Anteros' Return

Zelus U Series: Prequel

De: Samantha Jayne

Narrado por: Kiri Savage, Sean Masters

Emily:

Falling for my brother’s best friend wasn’t a choice.

He left and never looked back.

While he was basking in the glory of his football career, I was busy single handedly raising our son.

Now, after seven years of learning how to be the perfect mum, I faltered the second I came face to face with Beckett Ashmore, the guy that was my first everything was now the guy claiming he didn’t know.

Beckett:

Football was my life until I met Emily Ryton, my best friend’s sister.

She became more to me than just a girl.

She became the love of my life.

Now, after seven years, I finally see her again and it’s as if time stands still, causing me to relive all the happy memories we had.

That is until I learned someone was trying their damndest to keep us apart, by keeping the secret of all secrets from me…

I had a son.

And now not even the wrath of god will keep me away from them.

*Anteros' Return is a sweet Brother's best friend, second chance, sports standalone romance with a HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.

©2025 Samantha Jayne (P)2025 Samantha Jayne, Bluenose Audio

Heartwarming Second Chance Romance with Outstanding Narration!

Anteros’ Return, written by Samantha Jayne, is the first audiobook in and the prequel to the Zelus U series. This is an emotional and gloriously swoony second chance romance. It’s also fairly low angst despite including a secret baby storyline. Beckett leaves his girlfriend and the love of his life, Emily, to play professional football (soccer to us U.S. folks), never knowing she was pregnant with his child. Thanks to a friend’s betrayal and a lot of miscommunication, he thought she’d moved on without him, and she thought he wanted nothing to do with her or their child. Neither ever really forgets or gets over the other, though. And years later, when Beckett returns to his hometown to recuperate after an injury, he unknowingly meets his son, Liam, while coaching a youth football team. When the boy is openly hostile towards him for no apparent reason, he winds up on Emily’s doorstep, and eventually all is revealed. Sparks still fly between them, but Emily is not quite ready to risk her heart again with Beckett, even though she is fully committed to letting him build a relationship with his son. Beckett is determined to get her back, though, and to have the family with her and Liam that they were all so viciously robbed of. And that journey is the true magic of this story. The author masterfully weaves in flashbacks of the past, giving us beautiful snapshots of the beginning of their love story juxtaposed with the more complex and fraught version of that same love in the present. And my heart absolutely melted watching Beckett and Liam truly become father and son. I loved everything about this story, from the sweetly hopeful and inspiring plot to the layered and complex characters that you can’t help but be drawn in by.

Further enhancing this wonderful romance is the duet-style narration from the talented duo of Kiri Savage and Sean Masters. Kiri Savage was a new voice for me, but she excelled in her emotional portrayal of Emily, flawlessly giving us the sweetly soft-spoken naivety of young Emily along with the independence and fierceness of the more mature woman and mother. And Sean Masters delivers his usual excellence in his performance of Beckett, effortlessly showing us this character’s strength, passion, vulnerability, and heart. His portrayal of Liam is also just too sweet for words. In bringing this beautifully heartwarming story to life, both voice actors make it an absolute joy for the lucky listener.

second chance & secret child

Beckett returns to his hometown town while recovering from a sports injury. It doesn't take him long to discover the girl he left behind has a son, HIS son. Beckett immediately jumps in to getting to know Liam while trying to win back his girl.

Second chance is my jam! Add in a secret kid with the one and only love, swoon! Love the dual timeline with the flashbacks to their young love.

Shout out to Emily's brother for having her back and being the best uncle to Liam.

Audiobook is narrated in duet by Kiri Svage and Sean Masters. Kirk is a new to me narrator and was great. Sean's accent was spectacular.

3.5 stars rounded up

Second-chance romance is always hit-or-miss for me, especially when there’s a child involved. I need a solid, believable reason for the separation. In this case, the main characters were kept apart by lies rather than their own choices. And while the whole situation could have been avoided if they’d just talked, I still understood why they didn’t.

I’ll be honest, I picked this up because I adore Sean Masters' narrations, and I’m so glad I did. He was fantastic as Beckett, and Kiri Savage brought Emily to life beautifully. Add in the British accents, and this was a pitch-perfect audio experience.

Fear of Striking Out

Anteros’ Return is a second chance sports romance full of heartache, honesty, determination, and the purest love! The raw emotions felt real and so relatable. To see how one person’s selfish actions have such a huge ripple effect that impacts into life changing heartbreaking events. I loved the ease in which the author balanced the story between the past and present in this dual timeline. This romance also reminded me of a quote which was “never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” Our MMC, Beckett proved this quote to be true in every sense in order to find his way back to his one true love! Our FMC, Emily, is a beautiful human being inside and out! This woman is resilient and a fierce mamma bear that will sacrifice anything for her baby boy!
Narrators Sean Masters and Kiri Savage gave an authentic performance that held my attention from beginning to end. I can’t see anyone else embodying these roles and characters!

Turn up the volume on this audiobook!

Emily is a great mom to Liam. Liam is a good kid, even if he seemed like he had a chip on his shoulder. He really loves and cares for his mom. Even before the truth of why Beckett left Emily, all the years ago, I never could "hate" him. He is a good guy. The scenes that featured Emily and Beckett when they were younger were some of my favorites and where the emotions ran high.

This book is my first introduction to author, Samantha Jayne. I have to say that after listening to the audiobook, I will be checking out more books by this author. I was instantly hooked. This is an emotional read and narrators, Kiri Savage and Sean Masters both did amazing jobs of invoking these emotions and letting them be felt. I have listened to several books by Sean, but this is my first time with Kiri. She is great. I loved her voice. Turn up the volume on this audiobook!