Curling Iron

A Bad Boyfriends Novella

By: Nya Rawlyns

Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo

Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Kane leads a double life. By day, he pumps iron, running a fitness center, where jocks and cougars flock for the burn and the 'tude. By night, it's something else entirely that gets pumped, as Kane swaps sweats for Armani to cater to an exclusive clientele, willing to pay well to indulge their special interests and tastes. His double life isn't a problem until his conniving ex tightens the financial screws.

Finding and retaining suitable companions for his after-dark clients isn't easy. David Black's pole dancing performance at a friend's club hints that he might hit all the bullet points on Kane's list of requirements, in a way that could mean something other than just business.

David is out of work and out of options, so when he's offered the choice of starvation or performing both on and off the stage, it's a no-brainer. Kane's offer of a position with the escort service is as attractive as the man himself, and David agrees to a trial period involving certain conditions. He quickly finds that he's out of his depth.

Confronted with unanticipated roadblocks, one thing is clear; neither man is taking no for an answer.

©2014 Nya Rawlyns (P)2016 Nya Rawlyns

Awesome narrator!

Good story, but Michael Ferraiuolo made it so much more. Each character was distinct and fun to listen to. Loved it. I hope the other books will be in audiobook format with Mr. Ferraiuolo at the helm.

Gritty, BDSM, Noir - great narrator

Both Kane and David are struggling financially and both have been burned by past boyfriends. Kane’s ex is literally trying to take his last dime and David’s took his sense of personal safety.

Both of these guys are what I would consider “anti-heroes” in that Kane runs an escort service (ie Pimp) and David does poll dances and gives BJs for extra cash (ie rent boy). This is what draws them to one another initially. In a traditional romance they might start out “bad” but end up “good”. Well…. That’s not exactly how this story goes.

David keeps telling us (himself?) that he’s a good boy … he doesn’t do that… then he does that which he was objecting to. He also says his ex left him because he was too vanilla and so he tried BDSM to “spice up” his love life – only it went all wrong and he ended up in the hospital.

I gotta tell you. At this point – where Kane and David are talking about safe words etc. I was pretty done. I am NOT a BDSM fan. David was essentially raped and he needs some therapy not a “better Dom”. But … I know this is my own bias.

So I persevered. The author’s writing style is engaging. She does not bash you on the head with every little detail but allows you to draw your own conclusions. I like that. You have to pay attention while reading/listening to this because it isn’t just laid out there for you to be spoon-fed. That’s pretty awesome.

For me, however, I just never really felt a bond for the MCs. David never appealed to my sense of “poor David” nor did Kane. So I didn’t gel with them and while it seems as though their relationship will work out (this is one of three in a series and they continue to be a couple throughout according to blurbs on goodreads) it felt like more of a passionate connection than a love one. (This is probably more about my preferences than anything else.)

I did love the ending and how the two end up “solving” their respective issues – that was pretty “sweet” *wink!

These guys are rough with one another and I know there are folks out there who love that – for you I’d definitely recommend this book/series. For me, it wasn’t as sweet as I’d like nor did I feel the emotional connection between the MCs that I look for.

I’ll give this a solid 3.75 of 5 stars for writing, unique characters, and grit.

Audio

Michael Ferraiuolo does another fantastic job with this! He’s a super narrator with great timing, emotion, great voice quality and he’s very easy to listen to. I highly enjoyed listening to this and recommend the audiobook as the best way to enjoy this story.

5 of 5 stars for the narration

Overall 4.5 of 5 stars

Great chemistry

I enjoyed this story, the writing style, and how Kane and David fall for each other while dealing with the fallout from Kane’s ex. I felt as if we received snapshots of the plot because every so often I had to do a double-take to work out exactly what was going on. In fact, I listened to the whole story twice to help me understand the plot more fully. Michael’s narration was excellent, with so much emotion and intonation. His voice is easy on the ear, and his pace and expressions are spot on.