Coming Home

Rock Bay, Book 1

By: M. J. O'Shea

Narrated by: Tom Vilot

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Tallis Carrington ruled Rock Bay with his gang of jocks and an iron fist-until a scandal destroyed his family's name. Ten years later Tallis is dead broke, newly homeless, and on the walk of shame to end all walks of shame.

He needs money and needs it fast, and Rock Bay is the only home he knows. But the people of Rock Bay haven't forgotten him-or the spoiled brat he used to be. The only person in town willing to overlook his past is Lex, the new coffee shop owner, who offers Tally a job even though he appears to despise Tally based on his reputation alone.

When Tally discovers his gorgeous boss is the kid he tortured back in high school, Lex's hot and cold routine finally makes sense. Now Tally has to pull out all the stops to prove he was never really the jerk he seemed to be. After all, if he can win Lex's heart, the rest of the town should be a piece of coffee cake.

©2012 M.J. O'Shea (P)2014 Dreamspinner Press

Childhood Bully becomes lover

I've always liked the idea of a childhood bully falling in love with the object of aggression but couldn't find any that drew my interest until I came across the ebook version of Coming Home. I was excited when I found that it had an audiobook version as well, but wasn't immediately drawn by the narrator's style.
Tom Vilot sounds disconcertingly like a text-to-speech program when he's reading the narrative. Which is puzzling because he actually does pretty well with the dialogue. So, stiff and monotone when reading narrative, but normal and expressive when reading dialogue. It was odd, but didn't put me off like Jeff Gelder because at least he wasn't monotone the entire time and spoke at a decent pace. There were a couple of instances that I noticed he said the wrong word (toilet paper instead of toilet water when he got to the part where Lex remembered the time Tally dunked his head in the toilet). Nothing too obvious, but I've read the ebook more than once so I noticed when the narrative deviated a bit.
Having said that, I still enjoyed this version since it provides me with a way to re-read the story without having to actually read it again. While not my ideal narrator, Tom Vilot wasn't unlistenable like Andrew Schwarz.
With regard to the story, there was good sexual tension in the beginning before the guys got together, the romance was slowly built, there were likable secondary characters and some good banter. This has rather explicit sex scenes in case that's not your thing.

Like A Delicious Brewed Coffee

Part fun and flirty, part heat and passion, and part sadness and healing, MJ O'Shea created a blended perfection much like the coffee brewed in Rock Bay's coffee shop. The two men's journey to their HEA is unique and the author allows readers to feel the experiences with them. Coming Home is an engaging m/m new adult romance that has all the qualities necessary for a delicious read... or listen to.

The audio book was well done by a narrator who provided a gentle voice to the story.

Nice O'Shea book!

I love getting a nice m/m romance that isn't too sappy and is filled with romance and drama!!!

This was a good listen... I enjoy it... and the smexy parts were nice too... This is about when bullies get their come-up-ins, and end up falling for the guy they bullied!!! I loved it...

The best part was the fight with the drunkard! LOL!!!

Nice...

Good credit or sale..

Narration was nice too

Nice surprise

I really enjoyed this mm romance based in the small NW town of Rock Bay. This is a great enemies to lover story that hit all the right cords with me. Tally was a bully in high school and tortured Lex. After losing everything and coming to terms with being gay, Tally returns to Rock Bay and meets Lex again. The story is a little angsty, but has a great supporting cast of characters including a kick ass supportive grandma. It takes various twists and turns to get to their HEA, some of which you might say "WTF?". But overall it is a great comfort read/listen as the narrator does an excellent job. It also introduces new characters that set up the next two books, which I will also get. Worth a credit.

Probably better as read...narrator ruined story

Good story, even though it was pretty frustrating at certain points. But the narrator totally took away from story. No change in tone, inflection, character differentiation .. Just monotone with disregard to punctuation.

Meh. There is Worse 'Gay Fiction' You Could Read

Would you try another book from M. J. O'Shea and/or Tom Vilot?

possibly, if the price was right; though there were a few too many - long and drawn out - sex scenes, and some of the characters make ridiculously out of character choices, it wasn't a bad story.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

most: the growth of the main characters.least: the heavy handed and over-written porn scenes.

Did Tom Vilot do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

yes, though his 'narrator voice' is a bit too monotone.

Do you think Coming Home needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

NEEDS? no. but another one wouldn't be a terrible idea.

Very good m/m novel

Hott guys, steamy sex scenes and delicious coffee what more could we ask for!! XD well written and an enticing plot would definitely read again.