Dare to Hope

All Cocks Stories, Book 4

By: T. M. Smith

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Tristan is the second oldest of the Brennan brothers and the odd man out. Most of the Brennan men have careers in law enforcement, but as a psychiatrist, Tristan chooses to help people in a different way. Quiet and restrained, he is content to hover in the background of his more gregarious brothers. Then he meets two men, each broken and damaged from losses beyond their control.

Gabriel Simenson is mourning his lover's death. The random act of violence that took Gio's life has left everyone at All Cocks reeling. The only thing keeping Gabe from drowning in misery is the friendship he's forged with Micah, the newest model at All Cocks. He continues to struggle, and at the urging of his All Cocks family Gabe agrees to counseling with Tristan under one condition: Micah must go with him.

Micah Solo can relate to unbearable loss, having lost his leg and so much more in Iraq. The past two years he has been alone, adrift and vulnerable - the memories of war haunting his dreams, spilling over into his daily life. At All Cocks, Micah has found the acceptance he craves and the family he lost, but still he yearns for happiness and peace within.

The friendship between the three is instant, the mutual attraction evident. They circle each other, wanting more, yet unsure if it is truly possible. Is life the mundane reality they've each come to accept for themselves or do they dare to hope?

The All Cocks Stories is a series set within the world of online gay porn. Micah's PTSD is told in detail, including flashbacks to his time in Iraq.

©2016 TM Smith (P)2017 TM Smith

Good listen

This story is about Micah is a former soldier who suffers from PTSD, Gabe who is mourning the loss of his lover and Tristan who wants them both but can't do anything because he is also their therapist.

We also get to see what happens in the All Cocks productions as well as previous characters, mostly Mattie, Victor and

There is a lot going on in this story which is a mix of high emotions, good humor and hot scenes. The romance between Micah, Gabe and Tristan took a while to take off and seemed to take second place to everything else in the meantime. Also the transitions between scenes seemed choppy at times.

But once the romance took off and Gabe, Tristan and Micah realised they had feelings for each, the conflict ramped up and became interesting as the question becomes, can the three of them work as a whole or will they have to choose? If so who will be left out.

The narration is done well and the narrator managed to convey the different characters and accent. I loved his 'Irish Grandma'. He brought the story alive. Happy to recommend.

Lovely narration, good menage

If you’ve been following the series (which is not a requirement but recommended!) you’ll know that All Cocks is a porn site that caters to the idea of “gay for pay”. All the models have stage names and in the front of the book is a list of “characters”.

In this story we see three of people we’ve already met – Tristan – Jon’s brother the psychiatrist, Gabe – the guy who lost his lover in book three and Micah- the soldier who has lost a leg and is dealing with PTSD.

It’s been a year since Gio died and Tristan and Gabe are more friends than patient/doctor anymore but Micah is still struggling and hasn’t yet taken Tristan up on his offer of help.

All three men are attracted to one another but there are so many obstacles between them: none of them considers a triad at first, Tristan is their doctor, Gio hasn’t been gone long, Micah’s self esteem… the list goes on.

Eventually, through some unconventional means, the three find their way to one another as a whole and we get our HEA.

**

I’ve really loved this series. I like how relationship centered the stories are with only a minimal amount of drama to keep things moving. Though these guys are in porn there really isn’t an excessive amount of physical scenes in these stories and what is there feels like it’s mostly to move the story forward.

I thought both Gio/Gabe and Micah/PTSD were really handled well.

There were a few things that bothered me:
In my copy there were a lot of mistakes – I’m sure it’ll be edited out but it was a bit distracting.

The lack of contractions. Normal conversation uses I’ll way more than I will and they’re instead of they are – etcetera – in all four of these books the lack of contractions in noticeable.

Victor’s speech – I love Victor and I love his accent. Sometimes it goes OTT and becomes far more juvenile and less accented.

The doctor/patient relationship – I think Tristan would fail in this story. I think he needed to have been more concerned about his role with these guys and handed their mental care to a buddy before making a move. This is a touchy subject and it was discussed I think it would have been a bigger deal.

All in all I loved these guys finding one another and I really enjoyed catching up with the other MCs from the previous books.

3.5 of 5 stars


Audio
I think Joel Leslie's narration was wonderful! I loved all the accents and I found his version of Tristan as well as Beau - the guy with the cajun accent - to be fantastically entertaining! As always he does an amazing job with the timing and emotion. I did notice some weird sound issues - like suddenly the sound was a bit quieter or it skipped here and there - but they were few and far between and pretty subtle. All in all I thought it added to my overall enjoyment and elevated my total stars from 3.5 to 4.5 of 5 stars!

