Crossing Arizona

State of Us, Book 2

By: Bree Wiley

Narrated by: Jack Wesley, Nathaniel Ames

He was my home when I had nowhere else to go.

Xed

Matty's the only person who ever mattered to me. Since we were seven years old, he's been my rock, my anchor, and the light guiding me to safety when the world got too dark.

Then Hannah was born, and she became the glue holding us in place. It wasn't perfect, but it was ours—a life we built together.

Until Matty made a choice that shattered it all. Now, I'm adrift, trying to figure out if I can forgive the man who promised me forever but left me behind.

Matty

I swore I'd always protect him—Xed, my best friend, the person who knew me better than I knew myself. When Hannah came into our lives, I made another promise: to do everything in my power to keep them both safe. But protecting Hannah meant making an impossible choice, one that tore me away from the only man I've ever wanted.

I made a mistake. Now, I'll do whatever it takes to put the pieces back together…if I can keep from falling apart in the process.

Crossing Arizona is a full-length best friends-to-enemies-to-lovers MM romance featuring a queer awakening, black cat/golden retriever MCs, first times, and a guaranteed HEA. This is book two in the State of Us series. It may be enjoyed as a standalone, but is best enjoyed after Finding Delaware to avoid spoilers.

Contains mature content. A complete list of content warnings can be found on the author's website.

©2025 Bree Wiley (P)2025 Podium Audio

Matty And Xed Are Beautiful 😍

I am so glad that after a long, tortured, rocky road of a journey Xed and Matty finally found their way to each other. I found Matty adorable in that he sometimes cried after sex - I'm only sorry it was wasted with Valerie in their younger years. "Crossing Arizona" is a beautiful story and I enjoyed it more with the performances of Jack Wesley and Nathaniel Ames - both I've never come across until now. I will be sure to look out for more of their work. Can't wait for Logan and Salem's book next! Holy crap that bombshell at the end of Logan's epilogue is still reverberating in my mind.

4 Starz - worthy of a repeat listen

It Was Good

I didn't like this story as much as the first one. Finding Delaware wrapped around my heart and didn't let go. I did love the MCs in this book tho. The story felt drawn out a little to long and I would have really liked for them to have gotten together a bit earlier in the story. I don't love it when the MCs get their HEA after an entire story then it just ends. I like some story after the pairing but overall this was pretty good and I would recommend it.
I am bummed that the next story sounds to be a MF and I'll have to skip it since I don't read/listen to those anymore but that's my issue.
I was unfamiliar with both narrators and while they were both ok one was way to slow in his delivery. The pauses between pharases was painfully slow and I had to speed up the pace. It's rare I have to increase the speed on narration. Both voices were very pleasant to listen to however and for that I was thankful.

All the emotions

This story is a rollercoaster of emotions. dysfunctional relationships filled with drugs and booze, then throw in a baby. How there was ever a HEA is amazing. Narration was okay. I really enjoyed book one.

Series of misfits

I love the continuous story of the misfit of friends and hope we get all of their stories! I enjoyed Matty and Xed’s story, even though it was a rough one. Also that bonus epilogue 😳 I had to rewind it twice just to make sure I got the facts straight!

MATTY AND XED

The audio was as good as reading it! Maybe better! The emotions this dragged out of me....