Briar Prescott

Aaaaaghhh! Can't believe I didn't write any comments about this book when it was soul rocking.

A troubled young man (whose name escapes me so I'm calling him John) lives minimalistically, works hard in a sandwich shop, keeps his guard up. One day at a party he meets Blake, with whom he considers a one-night stand. Except that isn't Blake. But strangely, Blake pursues "John", pursues a friendship with him. They click.

For some reason that is revealed gradually, but is somewhat mysterious even show more then, they don't get together despite their attraction - and then one day, due to maybe a minor jealousy thing, Blake does hook up with John.

That's the Romance side, but behind all that is some marvellous writing as John describes his life. And Devon Ryder - why hasn't he done more narrations?!! he's so good and perfectly cast as John. John has a clever cynical wit that adds a lot to this novel.

The second half of this novel is the slow reveal on just who Blake is, and he is definitely not who he seems. John's horror when he learns how they came to be friends is understandable. We also learn more about John's backstory and the cataclysmic event that lead to his alienated/outsider existence when we meet him.

Until You seemed like a long, long novel to me - an epic novel - and I didn't expect to see that it was just 8 3/4 hours when I checked just now. It's a slow burn but intense, wearing almost. And only one POV, John's. Often I longed to switch to Blake's POV; we are so spoilt in Romance because most authors give us the POVs of all the MCs, and then in audio, if we're lucky, we get a separate narrator doing each, and the result is multi-dimensional: a novel that is also a performance. A rich experience.

Bottom line: Until You is a massive love story, so deeply tender, wrought from pain, broken trust, forgiveness, second chances. I can't believe there aren't any comments on this novel on LT - I totally recommend this book.

It's kinda shocking that it isn't in any of my elibraries, but I see 95 people have read it on Hoopla and given it 4.5, as I do. And thank goodness Hoopla has two other books by Briar Prescott waiting for me, since the libraries have none.

Oh, and the cover is good too - I can see that is "John".

After: Just looked up some reviews and the MC was Jude - wow, what a coincidence - I was close. show less

you all know my *famous* patience for contemporary, right?!

well, I didn't need it here. Funny, since this was a discovery story too. While Gray eschewed labels, I'd say he was demisexual, and it made for a magic friends-to-lovers. Friends-to-lovers is tough to accomplish, but this was nicely paced and built on the warmth and intimacy of Gray and Kai's friendship and support of one another. It avoided unnecessary drama, and there wasn't much external drama here.

Gray is the pursuer, by and show more large, which also worked and lends to a bit of his depth. Despite their deep connection though, I have to deduct 1/2 a star for Kai's internal doubts. They just weren't convincing. Gray was pretty open, honest, and easygoing and while Kai's hesitation was believable too much tension hinged on it. However, as with most HEA that have a well-established regard and friendship as the foundation, this was entirely convincing. 3.4 but still rounding up because it was really pleasant.

Briar Prescott is an author to watch! show less

Andy is determined to win over his best friend, Falcon, and prove to him that he can be something more than just his little brother. Unfortunately, things rarely work out for Andy and finding the ambition to move forward with his "Project Hero" seems impossible. Enter Law, former hockey player extraordinaire turned assistant coach for the university. Law needs a tutor in physics for his team and Andy needs a tutor in how to get Falcon to notice him romantically. It seems like a winning match show more until both Andy and Law realize something more than tutoring may be growing between them.

When a book makes me laugh within the first couple chapters, that is really a very good thing. This was a grand coming of age YA story that I really enjoyed. I liked Andy's sarcasm (both internal and external monologues) and Law was such a sweetie. Towards the middle it seems like it might start to get a little maudlin (as romances sometimes do), but the story pulled itself short on that and quickly picked back up. I thought it was great that the author didn't portray the characters being gay as anything other than a normal thing in the eyes of their family, friends and society in general. Absolutely no angsting in that respect which was nice. There were some explicit scenes so I'm not sure that I would entirely recommend this as a teen story, but I think it does belong in the older YA category. I would certainly recommend this story for anyone looking for a light hearted, feel good and humorous tale. show less

Grey has a best friend, Kai, who is gay. When Grey's girlfriend proposes to him, he runs. It's the start of his boring over-worked lawyer existence being upended. At the same time Kai moves back to town, and it suits for him to share with Grey, Kai has to cope with the delicate situation where he has spent the past 10 years getting over his crush on Grey.

There's plenty here for a romantic comedy. And it is pretty good, not great.

Now for the problematic criticism. The narrators are Kirt show more Graves and Joel Leslie. Honestly, I feel so bad criticising Joel Leslie, but I don't like his voice. I've said it before. I just wish he would rein in his histrionic way of speaking, as he has narrated so many books! books I wouldn't hesitate to listen to if he wasn't the narrator. When he reads, it isn't the character in the novel that I meet, but Joel Leslie.

By accident I came upon comments on Reddit by folks (like me) who just couldn't enjoy a book read by him. If nothing else, I no longer felt alone! in my disappointment when I see that a book I want to read is narrated by him - it's got to be a blue moon for me to borrow it.

At the same time, subsequent browsing on Reddit shows that for many audiobook lovers, he is their favourite narrator!@#$! He reduces them to tears! he gets it so right! That surprised me. And with people loving his style I guess he'll never change. show less