Another great addition to the series (story and na

*Audiobook provided by Audioboom in exchange of an unbiased opinion.*

This another book in the All Cock series and features a 'throuple' in the making. This story, (as well as the others in the series) could be read as a standalone, but why would you deny yourself the pleasure of Ms. Smith's stories and Joel Leslie's narration? Why???

Other reviews have said everything that I feel about the book, the narration, the series (all of the aforementioned are great to read, entertaining, riveting to listen to), so I won't repeat any of that. Suffice it to say that the entire series is worth getting and spring for the accompanying audiobook, it is so worth it (I did with the others)! Joel Leslie does an excellent job with this book. Highly recommend.

Fantastic M/M/M romance with outstanding narration

Well, Dare to Hope is now my favorite book of this series-it edged out Gay for Pay by just a tiny smidgen. When I first found out this was going to be another threesome story, I was a bit on the fence since we already got one in Fame and Fortune. I was worried for nothing…absolutely nothing. Dare to Hope is unique in its own right, and delivers another emotional tale with characters that are impossible to dislike.

I was already a big fan of Gabe from the very first book of the series. He’s one of those characters that you can’t help but fall in love with-he comes across as a person who is easy to talk with, caring and sweet, and someone I could easily become best friends with. My heart had already gone out to him earlier in the series when he first lost his lover, Gio, and I’ve been waiting ever since to hear the rest of Gabe’s story.

We got a small peek at both Tristan and Micah earlier in the series, though both appearances were very brief. Now, we get to learn so much more about these wonderful men…and get to fall for them as well. Micah suffers from severe PTSD from his time in Iraq, and we get a lot of background into what happened and the pain he continues to battle through every day. Even with his devastating experience losing all the other men he served with in addition to losing his leg, he still perseveres and remains strong and determined while also demonstrating his protective nature with Gabe. Tristan does not have the kind of losses that Gabe and Micah do, in fact he comes from a very loving and supportive family—and he demonstrates the same love and support very easily when it comes to both Micah and Gabe.

It is evident early on in the story how all three men care for each other, even if none of them realize how the others feel at first. As things progress, we get to see their relationships with each other individually and as a group develop and evolve-things are not rushed and happen naturally. There are personal issues that must be worked through, and the serious topics of Gabe’s grief over the loss of a loved one, and Micah’s torment over the loss of his leg as well as his PTSD are handled with tact and sensitivity. And the sex scenes will definitely be steaming up your e-reader…you may want to prepare yourself with a bucket of ice and a high-powered fan just in case ;-)

I truly enjoyed watching Gabe, Micah and Tristan’s story unfold and couldn’t pull myself away from the pages. Dare to Hope was a 5-star read for me, and I strongly recommend it for M/M romance fans. I would suggest reading (or listening to) the first three books in the series before starting this one-you’ll get a lot of backstory for the All Cocks world as a whole, and it will really enhance your enjoyment of this book if you read those first. Dare to Hope is for those 18+ due to adult language and explicit M/M and M/M/M sexual content. The series takes place in the world of the online gay porn industry, giving a unique perspective within which to tell these stories.

The narration: I'm already a huge fan of Joel Leslie's work, and here in Dare to Hope he did what he does best-he gave each character a truly individual voice that easily identifies each of them, and gives them their own unique personalities. The voices are consistent throughout the story, and also through the other books in this series that he has narrated-something I really appreciate when listening to multiple books in a series. Joel really brings the emotion to the forefront with all three main characters, and as for the sex scenes...well, let's just say I'd advise not listening while you're at work ;-) 5 stars for Joel Leslie's narration!

healing hurts

This was so emotional!! After all the emotional and mental trauma Gabe and Micah finally find their peace and happiness with Tristan to round out their lives perfectly. Tears and heat- a perfect balance. I love Sunday dinners! lol. Great addition to the series. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job.

Wonderful!

