Sweet Young Thang

Theta Alpha Gamma, Book 3

By: Anne Tenino

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Thanks to Collin Montes, Theta Alpha Gamma now welcomes gay and bisexual students. Persuading his Uncle Monty, president of the TAG Alumni Association, that the open approach won't adversely affect TAG's reputation is Collin's own first step toward coming out. As long as there are no repercussions, he'll escape the closet by graduation.

Enter repercussions, stage left: someone rigs the TAG House water heater to launch through the ceiling, then plants a bomb - thankfully unsuccessful - in the fraternity's basement. Now Collin has his hands full not only trying to convince his uncle that this might not be the work of homophobes, but also dealing with a frat full of brothers worried about their kegger fridge.

Paramedic Eric Dixon can't stop thinking about the kid he met during a call at his former college fraternity house. The age gap between them is trumped by sexy eyes, so when Eric sees Collin again at the bomb scene, he pursues him. Soon, Eric is dreaming of being a househusband, fighting to keep Collin safe from whoever's trying to destroy the fraternity, and helping his sweet young thang realize that repercussions sometimes have silver linings.

©2013 Anne Tenino (P)2016 Riptide Publishing

Probably the sweetest in this series!

We’ve met a lot of these characters in books one and two, TAG is now an “accepting” fraternity (no specific policy changes just more open about their acceptance) and there’s concern that this is going to cause trouble. Collin is working with alumni to try to avoid this, but somebody (related to the new changes?) is trying to wreck everything!

During one of the catastrophes Collin meets Eric, the paramedic. Eric is older and really wants to find a nice person to settle down with – long term. Though they have eight years between them, when he meets Collin, he thinks (knows?) it might be him.

**

This was actually pretty low-angst if you look at the relationship part of the story. The drama is really almost all about the “mystery” and the TAG house bombing, etc. Eric and Collin have some stuff to work through, but, by and large, it’s fairly uneventful.

The chemistry between these guys is HOT and the feels between them is absolutely ooey gooey wonderfulness. I think one of the main things I loved about this story was it’s unabashed “cooing” between the two MCs. They are not shy about falling for the other and letting it be known. It was refreshing!

Anne’s books are usually chock full of humor and this is no different. The boys’ dialog with one another is especially funny. It was great seeing the TAG boys pull together in support and “solve” the case!

If you enjoyed books one and two you’ll love this as well and you’ll be happy to see our previous MCs again.

Highly recommended!

Audio

Mmmmm. I love Nick J Russo’s narrations! He’s so good at making distinct voices for each of the characters, even if they’re secondary (ie Sparky Donaldson, Uncle Monty, etc.). He gives Collin just the right “light” tone and not too effeminate. He does a great job with the emotion – especially with the bombing and all the highly dramatic stuff. Eric has a lovely deeper voice listening to him call Collin all those sweet pet names was delightful! Highly recommend this as the best way to enjoy this story!


For both the audio and book 5 of 5 stars

Great Story

Loved the story started reading and couldn't stop until I had read it all. I have listened to several books by this narrator and I think he is awesome.

This one bothered me a lot.

*2.5 stars*

Even Nick J. Russo couldn't save this audiobook.

I vaguely remembered this story from when I read it in ebook form years ago, but I was not prepared for how much the audio would annoy me. I'm talking nicknames every single page, and annoying ones too, like "sweet baby boy" and "sweet young thang," but said in a serious tone. I couldn't handle it read out loud to me. It was suffocating, and it highlighted the age difference between the two MCs, but in a bad way, not in a sexy way.

I also really struggled with the insta-love this time around. Collin and Eric were so extremely insta-lovey as a couple. Eric was the more intense one of the two, even to go as far as creeping me out a little bit. He was so over-the-top with the nicknames and the lovey stuff that it ended up making me shut down. It made me disconnect from the story.

Now, the story isn't without it's merits. The rest of the frat house boys were hysterical, and I loved all the parts where the frat guys were trying to be all PC and sensitive. That was the best. I wish the author had focused more on keeping this book in that tone. However, the plot became too cumbersome and convoluted, and dragged on too long. I found myself wanting to switch to another audiobook, which is a terrible sign.

While I always enjoy Nick J. Russo's narration, I think this wasn't his best. The MCs' voices were too similar, and I much preferred the narrator's performance in the other books in the series.

A downgrade from my previous ebook rating, which is probably from a combo of changing tastes/getting more picky and actually hearing some of those nicknames out loud. *shutter*

*Audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review*

Love this series!

I had been wanting to listen to this book for a while now, but for some reason kept putting it off. I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, so I'm kind of kicking myself for waiting. The college frat boy story line continues but in this book there is an added hotness with a May/December trope. The 15 years doesn't seem like all that much though, since Collin seems pretty mature for a 21 year old. I also liked the little bit of mystery that the water heater explosion brought. There is someone who wants the fraternity to suffer, and it seems like it could be because of the LGBT inclusive policies they adopted. But there are definitely more things going on than it seems like.

The narration by Nick J Russo was as great as always.

May/December romance

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I'm on the fence, simply because I had some issues with the characters and content this time around.

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

The May/December romance is a trope I adore. I had trouble with the "pet names" being spoken on a constant loop though.

What does Nick J. Russo bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He brings the characters to life in a way that can't possibly be achieved with words on a page.

Could you see Sweet Young Thang being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not really, sorry.

Any additional comments?

Okay, let me preface by saying I love, love, loved the narration, Nick Russo can do no wrong. The constant pet names were annoying as crap and actually pulled me out of the story, more than once. And I can't be the only person that read/listened to this book with Michael Jackson singing "PYT" in my head in the background.

I have a love/hate relationship with this installment of the series, where as I've thoroughly enjoyed all the other stories. The insta-love for me didn't quite ring true, though once Eric convinced Collin they were right for each other and worth coming out for, it flowed well. I've already mentioned the pet name peeve. And it's not the pet names per say, it was the over use to the point of beating a dead dog that bordered insanity for me. I also really enjoyed the frat brothers and friends, I laughed so hard more than once that my ribs hurt, I think I even laughed so hard I was crying at one point.

So, I'll say as long as you can overlook the insta-love initiation and the pet name overload, it's a pretty amazing story.

more frat boys and more loving

Love, adventure, excitement, sex, old country grape vines bombs, and hearing it through the grape vines. Oh yeah and there is plenty more where that came from.

Pretty good

I'd probably give this 4.5 stars in total. It was a sweet story with sexy times, humor and charm. It was very easy to like both Eric and Collin. The drawback in the story was the frequent use of the pet term "Sweetness" as used by Eric when talking to Collin. Does anyone really do that?
As for the narration, Nick did a great job keeping all the different characters' voices distinct and separate. But, he puts an l at the end of every word that ends in 'aw'. Saw becomes sawl, draw becomes drawl, drawing becomes drawling. Words ending that way aren't frequent, but they are there enough for me to cringe every time I hear them.
I don't think you should skip this audio version just because of that. I've listened to other books narrated by Nick and though that particular speech pattern is consistent in everything I've heard by him, it's definitely not enough to put me off listening to more.