The Dating Disaster

Franklin U, Book 2

By: Saxon James

Narrated by: Tim Paige

Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Thousands of students on this campus, and I keep being set up with the roommate I can’t stand.

Felix

One date.

That’s how long it takes for Marshall Harrows to end up on my bad side.

Luckily, I have no plans to see the giant teddy bear again. Except when he shows up as my new roommate, I can’t escape him, and he’s just as irritating as I thought he’d be.

He leaves cupboards ajar and puts empty milk cartons back in the fridge. His bedroom door is always open, I find his underwear on the laundry floor, and he has this whole bashful sweetheart thing going on that I just…can’t…stand.

But the most completely, horribly irritating thing about him is that he’s totally my type.

And my friends won’t stop setting us up on blind dates.

Marshall

One date.

That’s how long it took for Felix Andrews to steal my heart.

The sparky little spitfire is everything I’m not. Confident, adorable, and completely outspoken.

He also wants nothing to do with me. Which is a real problem when I want to give him everything. Including my virginity.

But the more I try to gain his attention, the more I see the real him. The one who doesn’t feel worthy of being treated like anything other than a one-night stand. So I decide to take matters into my own hands.

A total do-over. One night. One date. Where hopefully I can steal his heart, too.

©2022 Saxon James (P)2022 Saxon James

marshmallow!

After a disastrous date, Marshall and Felix find themselves roommates, and needless to say things are super awkward after how their date ended. As they get to know each other better, Felix’s irritation with Marshall grows, but he quickly realizes he may have jumped to some conclusions about Marshall due to his own issues and hurt his own feelings.

They share a hot night together, but then Felix overhears something he shouldn’t have, and again jumps to more conclusions and a bunch of miscommunication happens—a constant theme to their story. It may all work out in the end for Marsh and Fe, but I wanted to strangle them for most of the book 🤣

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5

- roommates
- opposites attract
- size difference
- Demi rep
- virgin/first times
- miscommunication

Franklin U is light, low angst sweetness

This college age / new adult series features different MM romance authors, but the overall sentiment of each book is the same. If you want banter, laughs, smexy scenes, and low angst, here’s your series. Felix is a twink trip and Marshall is a cuddly teddy bear with a secret smoking hot side. Opposites attract is my jam! Plus, we get a cameo from Eden Finley’s Brady as Felix’s best friend and a crossover with the Frat Wars series in Marshall (Robbie’s brother). So great to bask in the joy that is the Saxon / Eden universe. PS - A gold star to Tim Paige for his smooth narration!

Another Saxon James hit!

I loved this story. I've not read many demisexual books, but the stories are always so special, and SJ gives us an amazing one with this book. Tim Paige's narration was spot on as usual. And I love that SJ told Felix's story. ❤️

why do mm authors frequently skip first steps?

the story is great and I love the characters. but there's something I get annoyed about with so many Romances--mm stories especially: go from first time we've kissed, then go straight to sex. have you guys forgotten all the wonderful things that come in between those?! why is it 80% of the time mm authors rob us of all these wonderful exploratory steps? the build up from getting to know each other physically and intimately. is it because you guys honestly think that that's the way everybody enjoys it? cuz it's hardly ever the case especially if you're a girl or demisexual. I think TV and entertainment and music and stuff has made young people think that that's the way it's supposed to happen. so maybe life is imitating art and people feel like they have to be that way or there's something wrong with them if they don't f*** around all the time if they're college students. do you know how many Awesome books that I have had to just not finish because of this crap? this is something I hate about m m stories and it's in a lot of MF stories as well. come on guys give us some build up. here you go, I'll give you a modern-day buzzword to make it seem more plausible: let's call it "edging"-- just like we have to call people who only REALLY enjoying sex with people they actually really like "demisexual" even though it's very natural. thanks ladies and guys! too many people don't get enough build up in real life; let's get it in fantasy at least. thanks

amazing

love it..this is a wonderful story Felix and Marshall are so adorable together. the narrator was amazing bringing the story to life.. absolutely wonderful

All The Feels!

This is one of the most swoon worthy romances I’ve ever read. Marshall and Felix are both loaded with personality and make this story so much fun. The banter and friendships are top tier. The families are hilarious. The steamy scenes are out of this world good because of the chemistry and emotional connection! Loved it! It’s strangers to roommates to friends to lovers, college, and more Shenanigans.

Quite a Few Errors

I’m not usually a stickler for this type of thing, but there were clearly many typos and errors in the text. It got to the point where the grammatical errors and wrong word usage was extremely distracting from the experience. Did anyone else notice this? No one else mentioned it in their reviews so far.

It would be the first instinct to blame these errors on the
narrator and say “maybe he just read it wrong” but I really don’t think so. They really do just read what they’re given to the best of their ability, and I’ve never heard this narrator make these blatant mistakes in any other projects I’ve heard him on, so the fault must lie with the author. Clearly the book needed another round of editing before going out.

Beyond that, I found the story overall enjoyable. I like Tim
Paige’s narration, as usual. This was only my second Saxon James book, though, and I have to say I’m not super impressed. The lack of communication between characters did get old very quickly. Some of the character motivations were also pretty inconsistent throughout the story. Other than that, I thought the story was a pretty believable look at a college romance.

Dating disaster…

The dating disaster… or just disaster, that works too.
The narrator sounded bored and way to old for “college life”. But
Storyline, I’m not sure there was one. Boy meets boy, boy hates boy, so boy have to have boy… with as little work put into the dating as possible… all over it was a disaster waiting to happen and we waited. The book felt like it had no chemistry at all. The characters was bland and boring.

Awful narration on this one. Sounds like a commercial, FU series

So of the 500+ audible’s I’ve listened to, this is maybe the 10th review I’ve left. That’s how bad the narrator performs it. He does the most up talking of any of them. It’s sounds like a bad TV ad, insincere, and no connection with the characters. Also no attempt at distinguishing h the heroes either. So much up talking. Ugh. I have read all of Saxon James’s other books, not their best effort and not the best in the FU series. Read it, don’t audible it. Unless you love uptalking narration then go for it.

Meh.

Disappointed with both the story and performance. Story was weak and Tim, who I’ve liked before read too fast and did very little to differentiate his characters’ voices. He’s better on when he’s paired up with dual narration.