Home and Away

By: Samantha Wayland

Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo

Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

You can build a team, but you have to find your home. 

Rupert Smythe is fond of many things. Callum Morrison isn’t one of them. 

Rupert is a quiet, thoughtful business man and, sadly, a total wimp. Maybe not the ideal candidate to run a professional hockey team, but he signed on to do it anyway. As his life has reminded him on an almost daily basis since, this isn’t the most brilliant idea he’s ever had. And that was before Callum showed up. 

Being in the spotlight is just part of being a professional athlete, but Callum needs a break. He arrives in Moncton unannounced, determined to help grow the team he just bought, and under the assumption he’d be welcome. Possibly he should have tried to make a better first impression. 

Callum figures he can push through the rest of the summer, never expecting two kids, a host of friends, and his growing feelings for Rupert to derail everything he has ever believed about what he wanted, and what he could have.

©2015 Samantha Wayland (P)2021 Samantha Wayland

So feduddlin’ good!

You know an audiobook is really really good when you keep hitting the 15-seconds rewind button, you wanna savor the last remaining minutes, you wanna make it last, you wish it was longer. That was me with this one.

What a beautiful story. It’s low-angst, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, chosen family, peppered with humor and wonderful goodness. The story and the characters are all fleshed out. The conflict relatable and the series of events Calum and Rupert went through are both heartbreaking and rejoicing. Great supporting characters, awesome world building and even if this is my first Samantha Wayland book, that didn’t take away anything from listening to this one.

I wish it was longer. I wish there are more stories of Rupert and Calum and Oliver and Christian and their beautiful family.

Michael Ferraiulo’s performance here is the best one is his I’ve heard so far. The variety of accents and unique voices for each character is astoundingly delivered. Well done, sir!

Absolutely fantastic

My goodness this book. The story is perfection, that characters are phenomenal, the secondary characters are amazing and the narration spot on.

I was so mad when it ended, I could have listened to this book forever. All the stars and then some!

Amazing! More, more, more please!

This is the first book in this genre that I have been compelled to review. I’m not new to this genre but this author is new to me and it looks like I have a lot of catching up to do.

This is the falling in love story of two men and the life they create along the way to their HEA. The characters are fully fleshed out, the emotions and motivations feel possible. There are plenty of minor characters that I hope to read/learn more about in other books. I am so happy this book was made available on Audible. I’m looking forward to so much more, what a pleasure!

Low Relationship Angst

I really appreciated that there was almost no relationship angst between the two main characters. There was plenty of excitement outside of their relationship though. Sometimes the story dragged a little, especially during the long and chatty/introspective sex scenes, and the ending felt abrupt. I liked the side characters and how understanding Rupert was.

Beautiful Story of Finding Love and a Family!

This story was laugh out loud funny, sensually sexy, and warm and comfortable all wrapped up in one wonderful romance! Michael Ferraiuolo was spot on with his voices for every character! From Rupert and Callum to the young boys Ollie and Christian to Alexei and Mike! His Ollie is ADORBS and his Alexei is hysterical! Even with the emotional plot of finding Ollie, saving Christian and forming a family this book had me smiling almost the entire time and then crying with happiness! Very heartwarming I highly recommend! I am on to Poetry in Motion immediately!

Too unrealistic aspects in the story, at times childish dialogue but also sweet

Just as said in the caption. I wished I liked it more because of the many good reviews but I just couldn’t get invested in the couple.

Brilliant

Well done and thought out story. Captivated me from beginning to end. And the end was amazing and total shock. So well done. Thank you for this.

I don't even LIKE hockey romance, and I adore this

My gosh, what an excellent book. I generally have no interest in sports romance (or, you know, sports at all), but Rupert and Callum and the family they unexpectedly create are simply so compelling that it's one of my top books of the last year. Michael Ferraiulo is always one of my favorite narrators. He particularly excels at snarky banter, and his performance brings out both the humor and vulnerability in Rupert and Callum. Huge recommendation for this unexpected delight.

MM Hockey Family Romance

This one packs a punch of feels for sure. Firstly, it is a hockey sports romance, which is my thing, and on top of that you get family and friends galore that you fall head over heels for. In meeting Rupert & Callum I really could not see them getting together, but once we got each of their POVs it was obvious they were meant for each other. They complimented each other so well and did not fall into any stereotyping, which was wonderful. The relationship grew from fondness to friendship and then to love. While this was going on each character grew and adapted and just became that much more likeable. Then you got to meet Oliver, who was adorable and then Christian, who just wanted to be loved so badly and accepted. Then what put this over other reads, were all the wonderful and dynamic side characters!! I loved Jack, Reese, Alexei and Mike!! I cannot wait to read about Mike and Alexei and whenever Jack's book comes, I will be the first in line to get it. My only niggle about this book, was it ended too abruptly for me. I wanted more of their HEA as a beautiful family!! That just means the book was that good. Also, Michael Ferraiuolo did such a fantastic job on this narration!!

Hoped for more

It's a good listen don't get me wrong. Though with the reviews I hoped for great, and it's just good. Maybe the narrator voicing Rupert could sound a bit less obi one Kenobi and a little more young aristocrat. I had a hard time imagining obi one sticking his lightsaber in a hokey player.

One star extra for the narration

Nice story, little tension or angst or drama. Very well read.
I often had the feeling there could be a prequel out, because of the details about secondary characters.

Wonderful!

I absolutely loved Callum and Rupert’s story. I was encouraged to give this a listen, and I’m so glad I did! I was drawn into the story by the fantastic narration of Michael Ferraioulo. His distinct range of voices kept me engaged and I was easily able to know who was speaking and follow along with the story. I adored both these characters so much! I loved seeing Rupert slowly open his heart to those he drew into his life. My heart hurt for Callum as he struggled through being a a closeted athlete who didn’t allow himself to find happiness. It was wonderful seeing Rupert and Callum find their footing first in friendship and then as lovers. The found family these two put together was so heartwarming. I loved how they were both so present for Christian and what he needed in standing up for himself with his father and then trying to find who he was. Oliver was just the sweetest! I could feel my heart clutching as it was getting closer to Callum having to report in for the season. I was so eager for their HEA, but I also didn’t want their wonderful story to end! This was a wonderful story about found family, opening your heart to love and coming out and finding happiness.

Enjoyable book

I’d not heard of this author before, but I like the narrator and it came up as a recommendation because of other books I’ve listened to, so I thought I’d give it a go. I’m so glad I did as I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of Lily Morton books in the way that the characters and their lives are more filled out and complete and you get a full story. There’s a great mix of character development, relationship development, a few chemistry fuelled sex scenes, and also the development of a family with kids and belonging. I gather this author has more books and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the collection coming to Audible.