What's in a Name?: Foothills Pride Stories, Book 1

There is quite a lot of story in this short, sweet romance; although no sex, which I didn't mind. The name is kind of deceiving as the "can he guess my name" game the MCs play is a very minor plot point. I guessed his name halfway through, although I was hoping I was wrong, I wasn't. The gist of the story is the budding romance between Jimmy and Guy. They get together in the beginning of the book. What starts up as a random hook up when Jimmy's jerk of a boyfriend dumps him on his birthday, ends up a sweet "love affair." There is a little drama, but the town they live in plays as big a part in the story as the romance. The narrator is new to me and, although he has a nice voice, it did seem appropriate for a big "bear" of man, that Guy is suppose to be. Guy sounded more like an accountant than a bear biker guy. He just didn't bring the baritone or bass I would have pictured for that character. Overall, a nice, sweet listen.

Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted the AUDIO file of this book.

Jimmy decides its a bloody good idea to get dead drunk on his birthday after his boyfriend dumps. The bar tender picks him up and takes him home, just to make sure Jimmy is safe. But Jimmy doesn't know his name, he wears a different badge every day. When it becomes clear that Jimmy and the Guy have a huge connection, Guy gives Jimmy 7 guesses to get his name. Can't be that hard, can it??

Oh, I loved this!! Its so bloody cute!

We do only get Jimmy, and ya'll know how I feel about READING single person books. However, I've come to the conclusion I love LISTENING to single person point of view, especially if they are first person. Why its different, I've no idea, but there you go, just needed to say it.

I like Henshaw's writing, the way their mind works. I liked that I didn't get who was doing the damage to the coffee shop, that was a great misdirection!

It's mostly clean, but not a bad thing, not here. I LOVED that it was that way here.

Its not very long, hence the hang over tag, just under 3 hours, 80 odd pages but I don't think it needed any more.

And I DID get Guy's name before Jimmy did, honestly, I did!

David Ross narrates.

This is the first of his work, and indeed Henshaw's, that I've listened to. I hope it won't be the last. I enjoyed his voices for Jimmy and Guy, and everyone else too. They all came across clear and I had no trouble getting what I needed to know, from Jimmy, via Ross.

Ross' reading voice is clear and even, and very easy on the ears. I'd love to be able to continue with this series in audio, but this is the only one out yet. I'll wait though. I've found starting a series in audio, then switching to reading has a.....negative....impact on my enjoyment.

So, for a short book, it gets a surprising...

5 stars
5 star narration
5 overall.

**same worded review will appear on Goodreads, Booklikes, Audible.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Kobo, Dreamspinner Press and Barnes and Noble**

Jimmy is having a terrible birthday! His boyfriend was supposed to take him on a romantic date in San Francisco and instead picks up a stranger and ditches Jimmy at the bar, alone. Jimmy drowns his sorrow in beer but luckily the bartender, Alex2/Guy/Stone is there to help when it gets messy.

“Stone” aka Guy, aka Alex2 has been keeping an eye on Jimmy for awhile and swoops in to help when Jimmy’s worthless boyfriend ditches him at the bar. Stone won’t tell Jimmy (or anyone) his real name because it’s so awful. Instead he makes Jimmy a deal that if Jimmy can guess his real name he’ll buy him the motorcycle he’s been after for his birthday.

Jimmy and Stone get along right from the start. Stone helps Jimmy to get free from the ex-boyfriend, gives Jimmy a place to crash when needed, helps Jimmy with his new coffee-shop plans and is generally an amazing boyfriend – right from the start.

Jimmy can’t believe his good fortune and realizes that in all the months he’s been going to the one gay bar in town, he’s actually spent more time talking with the bartender than his (now ex) boyfriend.

**
This is a fast story with very little angst and no on page sex. Some people are going to find fault with it for those reasons. But… it’s a tremendously sweet story with a lot of heart and lots of ooey gooey feels that just made me smile. Sure, the ex boyfriend was a bit too psycho. Sure, I’d have liked to see the relationship take more than a week but as is pointed out in the story – they’ve known each other for months already. Sure, I wish there was some "action" in the story, but the chemistry is there and the two clearly love each other.

Overall, I really enjoyed this short story and recommend it to anyone willing to suspend their disbelief and smile at a sweet tale of love.

Audio
David Ross is a relatively new-to-me narrator, I enjoyed his narration of Tartan Candy well enough. While he does a nice job, he didn't do much to really make any character stand out. I was hoping to hear a really deep, dark, growly voice for "Stone" but his voice is pretty close to Jimmy's. He doesn't fall for making the female voices screechy as some narrators do, but again he doesn't do a lot to differentiate any of the voices. I like the tone of his voice and I enjoy the emotion and pacing he puts in his storytelling. While he didn't "wow" me, he didn't bother me either.