Indirection

Borealis: Without a Compass, Book 1

By: Gregory Ashe

Narrated by: Charlie David

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Rabid readers. Backbiting authors. A romance convention from hell.

Shaw Aldrich and his best friend, boyfriend, and partner, North McKinney, are doing great, thanks. The aftermath of their search for the Slasher has finally settled down. Their private investigation agency is thriving. And after years of missed opportunities, they’re finally together. Sure, work might be taking up every spare minute, and their time together as a couple might have evaporated - but that’s normal, right?

When an author asks for their help investigating threats against a gay romance convention, Shaw sees an opportunity to shake up their routine and maybe have some fun. But the convention isn’t what he expects. Between the rabid fans and the backbiting authors, the death threats - which seem totally baseless - are the least of North and Shaw’s worries.

Until, that is, a best-selling author is poisoned in the middle of a panel. Then Shaw and North must race against the clock to find the killer before he (or she) escapes - and before the convention ends. But romance authors are more complicated than either North or Shaw expects, and a treacherous web knits the suspects together.

Shaw and North will have to unravel a skein of lies and half-truths to uncover the killer. It doesn’t help that, on top of everything else, Shaw just wants to find his next favorite book - and, if it isn’t asking too much, have sex with North at least one more time in his current incarnation.

Indirection is the first book in a follow-up series; listen to North and Shaw’s first adventures in The Borealis Investigations, beginning with Orientation.

©2021 Gregory Ashe (P)2021 Gregory Ashe

So Good!

I loved being with North and Shaw again! I didn’t realize how much I missed them! I loved the whole plot of the rom con. This book gave me the feels, I laughed, I cried, I just loved it! The narrator was perfect as always! Starting book 2 now!

I laughed so hard. 🤣🤣Thanks to North and Shaw.

Audiobook – 4 stars
Story – 4.25 stars

GAAAHHH!!! The boys are back!

OMG this is the funniest Greg Ashe book I have ever read. Shaw and North gave me a free vacation. After all, laughter is a vacation.

I am happy that Greg is giving us another Shaw and North series like he did with Hazard and Somers.
The writing is stellar as always, I am now used to Greg’s style and I am officially a devoted stan. The story flows so well and it is well complemented by the audiobook.

The mystery was hilarious, it reminded of the supernatural episode where Sam and Dean see their lives on TV. This one is set at a Gay Romance convection. The interactions there are hilarious. Shaw is a freaking mm romance stan. I saw myself in some fans category. Damn! You can’t blame me, some of these characters are my life. I stan them hard! And did Ashe poke fun at some of the mm romance writers? Hmmmm! There is some truth beneath all the quirky humor. Some of the questions at the con are what I have seen being debated online for a long time. E.g Can straight women write genuine gay characters? Does reading mm romance fetishize gay men? Etc….. I have a whole rant about this but I will not go into it. All I can say and North agrees with me is, let people be, as long as it doesn’t cross the line and become disrespectful.

The 1st mystery kept me guessing until the end, I was very entertained and sidetracked by all the shenanigans going on at the Gay con. The other mystery? Oh! I don’t like it at all. UGH! WTF is Uncle Ronnie doing here? I don’t want to find out. 😣😣 I hope we get to see Kyle in the future. He only appeared for minutes but I am already interested in his story. He made an impact. I know Shaw felt it too.

The relationship between Shaw and North is growing slowly, after last series events, I am happy to see that not everything is being pushed under the rug. These two have a long way to go when it comes to healing. Good thing is that they are best friends and besties know how to work things out. Oh well, most besties, probably not these two fools. I love to see how their relationship is developing, mixing business, best friendship and pleasure is not always good. These two are trying their best to balance it all. I liked how it was not all roses, their struggle for balance is evident.

Shaw! Omg! Shaw need filters, he always says what he is thinking out loud, sometimes I want to reach inside the book and slap him to make him shut up but I love him anyway. His character is hilarious most of the time. I can live with that.
North! Northy! Oh boy, North needs to see a therapist and he also needs a big hug. This buff is a big teddy bear with issues. I think I am starting to love North more. GAAAHH!! This is hard but there is something broken in him that I want to fix.
Pari! Hmmmm! Jury is still out but I like where this is going.

