I hate writing reviews, but I needed to share

This book was just sort of magical. From the very first word, the language choices, the characters, the narration and the world just all sort of combined to make you feel transported to some magical other world where almost anything is possible. I was shocked when the story ended, because all of a sudden I had to face going back to the real world and I was not prepared.
It is a pretty low-angst story with very little confrontation, and very little drama, which sounds boring, but wasn’t.
I loved the characters. Probably the closest thing to a flaw, and still isn’t necessarily, was I’d have liked to have had a little more closure on Gareth’s story. I’m hoping he will get his own book, although that one might not be so low-angst...

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So wonderful!

I loved this. From the utter acceptance Alex has of Corbin, to the way the story flows...I love that we get both Alex and Corbin's POV, and even though I still don't understand a lot of what was happening with Corbin and his Aunts, and I wish I knew what happened with Gareth, this story just moved me and Chris Chambers does such a great job with character voices and the emotion of the story. Recommended!

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Enjoyable relationship, with pastry & bread

Interesting take on magical realism. The reader is not required to believe in magic nor to disbelieve to embrace the book and characters. Corbin & Alex fit each other, which makes the story comfortable.

Content Warnings: a secondary character is in an abusive relationship, Corbin was an outcast at school & after, and characters spend a deal of time thinking about dead parents. For all that, the book doesn’t wallow there and is relatively low trauma.

Corbin has been trying to get along in a place where he never fit well. Alex is starting over after his life in NYC changes. He has a helpful fallback position of turning his Michigander mom’s coffee shop into a bakery. Corbin hangs out in the bakery while lives inside his head & drawings. They meet, there are sparks, then there’s a long slow burn of getting to know each other. The POV switched up. Each protagonist got a couple large blocks from their view. I would have preferred a little more back and forth, in part to “meet” Corbin earlier but it was at least neatly done. I liked the relationship a lot.

Why not 5 stars? It took me a little longer than usual to get drawn in to the story/relationship. I think that’s because Alex only started to interest me as he tried to get to know Corbin. Alex is your standard “all the kids are above average” kind of white guy. He liked baking but I felt like he desired the control more than he yearned to bake. (Not that it’s bad to be happy with the path your life takes.) He just felt a little blank. His care for Corbin turned him interesting. I liked that I never got the sense that Alex would be careless with Corbin’s vulnerability. I would have like to know more about why I was so sure of that. How did ~average Alex develop into someone who wasn’t thoughtless? That usually takes some consciousness of privilege to figure out. I’m not sure even being gay and casually Jewish would drive that consciousness - at a guess, it tied into his feelings about Thanksgiving but again, I wanted more detail of how that came about.

The other quibble is also about a lack. There is a secondary arc with Alex’s bff & a tertiary one with Corbin’s dogs that felt neglected in the last few chapters. Gareth (who I keep thinking is named Derek) is left in limbo, and that’s fine because it’s a reasonably comfortable limbo. But it would have felt more settled to see some details. More, I wanted to see both Corbin & Alex interact more with Dreidl. How often is she home? What does she eat? Where does she sleep? Not knowing these things made the book feel unfinished. (possible very minor dog spoiler: I kept waiting for Wolf to come in the house but he didn’t. I thought that arc needed another beat to either have that happen or hint at why not. /end dog spoiler)

Steam: Medium hot. M/M on page with some details and a good helping of metaphor. There aren’t a lot of sex scenes, and I’d like to argue that the penultimate chapter needed another one. But what was there was creative and sexy. A lot of the earlier detail was actually imagined by the characters rather than being physical contact. The way the characters blended in the boudoir, what with Alex liking control & Corbin being a mass of raw nerves in want of direction was really satisfying. Honestly, it’s one of the few books I’ve read where one partner’s directive that the other touch themselves felt needed for the one doing the touching, rather than just a peep show for the director. It really worked.

Narration: The narrator made some subtle changes to indicate character. I was a little worried that my lack of connection early on might have been a subconscious issue with the narration but after the relationship picked up, he faded from my conscious thought too. Except for the few times the wrong character’s voicing was used, which was minor. Sound quality was good.

1 person found this helpful

Love Roan Parrish books... this is no exception!

