Review: Crashing Box Set

Crashing Box Set by Samantha Wayland and Michael Ferraiuolo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the boxed set of the first three books in Samantha Wayland’s Crashing Series. 

Crashing the Net

Dumping gallons of lube on the new kid is just another day at the office for Alexei. He knows exactly who he is: a goalie on the ice, a prankster in the locker room, and a man who knows better than to share his private life with anyone. 

Mike is broke, bruised, and covered from head to toe in cheap lube. All he wants is to keep to himself and play for the Ice Cats. What he needs, though, is another matter entirely.

Checking It Twice 

After four years with Alexei, there are things Mike knows with absolute certainty: he loves Alexei, Alexei loves him, and Alexei gives the very best Christmas gifts. 

Alexei knows his gift this year is going to blow Mike’s mind, but in the meantime, it’s pretty hilarious watching Mike try to figure out what it is. Granted, 

Changing the Rules

Alexei and Mike have been together for a long time. They’re getting married. They can go a few nights not sleeping next to each other, right? For the sake of the team, Alexei is going to try.

Mike can’t stand not sleeping next to Alexei, and it turns out sleep deprivation makes him overthink things.

First of all: the narration was great.
I liked the first novella. The second was a weird hybrid. It was partly a Christmas special of Home And Away, and partly a sex scene of Crashing the Net. By the time I reached novella #3, I got bored of all the sex and hoped to finish the audiobook soon.

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Review: Banded Together

Banded Together by K.C. Burn and Darcy Stark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Devlin Waters thought he’d have music forever. But the tragic death of his best friend ended the twenty-year run of his punk band, Negative Impression. Unable to process the loss, Devlin distances himself from everyone and everything that reminds him of the band. But forty-one is too young to curl up and wait for the end. In a search for a second career, he finds himself at university.

Dr. Jack Johnson does not appreciate Devlin’s lack of respect, his inability to be serious, or his chronic lateness. Worse, he hates that he’s attracted to a student. When he realizes Devlin is the rock star he crushed on in his youth, he drops his guard—against his better judgment.

 
I really liked this audiobook and the performance was good. Although I fast-forwarded the chapters where Stephanie opened her mouth. Maybe it is directed by the text because otherwise I don't understand why she got such an unsufferable voice. Furthermore, there should have been noise reduction. I am on the look-out for more LGBTQ rock stars finding love.

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Review: The Endless Road to Sunshine

The Endless Road to Sunshine by Nicky James and Nick J. Russo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My name is Jason Atkinson, and I married a serial killer.
The life I knew, the man I loved, and the world I believed in was nothing but a lie. He stole my trust, my happiness, and my faith in humanity, and I’m not sure how to move on. 
With my mental health hanging by a thread and a media circus following me everywhere I go, escape seems like the only answer.
But Skylar Dawson, a student almost twenty years my junior, has a different plan.

If this audiobook was a paperback, I would call it a pageturner because Jason allows all kinds of weirdo's in his life, including Skylar, and I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. The writing and characters were good, except at the end when the story turned into clichés.
Narration was good, but sometimes he lost my focus and couldn't I determine which point of view I was hearing.

Edit to add: one annoyance was the millennial Skylar wanting to research newspapers and not going online but filing through actual newspapers. Even the author has never done this before, because she believes you can research 18 months of papers in 2 hours tops.

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