The Same Breath

The Lamb and the Lion, Book 1

By: Gregory Ashe

Narrated by: J.F. Harding

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Teancum Leon, who goes by Tean, is a wildlife veterinarian. His life has settled into a holding pattern: He loves his job, he hates first dates, and he only occasionally has to deal with his neighbor Mrs. Wish’s cat-related disasters.

All of that changes, though, when a man appears in his office, asking for help to find his brother. Jem is convinced that something bad has happened to Benny, and he thinks Tean might be able to help. Tean isn’t sure, but he’s willing to try. After all, Jem is charming and sweet and surprisingly vulnerable. Oh. And hot.

Then things get strange: Phone calls with no one on the other end of the line; surveillance footage that shows what might be an abduction; a truck that tries to run Tean and Jem off the road. As Tean and Jem investigate, they realize that Benny might have stumbled onto a conspiracy and that someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.

But not everything is as it seems, and Tean suspects that Jem has been keeping secrets of his own.

©2020 Gregory Ashe (P)2021 Gregory Ashe

4.5 Tean and Jem stars

This was amazing and so much fun. JF Harding did an amazing job bringing the characters to life, especially while delivering Tean’s dry sarcastic humor that not many people get. I found myself loling so hard.

“People suck,” Tean said, letting Scipio off the leash. The dog park was busy on Friday afternoon, and Scipio ran off to join Bear, a hundred-and-thirty-pound St. Bernard who dwarfed Tean’s black Lab but had still become a regular playmate.
“Ok,” Hannah said with a sigh.

I agree with you Tean, People suck.

The Same Breath is another amazing series from Gregory Ashe, at this point I am just a stan and with this book my stan level has gone up. This one is set in Utah and I loved the scenery description.

MCs:

Tean – A wildlife geeky veterinarian, who loves his job and animals. I fell in love with Tean. His geeky, weird sense of humor and good heart drew me in. He is so naïve sometimes and very relatable. Damn! Tean got under my skin and is going to stay there permanently. He is just so lovable and adorable.

Jem – Jem! Jem! Where do I start? What a complex, heartbreaking, annoying, lovable character. One-minute I wanted to hug him, the next to strangle him. What a piece of work, but at the same time he is relatable too. Jem is your everyday guy, the one that your mom, sister, brother and everyone in your village warns you about, but you can’t hear them because he is broken and adorable.

The mystery was interesting, and kept me glued to the end. The characters we meet along the way were very interesting.

Tean and Jem are two opposites but they got some mad chemistry and work well together. I am really interested to see how their relationship will develop. Their conversations and trivias were fun and very enjoyable. I love that Jem got Tean’s sense of humor.

Ammom can just go to purgatory, that said, I did get why he was here and his character is not that bad once you understand where he is coming from.

This is a great start to what I hope will be an amazing series.

A copy of the Audiobook was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Nature Nerds!

Really glad I gave this audiobook another try - I love Tean!

Can we have more wildlife nature nerds as romantic leads, please? The outdoor elements and science facts sprinkled in were a great addition to the mystery and romance, and I'm very curious how the rest of the series will play out.

Wow another great book!

I just love this author, Every book is just so good! I instantly loved the MCs!! I also loved their chemistry. I felt it from their first interaction. The plot was great and I loved how the mystery concluded. Excited for the next book! Also J.F. Harding was awesome as usual!!

Practically perfect

I love everything about this story. Despite (or probably because of) the way both men are so damaged, Tean and Jem borrowed into my heart. The central mystery is so well laid out and the relationship between them supports it without overshadowing it. This book contains my absolute favorite "make-up" scene ever. Laugh out loud and heart-wrenching at the same time.

The narration was also spot on, with clear and distinct voices and a great performance. As much as I thought I hated a certain character before, actually hearing his words spoken in "his" voice made me want to bash my phone off the table.

Great start of a new series

This is the first book in a new series by Gregory Ashe. I am a big fan of this author’s Somerset & Hazard series. This book is a little different in tone; it is NOT a slow burn!! GA is known for his torture of his readers with the romance happening over multiple books, this is not that. The book still revolves around a really sad murder mystery, but the relationship between Jem and Tean happens, although complicated by a third presence. Jem & Tean are brought together through Jem’s love for his foster brother. Jem has had a very hard childhood and the bond he has with his brother, Benny, is beautiful. The fact that Jem could love despite all he has been through is a big part of his appeal.

Tean is a “fallen” Mormon (this is set in Salt Lake City, UT) who has “issues” of course. He is very dark, but not like Batman dark, like Deadpool dark. He is fond of spouting negative statistics about most things and is definitely a glass half empty guy. However, despite this veneer, he has a heart of gold and his banter with Jem is priceless. It is obvious Jem is what Tean needs, but things happen. Tean thinks he still loves his childhood secret love who is still in the closet Mormon and has a wife and kids. Like I said, it’s complicated. The mystery is very intriguing and I did not guess the killer because GA throughs a bunch of red herrings.

J.F. Harding delivers another fantastic performance and really brought the story and this romance to life. I look forward to the next audiobook in this series.

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

I enjoyed everything about this title and I can’t wait for the sequel.

The story line, the characters, the writing and the narrator made this title an enjoyable addictive listen. I can’t wait for the sequel!

Great listen

I love how real Gregory makes his characters. They are flawed and real. The narration is also on point.

My only issue is that the story moves sooo slow. Plus I'm not a fan of slow burns either. But I can't help listening to his books because they are so well written. I have to ask myself if I want to have to listen to several more books before the real couple actually gets together. Because my only issue with the realness of his stories is that I read to escape.

So all in all this is a great listen. However, if you're looking for HEA in the beginning or even HFN, don't expect it from this book.

They are the best!

Jem and Tean might be my favorite pair of characters I’ve ever read in any book!

Astounding!! I love these two!!

Wow!
Simply, wow!

These two characters are so very different from each other: one a wildlife vet, the other a grifter.

What they have in common is trying to find a missing man: a friend to one, a brother to the other.

The mystery of missing Benny leads them into dangerous territory. As much as this aspect of the story hooked me, what really drew me in was how the two men interacted with each other.

They were awkward, funny, real, and shielded. I kept waiting for secrets to drop, for tidbits of truth to come out & it had me on a wonderful edge.

Tean, the vet, made me laugh with his constant grim statistics. Jem, the con man, delighted me with his quick thinking. Both men held pain in their past, and they slowly, so very slowly let it out.

The two do solve the mystery. The two do get together. Tean does find out about Jem’s past. Do they get past it? In a way.

Are they still together at the end? As Jem said, like two rovers on the opposite sides of Mars.

Can I wait for the next audiobook? No!! I may have to read the next one straightaway!!

Things to watch out for:
1. Tean’s ex/not ex/but is married/and Mormon. He’s a piece of work.
2. Tean’s inability to say no.
3. Jem’s lies & cons.
4. Trivia.
5. SLT traffic.

Great performance by JF Harding, although a few times I had trouble telling Jem and Tean apart.

Awesome!

I keep coming back to this authors books because it’s hard to find anything about gay people that isn’t either too artsy or too pornographic. I like mysteries and like when the romantic interest isn’t straight, because I already have to live in the world. But his other series are so unrelentingly depressing that I keep saying I just don’t prefer this author. So glad I read this book!! I do like that he writes about the terrible things that are true in the world. But there is matter of fact-ness and humor in this book that reflect the resilience which can also be true. The characters are both flawed and likable and they show growth over the book without becoming perfect. The narration is excellent! Can’t wait for the next installment of the story.