Love Is a Stranger

More Heat Than the Sun, Book 1

By: John Wiltshire

Narrated by: Gary Furlong

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

Nominated for SOVAS (Society of Voice Arts and Sciences) Award 2021 - Thriller Category

Ex-SAS soldier Ben Rider falls in love with his enigmatic married boss Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen, but Nikolas is living a lie. A lie so profound that when the shadows are lifted, Ben realises he's in love with a very dangerous stranger. Ben has to choose between Nikolas and safety, but sometimes danger comes in a very seductive package.

©2021 Decent Fellows Press (P)2021 Decent Fellows Press

Wow!!

This book was amazing!....and the narration couldn't have been more perfect. 😍I can't wait for the next book!!

Excellent narration, pity about the story

I have to say if the narrator hadn't been so good there's zero chance I would have finished this.
When it comes to the nitty gritty twists and turns in this story it's actually not too bad but the character development is just not there. Nor is there any build to a relationship. Basically the main character is sleeping with one guy who dies in a fire but he's also sleeping with his boss. Then cut to six months later (where you actually find out he's been sleeping with his boss) and all of a sudden they're in love.
The actual premise of this book is interesting but there's no build or padding to draw you in to their characters. You don't understand enough about them to make their decisions matter.
I'll be returning this one.

Just so boring.

I don't really know what to say, other than I was utterly bored by this book. I don't necessarily think it was the narrator, as I'm a total sucker for british accents.

The chemistry between the protagonists felt forced. I honestly cannot tell you anything about the plot. I didn't even finish the book because I just didn't care about either character and the story just wasn't compelling or gripping.

I was only continuing to listen because I felt some sort of obligation, but once I started to question myself about what had happened so far and couldn't give myself any satisfying answer I had to stop.

Terrific beginning to a series

Well this is a bit tricky because so much of what makes this an incredibly compelling listening experience is that not all is as it seems – and if I explained it all, it wouldn’t be as fun.

And this book was a LOT of fun. Serious. Deadly. Sexy. Emotional. Spycraft. and Fun. And there’s a DOG!

I read that and I think – whoah, whoah, whoah – you won’t be prepared for how much the book also devastates you. Because I definitely became attached to Ben and Nikolas and when more is revealed it’s heartbreaking.

I really clicked with John Wiltshire’s writing, especially her sense of humor. While this is a complete and enjoyable story – it is just the beginning for Ben and Nikolas. Be ready to be sucked into the More Heat Than the Sun series because the ending leaves you wanting more. I’m jumping right into Conscious Decisions of the Heart.

Narration:
Gary Furlong. Oh my goodness. This man is amazing. His accents are wonderfully consistent. Emotions. Timing. It comes together in a truly perfect production.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Decent Fellows Press and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Fantastic

Love is a stranger is an awesome non stop, action adventure thriller romance I enjoyed very much.

Take two James Bond type of characters , having lots of sex while chasing bad guys, explosions , shootings, daring escapes with lots of snark and banter it's this audiobook in a nutshell. That's right , perfect escapism listen/read.

Gary Furlong performance was brilliant.

Wow, what a ride

The action started right off with a house on fire and didn't slow. I love the MC's and how the vision of what they each thought their relationship was is being turned upside down. I laughed out loud at some of their conversations. Some of the memories and current situations they find themselves in, are pretty bad. Overall this is not a bit of fluff. You better have on your big girl pants for this one. I'm going straight to book 2.

Love is a stranger: what a great read! I loved the books, and the audio just made the experience better!

The book and the adventures, the emotional roller-coaster is thrilling in its own, but the voices made it more real for me. I liked listen into Nikolas and Ben's relationship, liked to go through (together with them) again all the changes they had to experience in order to make their relationship work.
I liked Nikolas' way of talking, the strange words he used (abhore, obtuse etc). As a non-native English speaker it is always amusing to see how rearly used words are we thought, and looked strange upon, when we accidentally speak them 🤣
So yeah, this is one of my favorite Audible titles.

amazing!

I can't say enough about how amazing this story is. The way Ben and Nik slowly find out about each other. By the end of this book, I'm already buying the next.
The narrator does a fabulous job making you fall into these characters.

MM steamy intense read

This was an intense and satisfying read. I really enjoyed both MCs and both side characters that were in the book more than just mentions. First, let's talk about Ben, who knows how to lighten the mood and get Nik to open up in a way that Nik has never truly let himself. Finding out more about Nik, I could actually understand him, and I ached for him to get something he truly wanted and loved, which was Ben. And then I loved the dog, I am not going to try to spell his name, but he was perfect too. The story progressed well. I did find the layout a bit hard to follow at first, but once I got used to it, it really moved along and I did not want to stop listening/reading. Gary Furlong narrated this, and it was superb. I loved the narration. Definitely recommend if you are looking for a dark-ish read with a ton of steamy scenes.

Perfection! Narrator and great story

I have read a ton of MM but not this series. It’s been on my TBR forever. So glad I waited for Audio. Immediately headed into book two. Mysterious, hot, exciting and with a sense of self discovery. Love it!

