Between Never and Forever

The Hometown Heartless

By: Brit Benson

Narrated by: Angelina Rocca, Jacob Morgan

Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

She was the first rule I ever broke. She’ll be the last.

In the beginning, there was Savannah Shaw. Teasing me with a mischievous, merciless grin by day. Crawling through my window with tear-stained cheeks by night.

I was ordered to avoid her. Lectured on her misdeeds. Forbidden from seeing her. But my need to protect her was innate. So natural I never questioned it. So visceral I couldn’t fight it.

She was the first rule I ever broke, and it’s why I lost her the first time.

Now, out of nowhere, there is Sav Loveless. World famous frontwoman for The Hometown Heartless, Hollywood’s newest up-and-coming film star, and my daughter’s idol.

Her reputation for trouble precedes her, but the celebrity who sets foot in my small town is no longer a girl in need of protection. She’s a woman who has saved herself, and this time, it’s my life that’s falling apart.

Maintaining the distance between us is imperative, but everything about her pulls at every part of me. My need to touch her clouds my logic. My need to have her, to own her, to love her.

She’ll be the last rule I ever break, but this time, it will be to keep her.

****

Between Never and Forever is an angsty and spicy standalone contemporary romance.

It follows rockstar, single father, small town, and second chance tropes, and has a guaranteed HEA.

©2023 Brit Benson Books (P)2023 Brit Benson Books

♾️⭐️

This book is incredible!
I have been waiting for this audibook since I found out who the narrators were going to be, but I didn’t realize what a chokehold this book would have on me.

Listening to Between Never and Forever by Brit Benson will have your heart beating, fluttering and giving you all the feels for every possible minute that you can’t do anything else but focus on every word of it. The narration makes you feel every single emotion possible!
Literal gold!!

God, I love Jacob Morgan,
His voice is so f*cking sincere and I can feel his emotion and words so deeply.

Angelina Rocca
I love her as a badass character you can feel the confidence thru her voice. She will also steamroll you to tears with every ounce of emotion when needed.
Just incredible.

This book has everything, childhood heartbreak and sadness at home. Overcoming the terrible cards you were delt with in life, finding love and having to choose between it and something else. Betrayal yet never knowing the real reason behind it all and the miscommunications. Finding that love you lost, trying to hold on to it but not wanting to take away from the goals you worked so hard for, navigating careers, being a single parent And ultimately never settling for anything other than that ONE TRUE EPIC heart pounding life altering love of your life!

The words I say will not do this audiobook justice. It’s beautiful.

Fantastic duet narration and the singing 😍!

I want to be in Levi Cooper's universe! Between Never and Forever by Brit Benson was an emotional and heartfelt second-chance romance that completely shattered my soul and pieced it beautifully back together. Savannah and Levi's journey to HEA was full of heartbreaking twists and swoony turns that simply sang to every part of me.

Angelina Rocca and Jacob Morgan perform this audiobook in duet-style narration. Wow! These two mesmerized me with their stunning performances. Angelina's lilting voice portrayed Savannah's dark and haunting past along with her passionate and dedicated future in a powerful performance. Plus, I was completely captivated by her singing! (Yes, lady!) Jacob's low, soothing tone exuded all the charismatic and swoon-worthy qualities Levi Cooper had to offer. (Even when he was a bit grumpy.) Plus, both narrators conveyed the long, lingering fiery hot chemistry between Savannah and Levi perfectly!

Overall, I LOVED this book. If you are a fan of a second chance romance with a hot broody single dad, a fiercely determined rockstar heroine, small NC coastal towns, childhood friends, traumatic pasts, steamy first times, sentimental music, movie sets, a feisty little girl, guitar lessons, movie sets, protective bodyguards, paparazzi, secrets, danger, concerts to remember, starting again, more spicy times, and a HEA that will sing to your heart, then you will love Savannah and Levi’s's story. I always look forward to more from Brit Benson.

Absolutely amazing

The story and narrators were amazing and the spice was soooo nice!!!! Highly recommend as a palate cleanser between series.

Brit Benson's books are meant to be listened to!

Author Brit Benson is magical. That has to be the explanation. How else could she tell you before you even read a single word that the HEA is guaranteed yet have you feel every angsty moment, experience every bit of hurt, anger, despair, fear and uncertainty as if you are living it? Your brain doesn’t quite believe that HEA is coming but there’s a little sparkle of hope here and there so you keep reading (or listening) and then you reach a point where you have to finish and finish now, you have to know, to see that HEA for yourself. You can’t put the book down – or rip those earbuds from your ears; everything else in your life fades into the background until you can sigh and say, “Finally.”

Speaking of listening, Benson’s books are made to be heard. The thrills on the written page are amplified in the audiobook. The spice is spicier, if that is even possible. And the narration for Between Never and Forever is superb. I have a couple of absolute favorite narrators and Jacob Morgan is one of them. (If you listen to a lot of spicy audiobooks you probably know who the other one is.) And after listening to Between Never and Forever I’m adding Angelina Rocca to that list. The duet narration conveys all the emotions, the struggles, the frustrations and perfectly shows how they’ve grown and changed and yet still feel that desire, that need, that longing. Bonus: Narrator Angelina Rocca composed the music and she provides a shout out to Jeff Gunn for the great guitar work.


Both Levi and Sav have had rough early lives. Very different but equally hard. Levi is such a good guy, tries to do what’s right, tries to satisfy his rigid, sanctimonious parents, tries to follow the rules. But he can’t follow any rules that prevent him from trying to protect Savannah. In the beginning he can’t really describe what he feels for her except that from the first time they met as children he was drawn to her, needed to take care of her, to just be there. Savannah’s life is brutal, dangerous heartbreaking. Her mother is a drug addict who doesn’t protect her daughter. When they are 15 years old Levi can’t stand to just watch her pain anymore and tries to take action to help, tries to use the system he thinks is in place to provide that help. Savannah knows better. She’s an outcast and all that system wants to do is try to force her to conform. She won’t receive help; she’ll just receive more discipline and more rules. She can’t take it and leaves. Ironic that that is when they finally realize there might be a spark there between them. Levi doesn’t expect to ever see her again.

But there’s this thing called Fate. And Fate has big plans for these two. Big plans, it seems, to torture and torment them. To bring them together – almost – and then apart. To be betrayed, deceived. They’ve changed. Sav’s a rockstar now. Levi’s a single dad with a genius precocious daughter with big, big, big secrets. But what was a spark is now a flame that could either keep them warm and cozy forever or consume them.

Between Never and Forever is amazing. It’s sweet and romantic and hard and edgy all at the same time. Levi is a little tougher than he was years ago but he’s still so lovable, such a fantastic father, such a good friend and boss. Sav has had some tough times and is trying so hard to make sure the changes she worked so hard for stick. She can’t lose her music but she can’t lose Levi again either.

Can they really make it this time around or has too much happened? Levi has those secrets and author Benson springs a few surprises on us as well. Excellent, compelling, satisfying from start to finish, perfect narration, sweetness made sublime with the addition of the scorching hot spice. I recommend this book without hesitation and can’t wait to get my ears on the next thing this author writes. I was given a free audiobook via Home Cooked Books. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

And surprise! There is an entertaining little bonus extended epilogue on the author’s website. Be sure to check that out, too.

Word of the day: Phenomenal

You know that feeling you get when you read a book and you just KNOW this book was meant to be read by you at that exact time? That’s how I feel right now. I finished this book days ago and I’m still processing everything. I recently fell into the world of Brit Benson and have absolutely no regrets for the tears and heartbreak the books might have caused. Because Brit makes it all better. This book in particular had me sobbing for the simplest things, only because of how real it all was. When you read this book you’re not just looking through the looking glass. You’re transported. I became Sav, I became Levi. I watched a life I’ve never lived happen right in front of me. My heart shattered for these two in so many ways. The universe can be an absolute asshole and these two still made it their bitch. I highly recommend going in blind but if you want some tropes here they are:
Childhood friends, to lovers, to enemies, to lovers
Rockstar/movie star romance
Single dad
He’s giving Noah from the notebook
The past can come back to haunt you

I cannot recommend this book enough! The audio is an absolute masterpiece! Duet narration and the Female narrator even sings! Go read/listen to it!!

WOW

This was a show stopper. I was blown away by the performance by Angelina and Jacob. You can feel every bit of emotion that Britt wrote.

Fantastic!!!

This is a new author and female narrator for me, but I loved them both. Jacob Morgan has always been a favorite narrator of mine and did an amazing job as well. The story has everything I like in a romance. Strong characters, suspense, twists and turns and of course hot chemistry between the main characters. What I loved about this audio was being able to hear parts of the song being sung. It really added to the enjoyment of the story.

Rockstar Romance

4.5/5 ⭐️
3/5 🌶️

Tropes:
~ Rockstar romance
~ Second chance
~ Small town
~ Single dad

These two grew up being neighbors so this is also kind of childhood friends to lovers as well.. ;) Savannah comes from a troubled home where she isn't treated well or taken care of, whereas Levi comes from a very religious household. They are very much opposites.

One night Sav sneaks into Levi's room (as she usually does) but this time it isn't to just escape and sleep over in his bed, but she tells him she has to leave town and get away from her mom and her boyfriend.

Levi's parents do not agree with him spending time with her and have always told him to stay away from her.

These two run into each other again later on when Sav is working as a dancer. Levi is there with some of his friends and they wind up going home together. They share their feelings for one another and Levi thinks that they will be together finally. Unfortunately that isn't how things turn out and the two are separated again.

Years go by and Sav becomes a famous rockstar. Levi ends up having a daughter so life for the two of them have gone in total opposite directions, once again.

The cute part is that Levi's daughter is a huge fan of Savannah and her band. Which of course, drives Levi insane because he doesn't want to hear the name Sav ever again, but is constantly stuck hearing about her in tabloids and on the news.. as well as from his daughter.

These two end up running into each other again on a movie set that Levi helped build and things basically take off from there. There is a lot of push and pull in this book which made it very angsty.

I felt all of the emotions with this one which I really enjoy! 😊

I listened to this book on audio and think the narrators did such a fantastic job. Highly recommend checking out the audiobook if you enjoy those.

Amazing narration

Rick star, small town grump, second chance, single dad and a plot twist. This would probably be an ok read for me but the audio is phenomenal
Jacob Morgan and Angelina Rocca are in my top 5 favorite narrators, and I’ll pretty much listen to anything the’ve narrated!

Britt did a great job with this storyline that kept me engaged all the way through the book.

Loved everything about it

I just loved this story and I will listen to anything with Jacob Morgan as a narrator. story had great twists and turns, decent amount of smut (tho I always want more), songs, and a great HEA