Laying Pipe

By: Kiki Clark

Narrated by: Kirt Graves

Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

John 

John has a good life. A mostly happy one even. It’s simple and a little lonely at times now that he’s divorced, but that’s okay. Not everyone is destined for a great love or happily ever after.  

But he does have a thriving business and a best friend who’s like family. What more does he need?  

Definitely not his best friend’s son. Even if John did look at men that way, there was no way he’d risk his friendship because he’d suddenly noticed things about Lukas he never had before.  

Like how sweet he was. Or how good-looking.  

Or how much he wants to kiss him....

Lukas 

Having a crush on his dad’s best friend for years hasn’t done wonders for Lukas’ love life. No one ever quite measured up to the kindhearted man who always seems to be there when Lukas needs him.  

He knows nothing can ever come of it since John’s straight. Like, used to be married to a woman, only ever dated women, super blue-collar kind of straight.  

Not to mention his dad would lose his mind....  

But it's totally fine. Lukas is sure he’ll get over his feelings eventually.  

Even if John is suddenly looking at him differently.  

Almost like...almost like he wants to kiss Lukas?  

That can’t be right.  

Laying Pipe is the first in best-selling author Kiki Clark’s Blue Collar Hearts series. It features a 42-year-old plumber who’s good with his hands...and pipes, a 26-year-old vet tech with the softest of hearts, a late-blooming bisexual, super low angst, and butt-touching as a love language. 

©2020 Kiki Clark (P)2021 Kiki Clark

Falling in love with Dad’s best friend!

This is an age-gap, dad’s best friend, bisexual awakening, kind of romance.

The characters are relatable, Lucas is adorable and John is a solid and really good guy. They’ve been in each other’s lives for years and while Lucas has been pining for John for years, John was very late to the party. It’s worth it though, I really enjoyed listening to these two fall in love, specially John.

It’s a feel-good romance, just two men falling in love, almost no angst.

Kirt Graves’ narration took the story to the next level.

Five piping stars! 😉

Loved it!

I don’t know how Kiki does it but she has a talent for creating characters you just fall in love with.

From Rick to Bennet, John to Tank, she crafts these big, tough, sometimes possessive but in a hot as hell way, and oh so kinky guys with marshmallow hearts who love so deeply, you just want them to jump through your kindle and take care of you.

No? Just me? Okay…

I really love Kirk Graves’s voice and narration. He always does a fantastic job. I’m so used to his voices that it’s hard for me to find another narrator I like as much!

John and Lucas totally stole my heart. I loved how sweet Lucas was, and he melted my heart with his love for animals. And you know how I feel about John…unf. Their story was sweet, kinky, tender, and thoroughly enjoyable.

👍👍

I loved this book. I will say that my only issue is that I felt the way John just went from straight to bisexual seemed a little too seamless. I think it would be more realization to have had some more hesitation or discussion about the transition would have been interesting and natural. Instead, he jumped right in and basically led the relationship with no hesitation. I couldn’t keep from thinking about that throughout the book.

A sweet age gap romance!

This was a lighthearted, low angst contemporary age gap romance.

Lucas and John were amazing!
This was such a sweet wholesome listen overall.

The storyline was engaging, the characters were likeable and enjoyable and the writing style was compelling.

Kirt Graves knocked it right out of the park with his stellar audio delivery and narration.
I really love how easy it is listening to him perform.

An age old trope at its best

Mmmm. This one was so good! It is an age gap best friend’s dad/son trope that makes you feel so good listening to it. Listening to John and Lucas fall in love was so sweet. It is a sweet and hot story with almost no angst and is definitely worth taking a chance on. And don’t forget the pets. Absolutely all the stars!!!

HOT!

What does a person do when they find themselves crushing on their best friends son? That is a question John has to ask himself. He is confused because he's never thought about dating a man before. He used to be married. But he started noticing his best friends son and the looks they exchange. There is no denying the attraction between the two, but John has to ask himself if the son is worth the risk of losing his friend of over 20 years. Is this something that can worked out of his system with a couple nights of sex, or is there more?

Forbidden and sweet

Narration: Kirt Graves is amazing at distinguishing the voices for the MCs. Even though it’s written in third person, I never got confused cause Kirt is that good!

Story: It’s a sweet forbidden/taboo age-gap story, not very angsty with lovable characters. I love stories that has “regular” AND relatable people in it.

Loved this book!

This was a new to me author but sounded right up my alley so I tried it. Am so glad I did! Loved Lucas and John from the start. The narrator was amazing and plot was built up perfectly without being rushed. Will definitely be reading more by this author!

A feel good standalone age gap m/m romance

Meet John, Lukas and David!
John's in his forties, plumber, divorced and been a friend of David's for 20 years.
Lukas is a 24 year old veterinarian assistant whose had a crush on John he's been hiding from everyone since he was 17.
And David, he's Lukas's father...yeah, now you see the problem!!!

Lol, I love the book it's full of fun, laughs, loving pets and loving people! And the audible has one of the hottest narrators around and perfect to deliver it if you enjoy immersive reading or just prefer listening instead of reading., Kirt Graves brings it home!

A feel good standalone age gap m/m romance with solid and loveable main characters, their family , friends and pets!

straight-shaped romance

Dull and heavily relies on heteronormative tropes. I mean, unrelentingly. We're essentially told that Lukas and John are meant to be because Lukas likes Girl Work and John likes Man Work. Naturally, the perfect balance! 🙄 Ugh, it's hard to listen to at points, especially toward the end. However, there are bright spots. John, the older man, is comfortable with his newly discovered queerness and extremely playful and confident. It's so refreshing and nice to see. As for his dirty talk? Straight out of 80's pizza delivery porn. Wrecks the mood, but, hey, at least he's having fun. Lukas, the younger man, is just sort of there and the most notable thing we're shown about his character is that he slept with & dated a lot of older men to cope with his attraction to John. Bit of an obsession. ☠️

omg so much fun!

Fun, sexy, steamy and full of heart! This later in life bisexual discovery story was refreshing and wonderful. I loved that John accepted himself and jumped right in with both feet. He was happy to discover all the passions of his sexuality, and accept his desires, small catch was it was with his best friend's son.

Another great part to this story was the age and maturity of John and Lucas, they're not "too old" or "too young" but very confident people, sure of who they are and what they want and their love story is feels with passion, chemistry and all the feels!!

I look forward to more in this series and hope Hank and Kevin find their HEA.

Lazy,sloppy writing. I felt sorry for the narrator

New to me author that I thought I'd take a chance on because of the stellar narrator.
What a mistake that was.
I don't know if this book was edited or if the editor was just rubbish. There were so many poorly constructed sentences and bad word choices that "Laying Pipe" reads like it was written by a 13-year-old. Any decent author knows that the use of 'Literally' all the time is a BAD SIGN. That was the first inkling...

Then there were many times when the physical placement of characters and the description of their interaction made no sense. For instance, John and Lucas had a meal, apparently sitting opposite one another at a breakfast bar. But John 'turns all the way around and faces Lucas'... which is pure nonsense if they were sitting across from one another.

Again, later in the story, John keeps a plate of dinner for Lucas and Lucas goes to John's cabin to collect it. Lucas is holding the dinner plate and the writer never says that Lucas put the plate down. Yet, he gets into a smooch with John and both of his hands are on him, so where is the plate? On his head? Who knows. So, you can see that this book has problems and the author's attention to detail is lacking.

What ended my patience with this story was that the first sex scene included unprotected sex. Spending into a partner's open hole on the first time was not sexy or romantic. The reality is that it could give Lucas a nasty, life-threatening STD. Yes, this is fiction so we try to suspend disbelief, but this is also a romance - What is romantic about an older man who cares so little for his new, younger partner that he puts him at risk of an STD for their first time together. After that scene, there were 3 hrs of this book to go and I decided anything was better than continuing.
I feel sorry for Kirt Graves having to narrate this trash.

