Home Grown Talent

Creative Types, Book 2

De: Joanna Chambers, Sally Malcolm

Narrado por: Simon Goldhill

Are you for real?

From the outside, it looks like model and influencer Mason Nash has it all—beauty, fame, and fortune. With his star rapidly rising, and a big contract up for grabs, Mason’s on the verge of hitting the big time.

When an opportunity arises to co-host a gardening slot on daytime TV with his ex’s brother, Owen Hunter, Mason is definitely on-board. And he intends to use every trick in the book to make the show a hit—including agreeing to his ruthless producer’s demand to fake a ‘will-they/won’t-they’ romance with his co-host…

Owen Hunter is a gardener with a huge heart and both feet planted firmly on the well-tilled ground. He’s proud of the life he’s built and has absolutely no desire to be on TV—yet somehow he finds himself agreeing to do the show.

It’s definitely not because he’s interested in Mason Nash. The guy might be beautiful—and yeah, his spoiled brat routine presses all Owen’s buttons in the bedroom—but Owen has no interest in a short-term fling with a fame-hungry model.

As the two men get closer, though, Owen starts to believe there’s more to Mason than his beautiful appearance and carefully-curated online persona—that beneath the glitz and glamour is a sweet, sensitive man longing to be loved.

A man Owen might be falling for. A man who might even feel the same.

But in a world of media spin and half-truths, Owen is dangerously out of his depth. And when a ridiculous scandal explodes online, with Owen at its heart, it starts to look as though everything he thought was real is built on lies—including his budding romance with Mason…

©2022 Joanna Chambers and Sally Malcolm (P)2024 Joanna Chambers and Sally Malcolm

This book was very enjoyable to listen to.

Once again, as in book one, I found myself liking one of the characters much more than the other. Of course, being the old geezer that I am, I couldn’t really connect with Mason and his social media life. Of course, reading on, I got to warm up to him and understood him better, but let’s just say I connected with Owen much better.
The story is enjoyable, quite emotional at times, but not overly angsty. There are some frankly quite awful characters (Misty, I am looking at you!) and some lovely ones I would like to meet again.
Great performance by Simon Goldhill

I Liked It

I liked it, I enjoyed first book a bit more, but this was a good installment in the series. I liked the humor and lightness of the story and since one of the main characters is a gardener, just for that I am giving this book an extra star. I am learning to garden right now and I appreciated few tips and tidbits of info here and there, it made the story much more enjoyable for me. I liked both Mason and Owen, they are interesting characters and I was looking forward to seeing their relationship grow and develop. Unfortunately I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between them, so that was a bit disappointing. Narrator did a good job with the voices and the story. Overall this was a good listen and I am looking forward to the next installment in the Creative Types series.

Great story, well performed

I loved this book and the audio really brought Owen and Mason to life. Owen’s role in his brother Lewis’ life is well established in the previous book (Total Creative Control), but what we really knew of him was limited to his care of Lewis at a dark time in their lives. This book does explore the further growth in their relationship as well, which is gratifying.

We also are privileged to see a completely different side of Mason – why he models, why he’s so addicted to growing his socials, and suddenly a lot makes sense. It’s not an easy relationship, however, as Owen is about as anti-media as he can be, and while Mason has to explore his own motivations, Owen has to embrace the difference between support and mere acceptance.

Simon Goldhill did a fantastic job at different voices and accents (though I am not qualified to say whether they are accurate), and conveys both emotion and humor easily and without fuss. I really enjoyed listening to this story, and powered through it faster than usual by not being able to turn it off when I got home from commuting, or at the office – which made for a few awkward moments!

Victory over Pineapplegate

Mason and Owen are adorable and I love how they find their footing in this new to me series. I’d requested the audible version from Gay Romance Reviews even though it’s not on KU because the story sounded so cute and it didn’t disappoint. I was initially worried because while I listen to A LOT of audio books, typically it’s books I’ve either read or listened to before because I have fairly poor auditory retention. I was a little worried at the very beginning about my ability to keep the characters and relationships straight (especially when they were all together at an event) but in the end it was no problem and I was INVESTED. Mason is well written and develops enough throughout the book that we get to see a little how he presents himself to the world as an influencer and his vulnerabilities as a person. I absolutely get Owen who ironically doesn’t have social media and is focused on “real life” but agrees to do a television show with Mason (yes, the appropriate chaos ensues). You can see the major plot point coming like a train wreck that can’t be stopped and yet you just really want to see them work it out. Without spoilers, they do get their HEA and the epilogue was satisfying. It is book two in the series and there are connections to the characters from book one but I didn’t feel like I was missing out—though now I feel invested and want to go back and read/listen to book one!

Down to Earth Romantic Fun!

There is nothing more romantic than a hardworking, down to earth kind of guy reeling in a guy who is used to basing his life on his looks and social interactions. I loved Owen from the beginning, he was genuine and real from start to finish. Mason slowly grew on me because I loved seeing his life and love goals alter and his personality changes as he interacted with Owen. This is a strong opposite's attract story since they both really have lived very different lives so far. I was pleasantly surprised that Owen was a bit freaky in bed! The steam was strong in this one! I really enjoyed Simon's narrating voice. He has the perfect simple yet unique accents for these two guys.