Incredible performance for great book

Love is a Stranger is a book of many layers. The two protagonists are engaged in a covert sexual affair, but it's not the usual boss and employee fling, Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen and his agent Ben Rider are far from ordinarily. As the story unfolds and we get glimpses of who these men are. I was pulled deeper into their mind games. Yes, some of the views of characters are dated and a tad misogynistic, but that is in keeping with the kinds of personality flaws you find in ex-military men.The writer is very gifted, and the narrator Gary Furlong pulls you from scene to scene flawlessly. A fabulous start to a great series.

Love this Series

I discovered this series just recently, as it has just come to Audio. All eight books are on Kindle Unlimited for those who discovered the Audio first like me. I am just about to start book 8 having switched to KU after the Audible ran out, and I read through the rest back to back on my Kindle. I hope all the books are narrated by Gary Furlong eventually as he does Nik's accent so well.

This series is incredibly complicated and deeply emotional, the two MCs are so totally engrossed in each-other and yet learn something new about one another in each book, despite their long and very intense relationship. The adventures these two have are almost incredible, and yet somehow topical, ranging from tsunami's to fantasy prime time TV series. Nothing is off the table where their family's are concerned, all are quite despicable, with incest and madness featured on both sides, so may not be for some. However, these two adopt people as the series progresses and make their own family of misfits as they bounce from one adventure to the next.

The writing and character building is sublime, and as I listened to the first three books, I was able to then "hear" the MCs in my head for the rest of the series on KU. I love it when a new series finds me, and this one has been my latest discovery and pleasure to read and review.

Two men and a shaggy dog story

These military MCs never leave their comrades' behind literally!! This is a sex fest complicated and punctuated by various events, snapshots and killings which justify their connection and their continuation inside the story; there seems to be precious little actual story to bind them.

This face paced book is jarring at every step, as both MCs seem extremely polarized and immature when we are told they are highly skilled operatives. The MCs realize and reveal with 3hrs left to go, it's a relationship in reverse. They start with the most intimate and base connection, then fall in love. This is the hook; you have to read/listen on to find out how this horror-show ends. The story improves drastically the closer to the end you get, which leads inevitably into getting Book 2, which comes out on 4 March on Audible. Many authors would've dealt with the sequence of events and revelations using flash-back. The shaggy dog pops in and out of the story.

The narration is fabulous, liltingly hypnotic. This narrator is the reason I chose the book. Gary Furlong narrates The Shooting Season and The Gentleman's Thief too which are excellent outrageous, funny, quirky historical mm tales. STRANGELY ENJOYABLE

New to me author

New to the author and the series, but wow, what a book series, don't expect a HEA as you are left hanging ready for the next book.

After every lie and twist you could ever imagine, Ben still loves Sir Nik, or whoever the man is. You need a lot of quiet time to sit and listen to this book, I didn't want to sleep or do any normal activity whilst listening to this. You get so absorbed.

Incredible narration by Gary Furlong, this is my second book narrated by Gary and each time I'm amazed at how easy it is to listen to a book, clear, concise and he is one of the rare narrators that I don't have to speed up audible. A real pleasure.

Love Is a Stranger
More Heat Than the Sun, Book 1
By: John Wiltshire
Narrated by: Gary Furlong
Series: More Heat Than the Sun, Book 1
Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

❤❤❤❤ Overall
🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 Narration
📚📚📚📚 Story
Read at 1.00 speed on Audible

Trilling and suspenseful! Fantastic performance!

Gary Furlong has long been on my list of favorite audiobook performers and boy did he knock this one out of the park. The story is full of emotional scenes and those emotions came through loud and clear due to Gary’s excellent performance. The audiobook is very deserving of its nomination in the thriller category for a SOVAS (Society of Voice Arts and Sciences) award.

This is the first book I’ve read by John Wiltshire and I was absolutely glued to my headphones once I started listening to this and I only stopped, briefly, when real life intervened. I need to let you know that this story does have a bit of a cliffhanger. The series is 8 books long but I’m not sure if it takes that long for the cliffhanger from book one to be resolved. In any case, I knew going in that everything wouldn’t be wrapped up in the first book and I was fine with that. Cliffhangers only bother me when I don’t know one is coming.

The story kept me on the edge of my seat for a lot of it. There were twists and turns I never saw coming and there are a lot of hot as fire sexy scenes; I thought my headphones were going to melt in a couple of places. 😊

I’m looking forward to listening to the remaining books in this series.

A complimentary copy of this audiobook was provided to me at my request but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author and/or narrator.

Adictive

A brilliant series and the audio book doesn't let you down. The readers voices are perfectly understated.

Start of a great series

I'm loving this series that I saw recommended. I know it has about eight books or more in the series so I'm hoping they all come out on audio.

Gripping, angsty and HOT!

Friends have been raving about this series for ages, and it was on my TBR list, but that list is super long. I was delighted to see that the series is now coming out as audiobooks as I listen to audio while doing chores.
My goodness, what a treat! I was immediately drawn to the mysterious Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen, who is Ben Rider's boss. Their professional relationship and personal relationship has overlapped in a very unprofessional way, but beneath the masks they both wear is an ocean of passion, secrets and lies.
I was hooked, not only for the sinfully good writing, but because Gary Furlong fleshes out Nik and Ben so effortlessly.
I loved this book, I was on the edge of my seat and my friends who crowed about this series were right, if book 1 is anything to go by I'm in for quite a ride with More Heat Than The Sun.
I am eagerly awaiting book 2.