DARE TO HOPE has a very intriguing constellation of characters. There is Gabriel and Micah, who we have known as boys part of the team of All Cocks, who have bonded over their grief of each losing something important – Gabe his boyfriend Gio and Micah his leg and his team in the military – and formed a solid friendship. Only their feelings toward one another are not purely friendly – there’s also this constantly growing attraction between them, but somehow, acting on it just does not feel right, it seems like something is missing … And it becomes more and more obvious that their counsellor, Tristan, just might be the one thing they need to feel complete…

These three men have so many issues, so many problems to solve before a HEA even remotely feels like a possibility. One is suffering from PTSD, feeling incomplete due to being handicapped and unworthy of being loved; another one battles guilt toward his deceased boyfriend and the fact that he feels drawn to not one but two men; and the last one, while surely being the most balanced of the three, is not in an easy position: For one, he does not want to interfere in the already existing relationship between the other two, and then there is the fact that his ethics as their counselor technically forbids him to get involved with either of them…

Their story is heartbreaking and kept my attention the whole time, and while I get that they all had their own demons to battle first, I really wished we would have seen more of them as a threesome together, rather than only the last couple of chapters.

I did absolutely love that epilogue; it is done in an incredible clever way: While the stories can be read as standalones, these last few pages will have the reader craving more and be intrigued by / introduced to the next set of characters getting their story.

The audio version is narrated by Joel Leslie. Most of the characters do really have distinctive voices, but for some reason I found myself getting confused between Micah’s and Tristan’s quite a few times. Other than that, I loved his performance – every emotion the character feels, no matter how deep, how uncomfortable, how haunting, is conveyed in his voice.

Worth the listen

I liked this story, but it was obvious from the start where it was going. It took a long time to get there as well.

There were a few issues that I had with how it all went down, but I loved each of the MC's personalities and how they just really were better and more solid together.

This wasn't my favorite of the series, but worth the listen for sure.

Beautiful story of love and support...and healing

I enjoyed this audiobook. It was my first in this series, so I was a little lost as to who all the characters were other than the three main men, and I missed out on the background of the death of Gabe's lover. I presume this happened in one of the previous books. That said, this was an emotionally powerful story of two men picking up the pieces of their lives and trying to move forward, one grieved at the death of his former lover, and one suffering from PTSD. They come together with the help of their therapist, and the three men become something greater as they work through their issues and heal through each others support and love. And the threesome love scenes are HOT! But there is also a lot of tenderness, too. Be warned that there are some scenes where these emotionally fragile men break down. If you are sensitive to issues like PTSD or intense grief, this might not be the book for you. But the angst is well worth the outcome, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to give it a listen.

The narration was great. I so love Joel's voice. I think he could read the phone book and make it sexy!

This is definitely an audiobook I will listen to again, and I will be exploring the other audiobooks in this series as well to get more of the history of the "All Cocks" men.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator.

Darn it!

I wanted to not love it, but I so did. Still very well written. This story was good. I wanted to complain because it was painful at times to watch someone go through their grief. See. This is why this author and this narrator are such a great team. It kind of felt like I was going through what the characters were.

I'm still in love with this series. Oh and I need more of the Brennan family. Especially Gran. They are awesome.

Next book please.

Great performance for a heartbreaking story

What made the experience of listening to Dare to Hope the most enjoyable?

Gabriel Simenson and Micah Solo have developed a friendship, bonding on their shared despair at losing something really important: Gabe lost his boyfriend Gio, Micah lost his team and his leg in an ambush in Iraq. Despite their growing bond and mutual attraction, there is something missing, and they find it in their counselor, Tristan Brennan. But the three men have issues to solve before managing to make their relationship work….This was a heartbreaking story. We have three beautiful men who meet and fall for each other, but achieving their HEA is not going to be easy. On the one hand, we have Gabe, who is still recovering from the loss of his boyfriend Gio. Gabe feels guilty to feel attracted to both Micah and Tristan, and he has to learn to let go of his past and his memories of Gio before having a chance at a future with the men he loves. Micah is suffering from PTSD, and he feels unworthy of love, as his body is deeply scarred and handicapped after the bombing. It is going to take a lot of support and love from his two lovers to help him get over his terrible memories. As for Tristan, although he seems to be the more balanced of the three men, his position is not easy, on the one hand because he does not want to interfere in the relationship which is already developing between Gabe and Micah, and on the other hand his position as their counselor makes his feelings somehow unethical. Although the story is nice, what made this book really worth 5 stars was Joel's narration. He masterfully conveys deep feelings and emotions through his performance. He provides each of the main characters with their own voice, making them easily recognisable without being previously introduced. But he also manages to create and maintain particular accents and nuances for the secondary characters, which are not few, making the listening experience an utterly enjoyable one.

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher