Lay It Down

De: Mary Calmes

Narrado por: Alexander Collins

Paradise can be hell.

Most people would say being stranded in the villa of Spanish shipping magnate Miguel García Arquero on the beautiful isle of Ibiza wasn't such a bad deal. But Hudson Barber isn't one of them. To him, being stuck without a passport in a foreign country far from home is a nightmare, made worse by the fact that the person who did the stranding was his flighty twin brother.

Unwilling to turn Dalvon in for identity theft, Hudson is forced to wait, but meanwhile he discovers the chance to rehabilitate Miguel's failing local businesses - enterprises left to Dalvon's inexperienced care. The flagging ventures are a badly wrapped gift from heaven, and if Hudson can turn them around, he might be able to leverage the experience to finish his MBA.

Then Miguel returns to Ibiza, and instead of finding a boy toy, he discovers Hudson has turned his cold villa into a warm, welcoming home. Miguel's path is clear: convince Hudson to lay down his defenses and let love in.

©2016 Mary Calmes (P)2016 Dreamspinner Press

I enjoy this narrator and the author is awesome

Where does Lay It Down rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's up there because I adore Mary Calmes

Have you listened to any of Alexander Collins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I like his accents and his vocal styling. I noticed others complaining about his speed but I enjoyed it. No need to speed it up.

Any additional comments?

Overall I think narration is probably taste. I enjoyed this light fare from Mary and all her books are excellent!

Another great tale

Any additional comments?

What I love most about this authors books/audios is that you never really know what we are getting. Sometimes that’s a good thing sometimes not so much. This time it worked out pretty well.

Twin brothers, the older made it a point to insure the young got everything in life. Growing up the foster care, Hudson made sure that the young twin was sheltered, spoiled, and received everything he himself could or wouldn’t allow himself to believe he needed, wanted or deserved. This led to a very one sides and unhealthy relationship not just with the brother but with everyone in his life.

My issues, Hudson gives in too quickly, about everything! Forgiving, the whole situation, it’s frustrating. For being the more dominating brother, he sure is weaker.

What I loved, everything else, the sites, the sounds, the family. The way Miguel coveted Hudson, not just the body but the person, the brain. The way everyone gravitas towards him, made me as well.

Even though I found the second part of the story a little crazy (gun running) it was still a very enjoyable book.

The Narrator, Alexander Collins, I believe this was my first by him. And I found that this was a very voice that matched characters perfectly. That deep Hispanic to the classic American.

4 stars = I REALLY liked this book!

I received a free copy of this audiobook to listen to and review for Wicked Reads.

I really enjoyed the audiobook edition of Lay It Down. Despite the insta-love nature of the relationship that develops between Hudson and Miguel, I thoroughly enjoyed the story as Calmes infuses just enough romance, sexual tension, and suspense to keep me glued to my Kindle. The author sucks me right into Hudson’s story, and as the hits keep coming, I was intrigued. I had to see how it would all play out. Having Hudson step in and assume the duties his brother willfully neglected, giving the staff at the villa and the employees of the other businesses a purpose and the support they needed to succeed, was inspired, especially as he was able to use his work experience in Ibiza as credit toward his degree. It was obvious that Hudson was an excellent student because he was able to take what he’d learned and implement it effectively. This made it easy for me to understand his desire to throttle his brother over Dalvon’s inability to understand the significance of Hudson’s graduate program or Dalvon’s suggestion that Hudson should have been happy to be at Will’s beck and call. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that while Hudson seems to know Dalvon better than Dalvon knows him, there is much neither brother knows about his twin.

Seeing Hudson take charge and make changes in his brother’s steed was great because it gives the reader (or listener, in my case), the opportunity to get to know Hudson as he interacts with others. I enjoyed the relationships he developed with those around him, especially Miguel’s mother and Duena. He’s used to being the one having to take charge of the situation to make sure that those around him are taken care of. Perhaps it’s because of this, and the fact that Miguel was able to be to Hudson what Hudson was to everyone else, that I had no issue with how fast things moved between them. For the first time in his memory, there was someone in Hudson’s life that made him feel safe and wanted to take care of him. So even as he fought against himself because he didn’t want to appear weak, yet craved feeling cherished and cared for, I was glad that Miguel had an even stronger take charge attitude. That they had sizzling chemistry didn’t hurt either. I was taken off guard a tad when the final shoe dropped, in part because I’d been lulled into a false sense of security by the author (well, done), and, in part because I wouldn’t have thought Dalvon capable of such a thing. Fortunately, Lay It Down is a true romance and Calmes was able to bring things around so that Hudson got the happy ending he deserved.

On a side note, I suspect that some readers may find the brothers taking up with their twin’s ex to have a bit of an ick factor, but for the four men involved, it didn’t actually bother me. Then again, beyond overhearing Dalvon being greeted by Will while Hudson was on the phone, we’re really not exposed to that relationship. And as the relationship between Hudson and Miguel develops, it’s pretty clear why Miguel and Dalvon were never going to work out. The fact that there were no hard feelings involved helped keep the “partner exchange” from being awkward – that, and the 3,500 plus miles between Boston and Ibiza. Alexander Collins does a wonderful job narrating Lay It Down. Initially I found that he uses a vocal inflection for Hudson’s voice at times that bothered me for the first five minutes or so of listening, but once I became accustomed to it, realizing it was just a part of Hudson’s character (much like Miguel’s accent), it wasn’t an issue. Overall, I found his voice to be extremely pleasant and had no issue keeping up with which character was talking when except for the chaos at the end with the bad guys, mainly because they had such limited parts in the storyline. Lay It Down was an entertaining audiobook and I look forward to checking out more of Calmes’s writing and Collins’s narrative talents.

Great book, bad narrator

I always love any Mary Calmes book, but the voice narration... the. voice. narration. 😮‍💨😞 I got through chapter 6 and I couldn't listen to anymore. I love the deep timber of his voice but the way he read it... it was just bad, there's just no life to it.

Typical Mary Calmes

Just like usual Mary's storytelling blue me away. The narration, however, not so much. The reader's voice had like an oily, almost creepy quality to it (like he was reading a ghost story or crime thriller) that didn't match the sweetness of the characters. Overall though, still not a bad listen

Accents need work.

Any additional comments?

Look, I love Alexander Collins. Whether he’s narrating as Collins or under his Mark Westfield pseudonym, I love his work. I’m a fan.

Maybe it’s because half my family is Spanish and the other half is Australian. So I’m bound to be a tough sell when it comes to accents, but this narration did not work for me.

While Alexander Collins has many talents: conveying emotion, clever use of props, great delivery…I wouldn’t classify accents as his strong suit and this story has a strong requirement of Spanish/Ibizan accent work. He didn’t rock the accents. In fact, for the main bad guy I heard two different UK-ish accents.

The rest of his performance is solid, but the accent work almost killed my enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend to proceed with caution.

sorry narrator

Is there anything you would change about this book?

really, just the narrator. I liked his voice but his delivery was more appropriate to reading of the news and not narrating a book. I gritted my teeth the whole time

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

the narration

How could the performance have been better?

the narrator ended every sentence on an up-pitch which made it very hard for me to enjoy. Sorry Alexander but what works for other readings doesn't work for audible books.

Was Lay It Down worth the listening time?

I had read the story before this audio released. Liking the story was why I purchased it on audio, and I'd not been disappointed by the other narrators of Mary Calmes work.

Any additional comments?

I think Alexander has the potential to be good at this with some practice. He has a very pleasant voice and he changes for the various characters. I just couldn't enjoy this reading. I would purchase more by this author and would consider the narrator again but I would definitely listen to a sample before deciding. Please don't take this too harshly as it may not bother another listener.

Laid Out by the Narrator

Would you consider the audio edition of Lay It Down to be better than the print version?

Mary Calmes please promise me that you will never allow Alexander Collins near one of your books. Better yet, please have Tristan James or Sean Crisden redo the book!

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the story and the relationship between the two main characters. I love the location and the family values.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He slaughtered the book. I am convinced that water boarding would be a preferable pleasant afternoon activity to listening to him again. I have never felt so compelled to say, "Please, please, please don't let him narrate any more." His narration was beyond painful.

Who was the most memorable character of Lay It Down and why?

Hudson and his assistant.

had to change speed to 1.30

had to change the playing speed to 1.30 from 1. to make listening even possible

I liked the story, not the narration

It was a short, sweet story and when I read it, I liked it. The narration was not up to par and was very sing-songey (and the accent was not good at all). I would not recommend this audio version.