3.75 ( )

Hey, I am being on the generous side with a 4.5 but this is why:

I felt the love between these two unlikely MCs! who fall for each other after an instant and powerful attraction. It was so "romance novel" that I feel a bit ridiculous for admitting to a 100% predictable emotion.

But by stating the obvious I'm emphasising that the author did take me somewhere and made me feel deeply at times.

I figured the MCs have a 13 year age difference - Eli is 18 and a college freshman at King University; Cole is a professor and 31. The age difference is one of the many dynamics in this novel but it probably intrigued me the most. Of course, they are both so young what does it matter! But when I was their age I didn't think this way - I would have considered it a big gap. Now I know better.

The author does a good job of giving Eli a persona that has grown out of his loveless and repressed youth. Cole is desperate to hold on to this thing he feels for Eli - going completely against his MO. This feeling for Eli is more layered than anything he's had with his usual hookups over many years.

As I recall he's never had a serious relationship. After the initial attraction, he's quickly captivated by who Eli is. I liked that the emphasis was not on Eli's ignorance or innocence, but on his purity, his honesty and other noble traits that gave him a gravity beyond his years. I'm sure there are plenty of analogies with Greek mythology or some such that explains this madly, deeply ... love affair between these two.

Both of the MCs prove to be a little outside the norm, as do most of the minor characters. That's what I found interesting. The characters try to be Good, with everything that means ... to be a good friend, a good person. They think things through, and get through things, and come out the other side shinier.

Cooper North and Aidan Snow are both on my list of favourite narrators. They do a terrific job here. Aidan's sexy voice sometimes felt a bit too much, once we got to know his character better. He does embody Cole. With both the narrators, I didn't always follow who they were speaking as. When it was Aidan's turn, was he speaking as Cole or Eli - and it was the same for Cooper. Is this the fault of the producer? who didn't ensure any confusion was removed?

Bit shocked to read that Marley Valentine lives in Sydney - is she Australian? another NR Walker? in that none, or next to none, of her audiobooks are in my Australian libraries - weird huh. ( )