Aww

This book was a little sweet. Just what the doctor ordered for this cold winter's day.

First of all, I was given this book as a promo. But I am freely leaving my review.

I'm not really a fan of the best friend's son or older/younger dynamic in books. I prefer for age to not be a big deal as long as you are both adults. However, Kiki managed it well in this story. It was very enjoyable as I sat in my lazy boy rocking chair sipping on cocoa and caramel mocha's.

Kurt Graves has that distinctive, steady and calm narration style that really soothes you as he draws you into each character he voices.

All in all, a good listen.

Sweet and dirty talk

I didn’t remember this story being so touching, and narrator’s voice is so good, it transmits so much emotions it’s hard not to feel like the main characters.
It’s just two people who have feelings for each other and some circumstances between them, which tug their insecurities, but they make through.
John has a huge dirty mouth, a bit too much for my liking (only reason for the four stars), but despite the dirty parts it’s quite sweet, I liked the couple and the story a lot.

If you don’t like a book it’s fine, writing a mean review is not necessary though, specially if that review criticises what they call unprotected sex. Well, in that case we should condemn pretty much every romance, because all of which I’ve read so far—that means a lot—have oral sex and frottage without protection. I’ve never read a scene in which they wash their hands before touching (or fingering) themselves or others either. So let’s be realistic, please, and not mean for the sake of being mean, It can make a lot of damage to an author.

«How hard was to find someone who saw him as competent and mature but would also help him with things he wasn’t good at? Wasn’t that what a real partnership was supposed to be like?».

Lovely story

Love has no age limit and this story is perfect, worry over parants accepting their love between and older man and the son of his best friend, it has a lovely ending but you will wish it goes on. Great narrator who certainly does the story justice.

Age gap, dad’s best friend and bisexual awakening…

Age gap, dad’s best friend and bisexual awakening… what’s not to love?
I absolutely adored John. He’s 42, divorced and has been straight all his life (or, well, he may have checked out a guy or two in his time, but that doesn’t count, does it?), except when he starts to notice how Lukas’s body looks like, he’s much more worried about what his best friend (Lukas’s father) may think than that he’s actually checking out a guy. And sure, he may try to resist his attraction at first, but resistance is futile, and soon the two men are steaming up every room they find themselves in, with encounters hot enough to be scorching!
The book is actually not too angst-y, and it is super steamy, so it was the perfect audio to tide me over a cold and grey day at work!
Kirt Graves doesn’t need introductions or further gushing from my part about how wonderfully talented he is, so I’ll just say that he was a perfect fit for this story!

A crush since childhood

A fantastic contemporary MM romance, Dads best friend, age gap, bi awakening. John had been divorced from his wife for many years and as a plumber was kept busy at work, he spends time with his best friend and his wife frequently. When Lukas their son rings needing Johns help he rushes round to his house. Lukas has had a crush on John for years...but John's straight. Great narration from Kirt Graves.

Absolutely Beautiful ☺️

I won the audiobook in a Facebook competition and promised I would review it.

As I never give away spoilers to any book I review I know I shall not spoil anything for anyone.

I loved this book. A refreshing change, light, bright and breezy with touches of humour throughout.

Very well written and excellently narrated by Kirt Graves as expected.

Highly recommend this audiobook/book and definitely worth 5⭐️’s 😁

Great age gap!

Story: Let me preface my review with saying I am a huge fan of age gap stories. Add in a best friend's son element and I am all in, hook, line and sinker. This book is quite a classic take on the tropes, without many unexpected complications. This however does not mean the story is not engaging! I loved the dynamics between the characters and the evolution of their relationship. It didn't hurt any that there was so much heat there! A complete package for a feel good read with very limited angst!

Narration: I was eyeing this book for quite a while and I am so happy I waited for the audio! Kirt Graves did an awesome job with the characters and all the emotions! Never had any problem with following the story, so the performance was top notch in my book!