Overall, I had so much fun listening to this audiobook. I can’t wait to see how their relationship will develop.

Disclaimer: A copy of the audiobook was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

More Please

This is the 1st book in the 2nd series of the Borealis books. I remembered Shaw and North from the Hazard and Somerset series, but I had not listened to the 1st series before I started this book. With that said, it took nothing away from my enjoyment of this story. It also helped that I have attended a few Gay Romance Lit conferences, so I found myself laughing at some of the antics that really do occur there. Thankfully, no murders and I hope the authors are not as crazy as some in this story, but who knows.

The setting for this murder mystery is a conference attended by readers and writers of gay romance; BTW there really is such a conference call GRL, it’s great. Shaw “secretly” loves the genre, no surprise there, and the duo are swept into the intrigue; with North kicking and screaming, this is not his thing. Mr. Ashe really has an amazing talent for injecting hysterical banter and poignant moments into his stories. You are laughing one moment and crying the next. That is one of the reasons I love his books. And this story delivers.

In this series Shaw and North are an established couple, but still getting to know how that feels. They have known each other since freshman year in college (8 years ago) and Shaw has loved North since the first time he saw him. Their journey was a rough one, as chronicled in the first series. I loved this story so much, the first thing I did after finishing this book was purchase the first series. I love this couple and they are so complicated, but truly endearing. At the time I am writing this review, I have already finished the first book in the series. And even though there are some spoilers in this 2nd series, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Shaw and North from the beginning. It also supplied some very interesting insight into Shaw. He is not as “innocent” as one might believe by starting with this book. Like I said, I think you can enjoy this book without reading the 1st series, but I think I would recommend reading them in order to get the full effect.

Charlie David is just a master performer. He does an amazing job except mispronouncing some words. He really brings this story alive.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Good but..

I really liked the book and love how Ashe makes his characters realistic, but I have a hard time when narrators mispronounce words and this book had quite a few. I haven't noticed it before with this narrator.

Such a Treat!

Charlie David does an amazing job of bringing this story to life! There's nothing better than more Shaw and North! I have followed these two from their first book and I am never disappointed on the journey Gregory Ashe takes the readers on.
This mystery has plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Sprinkled amongst the action are moments of complete hilarity that will have you crying with laughter.
I was drawn in from page one and didn't look up until the very last page!
Bring on more Shaw and North!!!!

Back for the second story arc!

NORTH AND SHAW ARE BACK!

This was a very interesting mystery with lots of twists and turns that had me guessing the culprit until the very end. This book takes place during a romance convention and it just makes me miss going to book festivals and conventions!! Even if, in this case, it is much more dramatic than they realistic are.

I really loved the slow burning angst that the author does SO WELL. Just because my faves are finally together doesn’t mean everything is suddenly all sunshine and rainbows, and I kind of like that? Especially since this starts off a new story arc. This book does end with what I would consider a HFN (since this is a continuing series).

Content notes include homomisia, bimisia, ableist language, blackmail, “jokes” about rape, violence, assault, sexual assault, mentions of drug use, mentions/“jokes” about body dysphoria, mentions of domestic violence, unaddressed PTSD, and one off comments about suicidal ideation.

Borealis Investigations is finally seeing steady work and North and Shaw have more work on their hands than ever before. Shaw’s father’s company, Aldrich Acquisitions, has hired them to work a lot of cases and with their usual work on the side, they’re more than busy enough. But when a woman in charge of a romance convention held in their town this year walks into the Borealis offices asking for someone to look into the threatening messages she’s been receiving, and Shaw being an avid romance reader, immediately says yes. Much to North’s surprise and dismay.

So. I think this book started off a little slow? But it got quickly back into the groove I expected from the Borealis books and we get the witty quips from North and Shaw that heavily confuses everyone within hearing distance of them, and there’s a mystery to solve.

