Follows with Intent

Hazardverse: Sidetracks

De: Gregory Ashe

Narrado por: Kale Williams

Keeping your eye on the prize isn’t always a good thing.

Nico knows he’s difficult; he has the string of exes to prove it. But staying sharp was the only way to stay safe in the cutthroat world of modeling, and it turns out, graduate school isn’t any gentler. Career first. Boys…later.

Jadon knows he’s burning out; his partner at the Metropolitan Police is more than happy to remind him of that fact. But the last time he let himself get distracted, people died, and he’s not going to let it happen again. And Nico was nothing but a distraction.

When a chance encounter brings them together again, Nico isn’t interested in apologies, and Jadon isn’t interested in Nico—or at least, that’s what he tells himself. But when the stalker Jadon has been trying to catch marks Nico as his next target, they have no choice but to stick together. And the longer they’re together, the more they realize that what they want might not be what they need.

©2024 Gregory Ashe (P)2025 Gregory Ashe

Loved Nico’s Story 🥰

Awww Mr. Ashe! This was a great story with a very good mystery as well. Nico is excited to attend a seminar which will propel his career. Right from the beginning there is an appearance from Emery and it’s pleasant to see how much he cares for the people around him, albeit in his cranky manner. Upon arrival, we are introduced to several characters, all unique in their own way that sheds light on the mystery as well. As there are a string of occurrences on the campus of the seminar, Jayden is the local detective assigned to the case. Jadon has his own circumstances which makes solving this case all more important. Throw in an appearance from North & Shaw and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to continue to cross characters from other series. This is a nice slow build up to Nico and Jayden’s ‘will they / won’t they’ and it’s worth the listen to see how it plays out.
The narration is top notch and I was pleasantly surprised by how well each voice was distinguishable. Overall, this is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ listen.

Surprised how much I liked it!

4.5
Honestly I’m surprised by how much I loved this… Jaden and Nico are fantastic for each other. Thank the gods Nico has grown up since we first met him, cause it’s really only in series 3 of H&S I stopped wanting him ☠️. I found the mystery in this on the lighter side, while keeping me interested. I did actually guess who it was, but I think Greg did a good job trying to throw the reader off 😂 but the ending was *chefs kiss*.

I would actually read more of these two… shocking.

Meh…Just Okay…

So, I over-the-top LOVED everything that I’ve listened to in the HAZARDVERSE. This sidetrack, not so much. Thank goodness for North & Shaw! They brought the entertainment.

I mean…If there were an award for creator of the most annoying character, good or bad, it would go to Gregory Ashe for creating Nico…There were so very many horrible, nefarious, dastardly, annoying characters in all the series…Nico stands out head and shoulders above the rest - for making me want to pull my hair out! He takes the cake, the baker, the oven, the kitchen…you get me? Throughout the entire HAZARDVERSE. Good grief! *GIANT. EYE. ROLL.*

Besides that…the story was okay.

The narration was not great. I always hear a bit too much depression in Kale’s voice…and while it works in most places with a character like Nico (and even Jadon, all things considered), it kind of goes too far…especially for the in-brain chatter…

Like I’ve said…Gregory Ashe is a great writer and storyteller. This one was just a bit disappointing to me.

It’s a full story from the HAZARDVERSE though, so give it a shot!

Enjoy!💖

Romantic suspense at its best!

The day we welcome Kale Williams to the exclusive club of Hazardverse Narrators has arrived at last!

This new installment to Hazardverse: Sidetracks features my personal favorite “pair the spares” trope with Nico (Hazard’s ex) and Jadon (Shaw’s ex) at the helm. To think #Jaco started off as a fan favorite coupling that picked up traction until GA, the most generous writer on the planet that he is, delivered. The true embodiment of "ask and you shall receive."

After witnessing their first meeting in the flash piece “Meet (Not Cute)” in Tangents: Volume 1, I was absolutely buzzing to see what would become of these two in the months that followed. So as soon as Follows with Intent began its grand serialization over on Advanced Ashochism, I was ready to withstand week-long intervals between chapters and his infamous cliffhangers for my Jaco fix. Rereading this on audio added a dynamic layer that only Kale Williams could deliver!

**Disclaimer: If you're a stickler for spoilers and reading orders, keep in mind this book does contain major spoilers re: the Big Bads in Borealis Investigations & Hazard and Somerset: A Union of Swords.

SO GOOD! SO GREGORY!

I have to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect when reading my first Gregory Ashe romance - but of course, it didn’t disappoint AT ALL! There was the same snark, banter, heart wrenching character development, lush anecdotes about the sky, the weather, the trees - I swear Gregory gives trees more personality than people I’ve met in real life! An immediate favorite I’m adding to my list of comfort reads.

Do be mindful, as always, of TW for this - blood, ED, SA, PTSD, trauma, and homophobia.

Finally, Nico's story

I had been hoping for this book since the first book in the Hazard & Somerset: Arrows in the Hand series. I had wanted a book about Nico so much, and I was lucky enough that the romantic interest happened to be a side character in Gregory Ashe’s Borealis Investigations series. It was like a 2 for 1 deal.

Nico was a young man who had started dating Hazard in the very first H&S series. He was boisterous, sometimes over the top, and I think he was looking for a “daddy.” Watching his interactions with Hazard in the beginning of this book made me so glad that their romantic/sexual relationship ended fairly quickly. The overprotective, fatherly way that Hazard treated Nico would have seemed a bit creepy to me, had it lasted. Nico is getting out of town to attend a theological seminar at Chouteau college in order to get his degree. While Nico was an unapologetic man-whore in the first series, there have been a lot of changes in him. He questions all of his desires and impulses as if he can’t trust anything his body tells him. He doesn’t have trust in too much actually. He strives to be demure and unnoticeable and fights an eating disorder left over from his modeling career. All that is to say that he has so much more dimension than I had come to expect.

