Vespertine

De: Leta Blake, Indra Vaughn

Narrado por: Michael Ferraiuolo

Can a priest and a rock star obey love's call?

Seventeen years ago, Jasper Hendricks and Nicholas Blumfeld's childhood friendship turned into a secret, blissful love affair. They spent several idyllic months together until Jasper's calling to the Catholic priesthood became impossible to ignore. Left floundering, Nicky followed his own trajectory into rock stardom, but he never stopped looking back.

Today, Jasper pushes boundaries as an out, gay priest, working hard to help vulnerable LGBTQ youth. He's determined to bring change to the church and the world. Respected, admired, and settled in his skin, Jasper has long ignored his loneliness.

As Nico Blue, guitarist and songwriter for the band Vespertine, Nicky owns the hearts of millions. He and his bandmates have toured the world, lighting their fans on fire with their music. Numbed by drugs and fueled by simmering anger, Nicky feels completely alone. When Vespertine is forced to get sober, Nicky returns home to where it all started.

Jasper and Nicky's careers have ruled their lives since they parted as teens. When they come face to face again, they must choose between the past's lingering ghosts or the promise of a new future.

©2015 Leta Blake (P)2019 Leta Blake

blue oasis

i loved the book and i loved the audio just as much if not more.

Swoon!!

Gah Nicky, Gah Jazz! Love these characters individually and love them together. I was worried that ultimately the authors would either make fun of being religious or being atheist and would need to discredit one to make them come together. But they did it beautifully and it felt true to the experience of trying to navigate faith as an LGBTQ believer. Such an epic love story. Also the narrator was a rock star. His husky voice and chuckle for Nicky was MAGIC!

A heartfelt and emotional opposites attract! 🎸⛪️

This was such a sweet opposites attract romance!

A priest and a Rockstar don't have much common ground except that their hearts have been entwined since their childhood days.

17 years ago Jasper left Nico to follow his calling and become a priest.
Now Nico and Jasper are given a chance to reconnect and maybe rekindle the embers of their relationship.

Will they listen to their hearts this time round or will their careers tear them apart again?

This book is so well written and gave me all the feels.
The writing was engaging, touching and heartfelt.
The characters were real, relatable and well fleshed out.

Michael Ferraiuolo performed an amazing and compelling audio delivery.

A good story, but so painful

This was a really hard story to listen to. There was so much happening, so much suffering, so much grief and joy, so much love between the Reverend Jasper Hendricks and his old lover-turned-enemy-turned lover again Nicholas Blumfeld -- aka Nico Blue, guitarist and songwriter to the world-renowned band Vespertine. The story begins in so much fragility, so much woundedness, so much guilt and grief that it weighed me down and I almost gave up on it. And though there are many warm and happy moments, many hopeful and sweet moments, and some heated times, the dark overtones remain. I loved the way they came back to each other, and I appreciated the way the writer taught us about what it's like to be an addict in recovery. I listened to the end but never managed to completely shed the pain I felt at the beginning and all the way through. Michael Ferraiuolo did a great job of differentiating the characters and emoting at important points, whether in laughter or tears, whether in tender or heated moments.

Everything I could want

Wonderful emotional story. Great characters and relational development. Medium angst, just right. And of course outstanding narration by Michael F. A bit of a slow burn and It’s a long audio. I didn’t feel it was time wasted with filler. Highly recommended