Drawn Together

By: Z. A. Maxfield

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Re-release of best-selling 2009 novel - What happens when Rory travels halfway across the country to meet the girl of his dreams? Certainly not what he expected.

Rory's just a simple southern boy from St. Antoine's Parish, Louisiana, but he knows what he wants - the girl of his dreams, reclusive and mysterious artist Ran Yamane. He's loved her since junior high school, and now he has the chance to meet her. He chucks everything and travels 1,500 miles to Anime Expo in Long Beach just so he can tell her. He's determined that nothing and nobody are going to stand in his way.

Turns out, Ran Yamane isn't a girl, but he gets that a lot. People come to him with teddy bears and chocolates and disappointment by the truckload. He's trusted fans in the past and paid the price. So when he meets Rory he is understandably wary, but resigned. He isn't prepared for his magnetic attraction to the young man, Rory's apparent willingness to overlook his gender, and the chaos that ensues when his number one fan (and psycho stalker) shows up to get revenge.

©2009 Z. A. Maxfield (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Almost Perfect !!!

The cover of Drawn Together caught my eye, I liked the synopsis, I've had good luck w/ ZA Maxfield and Audible Studios; but it was Greg Boudreaux (Tremblay) who made it an immediate download.

So, even though it was 1am and I needed to be conscious in the morning, I couldn't resist a quick listen. ZA & Greg had me hooked from the first sentence. Sometime after 4am I managed to tear myself away for a few hours.

I REALLY don't like angst in my fiction or thrillers or books with psycho stalkers who torture & kill. I REALLY don't like plots where a character makes a "difficult decision for the good of them both" and "big misunderstandings" ensue. I LOVED this book anyway!

How can you not love a book where one character is described by a friend as being 1 part John the Baptist, 1 part John Holmes and 1 part Elmo; while the not girl of his dreams turns out to be an anime artist who personifies Bishōnen?

A lot of stereotypes get flung around, but the characters alternately own & defy them.

ZA Maxfield has created a wonderful, humorous, dramatic, romantic, & fun M/M story. Add to that Greg's Exquisite performance, and you have a book that's nearly impossible to pause for bothersome details like food or sleep. Thank you Audible Studios for bringing us this!

It's not perfect, but for me the only thing that would make it better is seeing Ran Yamane's art.

how is this okay?

I found this book because of the narrator. He's amazing and does a great job with every book I've ever listened from him. I enjoy book about self discovery and that is p[art of what frew me to this book. I actually really enjoyed it till right about the half way mark. That's about when Maxfield killed this book dead with one act and claiming it as "self discovery". I don't care who it is, or what situation its in....I don't care if the couple is married, actively dating or just had sex 5 seconds ago, one person taking sexual gratification from an unconscious body is NEVER okay or sexy. NEVER! How is no one else bothered by this?

Greg Boudreaux rocks this!

Any additional comments?

Drawn Together was one of the first M/M books I read. I have really fond memories of this story and when I found out it was being re-released as an audiobook...well, I was happier than a pig in mud. Then I found out Greg Tremblay, performing under his steamier "Greg Boudreaux" moniker, was going to narrate and my excitement knew no bounds.

I absolutely loved the narration! Greg does not disappoint with his wonderful southern drawl for Rory, Yamane's lighter tones, the pure creepiness of Amelia, and the perfectly pitched side characters.

I'll admit I did some eye rolling and teeth gritting at the story this time around. This is one of those times I had a hard time re-reading a book I loved years ago.

I completely credit my ability to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the story and flow directly to the awesome narration by Greg. He totally rocked this!

This was a fun, wonderful listen!

4.5/5 : Great for what it is.

This is an adorable fluffy romance between two interesting and desirable men who have sweet, mild sex. There are a few eye roll moments but this is not to cringy a book. It's fun and delivers a happy ending that leaves your heart warmed.

I'll be looking for more from this author. Well done.

Not a YA Romance

Don't let the cover fool you. This is not a light and fluffy YA romance.  The two main characters are mid 20's and early 30's and what starts off as a sweet little meet-cute/mistaken identity at an anime convention quickly escalates into a somewhat-dark thriller with murderous stalkers, crooked cops and a "but I'm not gay" plot line.

I loved this book.  The chemistry between these two sparks off the page. Both MCs are enigmatic with hidden depths and layers of personality, experience and perspectives.  Both are stubborn, strong and proud, the prefect ingredients for a will-they-won't-they story.

Greg Boudreaux does an excellent job narrating, as usual, wrapping the listener in a world filled with good guys and bad guys, crazy b*tch#s and loving grandmas, and a full cast of not-what-they-seem characters in between.

Five stars, full stop, will read again.

Voice actor extraordinare!

Storyline was good but was brought to life by the incredible performance of Greg Boudreaux (aka Tremblay). Greg's southern drawl was a thing of beauty and the emotion he puts into each scene is so moving that it brings me to tears.
Live long and keep on keeping on!

Absolutely in love - except for that one part

I almost tapped out after they first met because I was cringing. Oh, am I ever glad I didn’t! This book is delicious and so well done. The emotional complexity is breathtaking. I agree with another reviewer about one scene however: Rory did not have consent from a sleeping Yamane, and that’s out of character for him. I think Yamane would have, which is why it didn’t ruin their dynamic for me. But that’s the kind of scene that should be corrected in a re-release.
Mr. Boudreaux, thank you for lending your voice to this. It was masterfully done, and I will be looking for more of your work.

What a treat this is!

The blurb does not begin to let you know what a delicious treat this story is. It is truly marvelous from start to finish, and I cannot recommend enough.

What an awesome surprise!

This is the first time I've listened to a book narrated by Greg Boudreaux. So I was totally flabbergasted to hear the voice of one of my top 3 narrators start reading. Another great listen for me. So now that I know about Greg Boudreaux/Tremblay, I have several more audio books to buy!
I really loved both Rory and Yamane. I especially liked what Rory's friend's kids called Yamane.
Sometimes I like GFY and sometimes I don't. I really think Mary Calmes did great with it in this story.

Boring

This book started off strong but quickly turned into a far fetched long and drawn out story that made literally no sense. Maybe if you’re 12 you’d like this book but as an adult it’s really not great l only finished half of it before I turned it off. The reader was decent and did the the best they could with story they were given.

WOW!

This is now one of my favourite stories. I laughed, I cried and my jaw dropped on more than one occasion from shock. Beautiful characters and a unique tale. I will be listening to this again.

Good story BUT...

The story itself was good but the fact that one of the main characters (and by extension the author) thinks that it's ok and hot to have sex with another person while they're sleeping is really, really wrong. That's not sexy, that's assault and either shouldn't be part of a romance novel or should be addressed appropriately in the story line.

Great story

Well written story with likeable characters and interesting plot. Narrated by one of the best in the field.

Great book and good narration

Have read the eBook version. a few times and love the story. The audiobook really bought the story to life.

Amazing

Absolutely loved it.
A great story delivered with a brilliant performance. Would definitely recommend this book!

Bad tempered artist v sweet comic book fan

Read this book a while ago and really loved it. Now it's on audio, it's spectacular. Greg is one of my favourite narrators but I think he totally blows it out of the water on this book. Such a good story, boy loves girl, boy meets girl, erm girls' a beautiful man.

Great narration and really engaging story

I really enjoyed this audio book. The narration was really good and there was an entertaining range of accents on display. The relationship between Ran Yamane and Rory was gorgeous. I suppose this could be pigeonholed as 'gay for you' and Insta-love, but don't let that put you off. The writing is solid, fun, and the story, a roller coaster ride.

Marvellous

I read this book years ago, but listening to the narration reminded me how much I loved it only more so. Beautifully brought to life.

Love comes in strange times

Fascinating story with beautful coming when you least expect it. Straight to gay with the most horrific woman imaginable psyco is putting it. mild. well written and the narration with the southern accent brings it to life, enjoy I know I did.

Casual sexual assault reference yay

Performance great but not Rory sexually assaulting Yamane and it being completely glossed over with 0 consequences.