I do feel like the mystery piece was a bit confusing because there were so many elements to it and so many potential suspects. It took a while for me to get around to figuring out who was who but there’s a nice recap when Shaw was piecing it all together which helped? I will say the only continuity pieces that are irrelevant to the story that threw me off is that we never see North retrieving his phone at one point after using it for spying and we don’t see North ever changing out of his kitchen disguise.

This book probably has the most diverse cast of characters in it, for better or worse. Is it good rep? Well, not really. But I did like that with this book, Pari is toned down a lot and not so…out there like a caricature. And her and Truck are super sweet and adorable together. So I’m really happy for them!

North and Shaw also have many soft moments together!! I love their little moments where it shows they know each other so well, but this book also shows that there’s always more for them to learn about the another. We know they’ve loved each other since college, but maybe knowing someone so well means that things get missed too.

Gregory Ashe does this dynamic SO. WELL. He did this with Hazard and Somerset too and the angsty relationship dynamic doesn’t disappoint here with this series. We still get the angsty moments that make me cry (but I do cry really easily so this is no surprise) and this book STILL somehow had the feels of a slow burn even though North and Shaw are already dating??? How does the author do this so well? I don’t know. But I love it.

The romance convention piece of this book is very interesting. It does feel very meta in that a lot of the conversations surrounding romance are very real and topics that have floated around romancelandia and queer books for years and years. If you’re online a lot and hang out on social media, I don’t think a lot of the conversations brought up in this book are new but shows the author has a pulse on the topics around the community.

North’s Uncle Ronnie is back and he’s bad news. I don’t trust him at all and I want to know his endgame with all this. What’s his goal??? I am SUSPECT.

We see Jaden a LOT and I swear if Jaden doesn’t get his own HEA at some point, I’m going to be upset.. I think he deserves happiness too.

One thing I would’ve loved more of in these books going forward is North’s puppy. And yes, the puppy is North’s and I love who dog-sits for him.

There is one line about Emery Hazard that was a fun Easter egg for anyone on the lookout for Hazard and Somerset crossover moments!

The narration in this audiobook is as the rest of them were. I think I’m talked about this a lot now, but Charlie David’s accent for only certain words sprinkled throughout the audiobook is off-putting to me. But NOTHING is going to top him randomly giving Shaw a Cockney accent of all things? It’s a minor, tiny scene, but what on earth said that Shaw should adopt a Cockney accent for a sex scene when the character he got inspiration from isn’t even remotely British and the text never even called for it? I AM SO BAFFLED.

That aside, I thought story-wise, this was a strong book to start out the second story arc of the Borealis series.

BETTER & BETTER!! 👏👏👏❤️❤️

Each book tops the previous one.
*insert chuckle here*
The series is my definition of UST!
Oh, and there is the mystery and all, too!

AMAZING narration by Charlie David!!!

Great story. Great narration.

So... I might be an unapologetic Gregory Ashe. He writes my favorite type of story. A mystery /suspense/ thriller/ romance with entertaining character interactions, well developed and constantly evolving characters, well constructed plots with overreaching story arcs, conflict that addresses real world issues, pacing that holds the reader's attention, and... Well the list keeps going. This book had all of the aforementioned elements, and it takes an interesting look at the very genre that it is categorized in.

North and Shaw are a entertaining duo, and Charlie David does a great job of narrating their voices and personality. Sometimes the words are pronounced differently from what I expect, but I understand what is being spoken. I have family living all over the country. I am all too familiar with the idiosyncrasies of language and dialect in different regions. So, I smile at the pronunciation of figured and remind myself that I rarely remember to pronounce all the Gs in the word going.

This is a great read/listen, and a wonderful addition to the world that Gregory has constructed.

please write more books

I love your characters and series this one and the ones with somer and hazard

I wish they’d figure their stuff out!!

I love every book in both series and Charlie David is an amazing narrator but I do with the boys would just figure their stuff out!