Choteau college must be near or in St. Louis, since that is where Jadon works as a police officer. Like Nico, he dated a main character in a previous series. Jadon and Shaw’s relationship wasn’t as dramatic as Nico’s was with Hazard, but it still ended quickly, and he occasionally works with Shaw and his business and romantic partner North. Jadon has some internalized angst after not realizing that his previous work partner was a murderer. It seems like he is trying to overachieve at his job in order to make up for his naivety. I don’t know that I connected with him as much as Nico, but it was nice to see him as a possible love interest.

Jadon has been following some leads on attacks that were happening to students at the college. At that point, it doesn’t seem like there had been any fatalities, but the attacker was upping his game. And though this seminar Nico is at takes place while the regular semester is out, Jadon is vigilant, especially with Nico in town. It seems that they might have had something in the past that happened under my nose, or off page that I didn’t know about. After ghosting Nico, Jadon still feels attraction for him and protective of him. Not in the creepy “daddy” way, though, phew! But besides some lingering hurt over being ghosted, Nico doesn’t know if he can trust Jadon, and he’s hellbent on proving that he can handle life without someone to help him with every little thing. There isn’t a ton of warm and fuzzy feelings between them, and I couldn’t help but not feel the connection between them as much as I have some of the author’s other pairings.

Well Jadon’s suspicions pay off as Nico starts to feel like someone is following him and someone tries to grab him on the street. The suspects for the would-be attacker are many. And though I tried to guess, I found myself guessing wrongly most of the time. I am a fan of how the author equally gives equal time and attention to the mystery in his books as the slow burn romances. Kale Williams was a new narrator for this author, but I have enjoyed several of his works in the past and thought he was a great fit for Jadon and Nico. It was a great book and I can’t wait for more stories in the Hazardverse world.

A real treat that felt too short

I haven't read this in ebook format, so the audio version was entirely new to me. I love Kale Williams's narrations, although I'll never be able to hear him and not envision Larkin and Doyle (especially Ira). And then I start hearing the supporting characters as if they were the supporting characters from the Memento Mori books, too. Is that just me? At any rate, that was a tiny bit distracting and meant I kept picturing Jadon as much older than he is. C'est la vie.

The story was fun, and it made me want to go back and reread (or listen to) the North and Shaw books to get a better handle on Jadon. I have to admit that my utter favorite parts were Emery's appearances/mentions. That's 24-karat gold right there.

Overall, this was a very solid listen, though definitely not as intense and soul-searing as Greg's series.

My thanks to the author for a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

So Much Fun!! 😍😍

I am loving these side trips in the Hazardverse! 👏👏 Well done, Gregory Ashe! In this one we see Nico and Jayden (Shaw’s ex) give it a second go with a little bit of mystery (someone is following Nico around), a little bit of existentialism, and a little bit of love.

If you’re a fan of Hazard & Somerset, and North & Shaw, this standalone is a must! If you’re new to them, this is a great intro to their world!

Great story. Great narration.

Kale Williams narrating a story about Nico and Jadon… Sigh. This is my happy place. When I discovered that Kale Williams, one of my favorite narrators, would be reading a book written by Gregory Ashe, one of my favorite authors, I decided to wait for the narration. Kale Williams’ smooth voice and excellent narrative pacing are talents befitting a romantic mystery by Gregory Ashe, who is exceptional at building a captivating plot.

This book follows the connection between Jadon from the Borealis series and Nico from the Hazard and Somerset series. You don’t need to read everything in those series, but this book will have more impact if you are familiar with the backstory of Jadon and Nico, two remarkable side characters. This book turns the tables and makes North and Emery from the aforementioned series the aggravating side characters while Nico and Jadon take center stage. In typical Gregory Ashe plotting fashion, there is a mystery to solve, but now the mystery is more of a background story in the romantic drama between Nico and Jadon. The twists and turns of their building relationship match the erratic path of the case Jadon is trying to solve. Both the relationship and the case result in some breath-stopping moments. This is a romance, so things work out...mostly. Honestly, it’s a Gregory Ashe story. Expect some tense moments, great narration, and a few gasp-inducing scenes in this adventure.

Nico & Jaden"s Book

This is a wonderful stand-alone book based in the Hazard & Somerset AND Shaw & North Universe. This is Nico and Jaden’s book. Although not strictly necessary to have read both series to enjoy this book, it really helps with the emotional context. We recently know Nico as Emery Hazard’s assistant, but before that he was Emery’s boyfriend before John Henry. We know Jaden from the Shaw & North Borealis series. Jaden dated and was “in love” with Shaw when the boys were on a “break.” Both these men finally get their HEA.

We start the book with Emery dropping Nico off at a philosophy seminar at a college in pursuit of his PhD. He has come a LONG way from his underwear model days! Jaden is also there to attend a LGBT+ in law enforcement seminar. Both men have not fully recovered from their respective traumas and pursued a relationship in the intervening years that didn’t work out. Now they are thrust together with a serial rapist on campus. Jaden tries to warn and protect Nico as Jaden pursues the rapist, but Nico is insecure and thinks Jaden is just asserting authority over him. Bad things happen. The mystery is good and the growth in both men is realistic. There are cameos from both series which are hysterical.

Kale Williams does his usual amazing performance that really brings these men to life. Highly recommend if you are a fan of either series.

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