Almost Easy

Plantain Series Novella 5.5

De: Kate Hastings, Amelia Oliver

Narrado por: JJ Jenness

Nolan Frederickson has watched everyone around him fall in love.

His younger siblings, his best friend; but love has always eluded him.

He thought he’d found the possibility of it once, experiencing a connection during secret encounters so intense, that years later, it still fuels his fantasies.

Content in every other aspect of his life, but tired of empty hook-ups and mediocre attraction, Nolan’s starting to think that maybe he’s just not meant to find "the one".

However, as they say, timing is every thing. What happens when the one that got away comes back? Does he take his shot at the future he’s always imagined, or is it just too much to hope for?

With external pressures, internal fears, and a meddling sister, one thing is certain; Nolan’s settled life is about to be turned upside down.

After all, things have never been dull in Plantain - why would now be any different?

©2017 Amelia Oliver (P)2018 Amelia Oliver

Sweet with a side of spice

Rupert and Nolan are the hot guys in this spicy story.
From dating Nolan 's sister to dating Nolan. These guys end up working together. Eventually they become so much more than friends.
We see their first date and a few hot weekends together.
Some minimal drama at work. Some more hot times. Then they work out their drama. Liked the story. Narrator was well suited for this audiobook.
A well done treat.

I Just Didn’t Feel Their Connection

I typically like Novellas, but in this case, I really didn’t feel the connection between Rupert and Nolan. I have read fast paced other novellas, but the way Rupert and Nolan were coming together felt rushed to me.

I also got really annoyed with one of the recurring plot points in the story which eventually came to a head and dealt with. I’m glad it ended the way it did but I think I’m tired of those plotlines in MM stories and would rather have universes where everyone’s happy for them, which luckily was most of the story here.


The narration was fine, although it was cool to have different sound effects going on which phone calls.




——————-
Disclaimer: I received a free code from freeaudiobookcodes.com. All opinions are my own.

Hell Yes!!

This was great! I didn’t realize this was an MM before I stated I was so pleasantly surprised:) Hot and sexy! They are so perfect for each other! Awesome job!

This is an unbiased review with a credit from audiobookboom

Love is found when you least expect it

Nolan works for his father's construction company. After failed relationships and one night stands, he is giving up on love. One day he goes to a meeting at the town hall to discuss a new project to renovate the local high school. His contact turns out to be Rupert, the one that got away. Rupert is several years younger and was closeted in high school. In fact, he dated Nolan's younger sister for 3 years. But Nolan saw through Rupert's veneer and knew that he was gay, too. He tried to act on it one evening, but friends interfered and it never happened. Now it is 7 years later, and he discovers that Rupert has (and had) feelings for him as well. They begin dating. Suddenly some odd things start happening. The plans for the school get switched, a strange car is seen driving past Nolan's house, and a homophobe is out to destroy Rupert.

An enjoyable romance with some steamy scenes. Plotted well and with straightforward and non-sappy or dorky dialogue. The narrator, JJ Jenness, was pretty good, but he had the tendency to make all the voices somewhat the same - all with the "gay accent" stereotype, including some of the female characters. I'm not sure if Mr. Jenness actually speaks this way, he kind of did in the introduction and the closing credits of the book, so maybe this is just him. As a gay man, I sometimes find it irritating when narrator's speak that way, assuming that most gays speak that way. That is a falsehood. Unless the character is a real flamer, most gay men speak normally as any other male does and it lends more credibility to not have the gay accent. I don't mean to diminish Mr. Jenness' talents - he was actually pretty good overall. I've heard worse!

This was ok

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not the audio, but I might recommend the book itself.

Would you be willing to try another book from Kate Hastings and Amelia Oliver ? Why or why not?

I would because I don't think this first foray was a fair shot at their writing.

Would you be willing to try another one of JJ Jenness’s performances?

I don't think so.

Could you see Almost Easy being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I could see this as a movie, but I have no idea who would play the characters.

Any additional comments?

A complimentary audio was provided via Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

First, I've not read the series this novella is part of, and I don't know if you need to since the story is really just about the MCs Nolan and Rupert, although the other series characters do show up (duh! lol).

Not only is this my first book by this author, but this is also my first book narrated by JJ Jenness. Which makes this novella a little hard to judge because overall this book was just okay for me. I decided to request a copy because I read so many great reviews about the series in general, and Almost Easy itself. I loved the excitement of other reviewers comments, but alas I can't say I felt the same. I feel the narration is what held me back from completely enjoying this story because the narrator didn't change his voice between the two MCs - they sounded exactly that same. I couldn't believe it. If ever a book could have benefited from dual narration, this would have been it. JJ didn't have a bad voice, and he did express emotion, etc, when the situation called for it. But I wanted the characters to be their own person, and unfortunately the narration didn't give me that. What I can say is he did bring extra sound effects to the story that I liked, such as when a character was talking on a cell phone, the tone (special techno mastery) came across in just the right way. I liked that it sounded completely different from a normal speaking voice. Well done with that!

As for the story itself, as I said earlier - it was okay for me. Had I been able to read this I think I could have bumped my rating up because then I could have brought out the characters voice that I wanted. It was hard to follow the storyline because I kept getting distracted by the voice speaking. But strictly speaking I think the story is good, if a little dramatic at the end. The whole thing with deliberate sabotage and the guy (Will?) who is really out to get Nolan and Rupert because they are gay and he doesn't like gay people (thinks they are deviants), that was a little much for me. Although it's a realistic standpoint of too many people in this world. I still hated him for what he did and didn't like that part of the story at all (it felt like it was there just to add extra drama).

Overall I rate this with 3 stars, with the narration at 2 stars.