonah, the closeted gay son of a hellfire and brimstone preacher, is new to town and from the beginning it’s easy to see how hard his life is going to be in this tiny southern town. He gets grief at school and at home. I don’t usually listen to books with religious hatred, so it was really hard for me to finish the story. I’m glad I did, because I needed that closure.

Interesting characters. A few twists that I didn’t see coming. A few stereotypes perpetuated. Overall a deeper than expected story.

This is book 1 of a series so while it ends on a HFN with an assumed HEA, there are a few loose ends that I hope will be tied up by the following books.

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Lots of Emotions

I like to think that no matter what your stance on same sex relationship is, you feel everyone deserves to be treated like a human being. It breaks my heart to know that people have to deal with this type of bullying on a daily basis and have to hide who they are.

This is a heartbreaking story of teenagers who have to disguise themselves because their town, their friends, and their family won’t accept them.

I don’t know if all the audio versions had issues of sentences being repeated (even a while chapter repeated itself) or if it was just my copy, so I won’t hold it against the story.

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Emotional !!

Wow!! so many emotions, good and bad. Nice writing by Andi Jason this is a really good story. I hope someday we will love all people no matter who they love. a lot of dysfunction in the families that is hard to listen to. Liam DiCosimo and Tim Paige were the perfect pair to bring this story and all of its characters to life. they did a really great job. very emotional but well worth the feelings.

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Five Stars

What an amazing listen. This book had me in a book hangover for a few day. This is my first list from Andi Jaxon, but definitely not my last.

I wish I listened to this sooner.

This book was just so so very good. I cannot get it out of my head and it has been days since I finished it.

Wow

It was emotional and sometimes hard to read. But with so much true! I love how Roman and Jonah fall in love and try their best to hiding their feelings. It was a really good listen. The performance were really great.

Emotion Overload

First and foremost… check the trigger warnings. This book won’t be for everyone . It was brutal and beautiful. I would love an extended epilogue and know what happened beyond. Devoured this story. Great job!