So. coming from the Somewhere Trilogy, this story has a different style and tone. At the end, I really loved it. I had a little trouble in the first 2 hours mostly because of the narration. In the beginning the narrator used a very formal and almost pretentious approach to reading. After about 2 hours, he relaxed a good bit and all was well. I do have to say that the narrators formal tone did fit the story in the end... it was just a little much in the beginning. Also, I think I was hoping for the same feel as the “Somewhere” audio books and this is a completely different style. Maybe it was me, maybe it was him... perhaps a bit of both. Having said that, what you get from this story is what I’ve come to know as typical “Roan Parrish”. This means you’ll really explore the characters in a way that I’ll bet you’ve rarely experienced. You’ll find that the story and characters are both light and dark.... endearingly flawed and broken.... but always innately good, though that fact comes as a surprise to most of them. Next, you’ll explore a deep connection between characters that is truly Yin Yang... where 2 completely different characters essentially compliment each other so perfectly that they can no longer survive without each other. Roan Parrish understands chemistry and doesn’t over do it. There are certainly erotic scenes.... sometimes very intense... certainly hot... but deep and made better by the strong connection and chemistry you feel between the characters.... not just the typical “word porn” I get from most other books in this genre. Ultimately, “The Remaking of Corbin Wale” is sweet and thought provoking. I keep thinking about many aspects of the story and characters... and I have a lot of questions... in the best way. I feel the same way I’ve felt after finishing all 4 of Roan’s audiobooks...I WANT MORE!

1 person found this helpful

I Adore Roan. So This Is Hard.

Personally, I am the kind of person who tips a terrible server because I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. They went to work, tried, may have had a bad day, but I don't want to demean them by calling attention to their poor service.

After listening to Roan Parrish's first three books, I can honestly say I enjoyed each one more than its predecessor. So it breaks my heart to write this review.

While I read this book months ago, in print, and quite enjoyed it, this narration is abysmal. The narrator has absolutely zero emotional connection to the material. He has a speech pattern that leads him to present each sentence as though it is as crucially important as both the PREVIOUS sentence and the NEXT sentence. It was nearly insufferable--and I'm being generous including the modifier "nearly." Even ten seconds into the audio sample the narrator says, "...Alex'd had almost ignored a call from his mother." As if it was supposed to be "Alex'd almost ignored" and then was changed to "Alex HAD almost ignored", but BOTH the 'd and the "had" were left in the recording. Sloppy without question.

Never in my wildest dreams did I believe an audiobook could be this poor in comparison to its print version. The author would be wise to avoid answering questions about its quality, since she appears to be someone who is all about authenticity. This audiobook was, I hope, the worst I'll ever listen to. I hold high hopes for Roan Parrish's future works, and always enjoy her words in print, but I wish she would respect the audiobook format enough to spend time carefully tending to quality-control. I'm not quite sure how she could have guided this particular narrator to deliver a performance more--real and authentic--but that's what her first audiobooks delivered. A sincere "better luck next time" to the extremely talented wordsmith, Roan Parrish.

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A Rescue Trope Love Story

Corbin is a shy and deeply wounded young man. Alex is confident, self assured, and a caregiver looking for a place to call home without quite realizing that's what he's doing. I have some concerns that their relationship might not be the healthiest, comma because there is a theme of Corbin needing Alex and somehow not being able to get by without him. I really enjoy the hurt/comfort aspects of the story, and how Alex encourages Corbin to come into his own. The story would have been 4 stars for me if if the message that Corbin Corbin doesn't need someone else to rescue him came through a bit more clearly. This is still a very sweet, warm, almost holiday themed romance.

Great

Love Chris his narration is spot on, Roan's work is so refreshing. Love it.

Don't Waste a Credit!

One of my favorite books was written by Roan Parrish, but she really missed the mark on this one. Just a "nothing" book. Terrible lack of character development. Corbin is too weird. The story is rushed and you are left wondering what is going on. Jumps around. Must have been forced to meet a deadline with this one. Probably penned it out in a night. Clearly no real effort went into this story.

Ok ...

I heard so much good about this book, but I’m not sure it’s the book for me, it felt like 7 hours of weird rambling.
The narrator did a good job, and enjoyable to listen to.

A patient love..

sweet love story. I loved the narration, he bought the fire between the main characters