Dear Agony

A Novel

De: Georgia Cates

Narrado por: Kyle Munley, Mia Gaskin

Dear Agony,

You've been my shadow, following me through childhood - filling my days and nights with terror and uncertainty. You cleverly disguised yourself as some form of pain or suffering as I grew into a young woman. We were unwavering companions...until I severed our ties.

I traded homelessness on the streets of New Orleans for a luxurious bed covered by the finest linens. I traded Dumpster diving for dinner in the finest restaurants. I traded myself to a stranger - Bastien Pascal.

I have a good life within my platonic and mutually beneficial companionship with Bash.

He's my friend. My mentor. My roommate.

Until everything changes.

I'm not supposed to get goose bumps when his hand brushes my skin.

I'm not supposed to be eager for his soothing touch following one of my nightmares.

I'm not supposed to think about what might happen if I reached out to him in the darkness.

Falling in love with him? Preposterous...unavoidable. Agony, why are you back with a vengeance to rob me of this life I've come to love so dearly?

I'm finally happy. Don't ruin this for me.

Always yours,

Rose

In this epic love story, Dear Agony forges a connection between an unlikely pair - a beautiful rose entwined in barbed wire and a shipwreck sinking into the darkest depths of the ocean. This agonizing romantic novel poses some gut-wrenching questions: What does a woman do when the man she loves is planning his own demise? And how far will she go to give him something to live for?

©2017 Georgia Cates (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Bastien and Rose

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Dear Agony by Georgia Cates. Audiobook review. Dual POV. Dual narration. Age gap/slow burn standalone. It's listed as 9 hours 8 minutes; I listened at speed 2.50 for 3 hours 39 minutes. Narrators Kyle Munley and Mia Gaskin both adopted light easy to understand Cajun accents. Content warnings: homelessness; paid companionship/prostitution; h's mom was r@ped by her stepfather and he is h's father; r@pe of a special needs teenager/pregnancy; h's mom was a drug addict; H's brother died of cancer; h was drugged and r@ped at a party as a teenager; H has ALS and is su¡c¡dal; a side character had an abort¡on and then was dumped by her boyfriend; unplanned pregnancy; and a premature placenta abruption, emergency cesarean.

Location: New Orleans, LA

Rose Middleton (19, 22, 23, 24; aka baby girl) was homeless when a local madam spots her and gives her an offer she can't turn down: an opportunity for a better life. Bastien Auguste Pascal (35, 36, 37; aka Bash) is the last living member of his family and a wealthy commercial real estate business owner. After a devastating diagnosis, Bastien made the decision to end his life on his terms, but first, he had to free his close friend from the $2 million loan he gave her. He knows she won't accept loan forgiveness, so he offers to accept her protégé as his companion for 3 years to settle it. Rose meets Bastien and agrees to become his live-in companion. Bastien and Rose have no plans of falling in love or becoming intimate, so it's the perfect arrangement. Their arrangement works until they finally give in to their attraction, and they forget to use birth control. Rose's love gives Bastien the will to live, and in the end, they're married with 2 children living their HEA. JP

2 out of 5 on my spice scale.

2nd listen 05-31-22
3rd listen 07-11-24

unexpected amazing story

at the beginning he indicates he's sick so i didn't want to listen anymore. Rose has many reasons to give up hope. however she never gives up hope, which makes the book super good. i highly recommend

The title is the book

Having not read this author in a while I decided take a listen, to begin this ends on what is a HFN with then fact that our Hero has a very real situation it is not the HEA we all expect and want so reader/listner beware for that triger.

The book begins with a strong heroine who till the end fought for the life she dreamed if only for a time, while most will hate on our Hero for his decisions and what feels like a push and pull for the couple I personally understood his position, I will not spoil it but will warn to be ready with tissues for a very real love story.

Beautiful

Georgia Cates have done it again. Her writing and characters were amazing. The narrators were perfect.

good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall