Home the Hard Way

By: Z. A. Maxfield

Narrated by: Shannon Gunn

Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

Dare Buckley has come home - or at least, he's come back to Palladian, the small town he left as a teenager. After a major lapse in judgment forced him to resign from the Seattle PD, Palladian is the only place that'll hire him. There's one benefit to hitting rock bottom, though: the chance to investigate the mystery of his father's suicide.

Dare also gets to reacquaint himself with Finn Fowler, whose childhood hero worship ended in uncomfortable silence when Dare moved away. But Finn isn't the same little kid Dare once protected. He's grown into an attractive, enigmatic stranger who neither wants nor needs what Dare has to offer.

In fact, Dare soon realizes that Finn's keeping secrets - his own and the town's. And he doesn't seem to care that Dare needs answers. The atmosphere in Palladian, like its namesake river, appears placid, but dark currents churn underneath. When danger closes in, Dare must pit his ingenuity against his heart, and find his way home the hard way.

©2014 Z.A. Maxfield (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Frustratingly close to excellent

The narrator is inappropriate for this book. Putting that aside, this book has the feel of a Josh Lanyon mystery, but the potential is vitiated by some niggling things. The first is the premise that these two men have this deep connection from childhood. When you realise that he was only 9 years old when they parted it just doesn't make sense. The second is the BDSM aspect of the book. It is never explained how a small town guy aged just 25 became immersed in kink and apparently a very skilled & experienced Dom. That layer of BDSM also belies the foundations of the relationship. It feels rather like a compromise between two or three books. Very frustrating from such a skilled writer.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

An interesting journey...

The story of Dare and Finn is an interesting tale. As the story begins to unravel, I was unsure if I was actually going to like it...but as I continued to listen, I was dragged into the characters and their lives...plus the mystery was intriguing. Did not figure it out until it was revealed...I like stories like that. Z.A. Maxfield offers an intriguing tale loaded with some delightful and devilish characters. The narration of Shannon Gunn added to the deliciousness of this tale. Definite recommend!!!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

DNF

ZA Maxfield is usually an auto-buy for me, but this was a DNF. I listened to 3 1/2 hours of it, and I didn't really care for either of the main characters. There wasn't really any one big thing that made me stop listening, but a lot of little things that made finally just say enough, I'm not wasting 8 more hours listening to this.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Not bad. Not good.

Narrator was fantastic! A lot of character to voice and pulled off very well. Story on the other hand was disappointing. Through the first half I was empathizing with Finn and Dare, but after the introduction fetish aspect I found myself viewing Finn as a manipulative man taking advantage of an alcoholic and Dare as weak willed lush. Disappointing because I wanted to root for these characters. I ended up stopping at the final bondage scene in disgust realizing I now hated both characters and didn’t care what became of them. I’ve listened to a few other Maxfield books that I loved, but this one... let me just say I’m glad it wasn’t my first.

Amazingly Unlikable Characters

I kept waiting for Dare to become likable, but with every twist in the plot, I liked him less. Finn, on the other hand, started out sympathetic enough, but by the end of the book, the author did succeed in turning me against him, too.

Speaking of plot, this one's not too awful. And there's something to be said about the more erotic scenes portrayed.

The narrator was okay, but only the main character voices were portrayed well. The others were distracting.

Twisted

I am still wrapping my the story. The narrator really got into it, maybe even a little too much. And if you don't like BDSM, you might not like this story.

An excellent mystery and romance

I really enjoyed this presentation. the two characters were pretty well developed and the plot was intriguing. Finn's B&D could have been better explained, but it got in well.