Keeping Casey

Keeping Him, Book 1

By: Amy Aislin

Narrated by: Michael Franklin

Casey Preston is the guy with the plan. The list-maker. The one who micromanages his own life.

Spontaneously offering to be his best friend’s fake boyfriend to get Ethan’s annoying team captain off his back?

That’s not thinking things through. It’s not even smart, given Casey’s been fighting his feelings for Ethan for years.

Ethan Rain just wants to play hockey and get his college degree. Adding a fake boyfriend to the mix? He doesn’t need that complication.

If Casey were his real boyfriend, though? If he got to keep Casey forever? Now we’re talking.

But what if Casey doesn’t want to be kept?

©2021 Amy Aislin (P)2021 Amy Aislin

Casey and Ethan

Casey and Ethan are both adorable and I completely agree with their friend's assessment, they have been dating just without the sex. These two each love the other but are afraid to ruin their friendship. The altercation at the hockey house just pushes them together more. I love that they both understand the other and Ethan doesn't take offense whrn Casey runs because he know he will be back. I look forward to more stories in this series.

I really enjoyed this in audio form, I thought the narrator did a great job capturing the characters and their emotions.

LOVED

Best friend/fake boyfriend is one of my favorite tropes! There is so much history and emotions between these two friends that the reader immediately becomes invested in their story.
As a fan of Amy Aislin I was eagerly awaiting the release of Keeping Casey. I wasn't disappointed!
Long time best friends Casey Preston and Ethan Rain don't see that they are really so much more to each other. When the opportunity arises for them to become "fake boyfriends" things start to finally make sense.
I loved the connection between these two!
Michael Franklin does an outstanding job of bringing this story to life!

an adorable romance

I adore all of Amy Aislin’s books and Keeping Casey is a sweet, tender, and heartwarming story about two friends who eventually become more. It is a slow burn with characters who are so likable and absolutely adorable. The narrator, Michael Franklin, did well and has a voice that is so easy to listen to.

Sweet best friends to lovers story

Casey worries he’s too emotionally damaged to be in a romantic relationship with anyone despite his feelings for his best friend Ethan. I prefer more of a performance from a narrator rather than a simple read so for me I felt the narrator was a little stiff. Michael Franklin has a pleasant voice, just not my preferred style. Best friends to lovers, slow burn with lots of mutual pining. Low steam. I would happily re-listen.

Wonderful characters you can't help but love!

I cannot get enough of this author! Amy Aislin knows how to write such compelling, relatable, and interesting stories with just the best characters! Ethan and Casey have been life long friends, both in love with the other but too afraid to say anything to the other out of fear of ruining their friendship. Not all authors are able to create demi characters that feel genuine but Ethan's sexuality is so well done that you really understand how approaches romantic relationships because of it. I also loved that Casey does not define his sexuality with a label and that is perfectly okay! Instead of trying to force himself into a label that doesn't feel right, Casey just likes who he likes. The secondary characters in this book were amazing and I can't wait to see their stories in the future. Fans of the Stick Side series will also be happy (I know I was!) because there are cameos by almost all of our favorite hockey players and their partners in this book! The party at Roman and Cody's house was one of my favorite scenes, for many, many reasons. There are some instances of homophobia in this book from one of Ethan's teammates but it is handled in a great way, showing Ethan just how much support he has. It was hard to see Casey struggle so much with the death of his father, causing him to push others away before they have a chance to leave him but I love how much he was finally able to grow and accept that he is needs love just like everyone else. The narration was absolutely fantastic and brought so much life to these characters! Michael Franklin did an excellent job making Ethan, Casey, and all the characters feel alive without detracting from the story overall, creating a seamless transition from the written story to the spoken story. Love this author and narrator and will definitely listen to both their future work!

Slow-burn sweetness.

The story was fantastic, all slow-burn sweetness. Best friends to lovers with likable characters, main and side. Ethan and Casey’s relationship was so beautiful, and even though getting them to talk about their feelings was like pulling teeth, it was so satisfying when they finally admitted how they really felt and transitioned their friendship to a dating relationship. Their chemistry was perfect, I just really loved them together. I had a little trouble with the narrator, sometimes I couldn’t tell which character was talking. I didn’t even realize Brittan was revealed as the villain until a little later and had to go back and listen again. His voice is nice but he needs a little more work on his inflection. He sounded pretty wooden.

Sweet young adult romance

Casey Preston loves Ethan Rain. Ethan Rain loves Casey Preston. But they've also been best friends forever and bonded even more after Ethan's mom and Casey's dad died in the same incident. Neither wants to destroy the deep bond of friendship that binds them together, and when Casey's careless words bring them into a fake relationship, the resultant problems cause a quasi-breakup and a strain on their friendship that only the truth can dispel. Aside from that, though, Casey has also got to face his fear of losing Ethan the way he lost his dad because of Ethan's health issue. In the end, he must seek help for his PTSD as much as Ethan must ask for help for his physical ones. It's a well-told tale, despite the poor showing by the performer, who didn't do this narration justice at all. He read the words rather than acting the parts, which might explain why his performance was perfunctory at best and awkward at worst. It wasn't enough for me that he was able to distinguish between male and female tones.

Sweet Best Friends to lovers story!

Hockey player Ethan and archeology student Casey are childhood best friends. They have a shared trauma of losing a parent and are both secretly in love with each other. So, lots of good pining on both sides and a fun fake boyfriends twist. The narrator does a fine job making each character distinct and identifiable. The story is sweet with minimal angst. Great cameos from Stick Side series favorites and lovely HEA.

I received an arc of this book and this is my honest review.

Adorable!

This was such an adorable slowburn friends to lovers romance.

I absolutely loved listening to this!

The characters were likeable and well fleshed out and the writing style was engaging.

The narration was enjoyable and appealed to me


Definitely recommend

Hockey, Archaeology and Romance

While Keeping Casey can be read as a standalone, it sits squarely in the Stick Side universe — rubbing elbows with the world of Lighthouse Bay — and for me, the story was enhanced by my prior reading of the Stick Side series. So many of the main characters of that series either pop into the story or are mentioned, and some even have supporting roles. If you’ve enjoyed other books by the author, you’ll fall for Ethan and Casey, who are both very like-able and sweet.

In addition to drawing in fans of hockey romance, this book has something for history nerds like me. Ethan is into hockey and science — and creating little felted animals, and how cute is that?! I related more closely to Casey, whose passions are antiques and archaeology — and his best friend Ethan, of course. Far from boring, Aislin weaves Casey's interests into the story by connecting them to his memories of his father. The story also deals with the serious topic of living with rheumatoid arthritis with Ethan portrayed as a young man who is coping with this chronic disease and making the best of the situation. Also, as is the case with several of Aislin’s books, one of the characters is demi-sexual; by addressing and normalizing his demi-sexuality, she is helping to remove some of the stigma of being on the asexual spectrum.

Even though I had read and enjoyed the ebook, a good narrator who brings the characters’ voices to life can make the experience of the story all the more enjoyable. I’ve heard that Michael Franklin is relatively new to narrating and I think he did a solid job of it. He had good inflection and differentiated the voices, especially of the two main characters. His cadence was okay, and will undoubtedly improve with experience.

In the end, Keeping Casey is a sweet, low angst romance with three-dimensional like-able leading men. Two thumbs up!