Beyond the Bright Lights

By: Settle Myer

Narrated by: Avery Hackstedde, Deena Ingley

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

LANA

It's been 18 years since I lost my fiancé, and I'm struggling to move on. I grieved him when he died, then grieved him again when his sister wrote a book about his inspiring life a few years later. Now that book is becoming a movie, and I'm about to grieve him for a third time.

To make matters worse, the actor cast to portray the love of my life on the big screen just walked into my bar, begging me to help him with the role.

"Help me become Tyler Taylor."

He's younger than me and infuriating, but I agree to help him. I have to. For Tyler.

I can't let Mylan Andrews mess this up because he's battling his demons, and I’m worried he can’t win.

MYLAN

I’m a 25-year-old alcoholic and addict. I just got out of rehab, and this movie is my last chance to save my career. Then I meet her.

Lana Young is older, gorgeous, and she's the key to helping me with this role. Every day we're together, my attraction to her grows stronger.

Could she be the one to help me win back control of my life?

For her to consider me for her future, she must first move on from her past.

Beyond the Bright Lights is a reverse age-gap, plus-size romance. My female main character is 15 years older than my male main character.

Please note: This book deals with a lot of tough topics which are listed below—some may include spoilers.

Grief, the death of a loved one, terminal illness, sexual assault, domestic abuse of a child and spouse, drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal thoughts, depression, miscarriage, fatphobia, and homophobia.

©2022 Settle Myer (P)2023 Settle Myer

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Well Done

This audiobook was fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of it. Duet and full cast production audios are just my favorite. It really brings the story to life, and I truly feel that the narrators did just that. I got a chance to watch an interview with the author and she talked about how this is the first audiobook that the two narrators did and wow. They are so amazing and I hope that she continues to work with them. They bought such life to this beautifully well written love story. This beautiful love story includes a lot of heavy topics, and I think that the narrators handle the grief, addiction, and pain so well. I do not generally like to read contemporary romance that has such a heavy topic, I tend to shy away from them, but being that this book was chosen for a book club inevitably I would have to read this book. But once I heard the audiobook in the sample, I got really excited and I got to say I think the audiobook made this book so much easier to digest and to really deal with just those heavy topics. This book beautifully written, and I look so forward to more books from this author, and I look forward to listening to more of her audiobooks if she publishes it.

A must-read

This was so good! I loved every minute of it. I listened to the audiobook and the dual performance felt like watching a movie, highly recommended!

Settle did a great job of weaving in the grief and struggles of each character in a way that was meaningful and realistic but didn’t overwhelm the reader (at least for me, I know these topics will impact readers differently depending on their own experiences and triggers —check the content warnings for sure).

I really enjoyed the plus size representation, Lana has embraced her body and I appreciated that it wasn’t a point of character development for her in the book. Of course, dating an actor her size did come up from external forces, but it wasn’t over the top or triggering (for me at least).

If you want a romance that deals with some heavier topics and has a rich, emotional story, this may be the book for you.

fun heart warming

loved it, se** story, sassy,good read. would read again and would more form this author.

The audio performance was great

I love the story and I truly enjoy how both narrators voices are in every part of the story,when they are having conversations......I wish more audiobooks would do that it was very enjoyable ❤️❤️❤️🤗

Lost love story in the movies

Lana has not moved on from her first love even though he died 18 years ago. He has demons he can’t face. Will the actor be the reason she moves on?

This audio right here

Settle's writing, superb. Lana and Mylan hooked me instantly, but Deena and Avery swept me up into their reality of the audible world. I loved every minute. Viva La Plus size and Age gap romance!!!

Must Read!

*Spoilers*

The love story, the spice, and the sassyness were all amazing, but what I truly loved about this story was the way that the addition, truama, and grief were handled.

I love how Mylan finally realized that he needed to do it for himself and not anyone else. He took the time he needed to work through his demons and work on himself. That right there 👏👏👏

Must listen!

Where to begin…Settle Myer is so incredibly GIFTED at crafting these complex characters that feel so real. And the voice actors were cast so perfectly for this book, I felt like I was inside a movie. Such an amazing story with back stories and trauma and addiction that were handled so beautifully and with care. Can’t recommend this book enough. It made me feel all of the emotions. Plus size representation and a dynamic coupling I’ll most definitely be listening again and wishing for the next book to be turned into audio.

10/10!

I love audiobooks because they help me focus while I’m reading. This book has duet narration so it was 10 times better and it brought the scenes to life even more. The story is amazing and the narrators did an excellent job.

One of the best

I loved the voices and the story made me laugh and cry that epilogue though!!!