Meant to Be Gay

Moving Forward, Book 2

By: Lara Hale

Narrated by: J. R. Pyfferoen

Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

I found a little notebook, but it isn't the address book I was looking for. It's a...it's a journal. I kept a journal! I begin to read, and the first date goes back to less than three years ago - I read things that don't make sense.

I love him so much! I don't think I could've survived what I did to my mom if it wasn't for him. He is always there for me and thank God for that.

I move a few pages down to a later date's entry and find more comments about a man. A man I supposedly love.

The therapist wants me to tell him about my past, but how exactly do you tell the man you love that your mother is dead because of you? How do I tell the man I love that the reason I refuse to call my dad is because of the shame and guilt I've been carrying around?

I stop reading. So many questions are making my head hurt. What did I do that killed my mom? Who the hell is he? Could it be Scotland? He often acts as if he loves me, but I still think he's keeping secrets from me. Who can I trust after the accident that took my memory away? 

Is he really just my roommate?

Meant to Be Gay is a gay story with mature content intended for 18+. This story mentions mental illness and suicide.

©2021 Lara Hale (P)2021 Lara Hale

A sweet second chance romance

I loved this sweet opposites attract, second chance romance.

I liked how the author portrayed the characters and how the amnesia was handled.

I liked the unique storyline overall.
The narrator did a great job

The heart remembers

This is different. Scotland and Mason are in love, living the best of their lives and planning a wedding that’s meant to happen in a few weeks. Suddenly, a horrific car accident stopped everything everything they dreamed and worked for wiping Mason’s memory of 10 years before the accident. Now he doesn’t remember Scotland, his estrangement from his relatives and the death of his mother. Most important of all, he doesn’t even remember that he’s gay and in love with Scotland.

From a picture perfect life, now everything starts from the very beginning again. Scotland is dying inside pretending to be Mason’s roommate not being able to express the love and care to the man he wholeheartedly love. There are a lot of hurdles that these two had to go through to get their happy ending but it was a worthwhile journey to experience. This is actually my very first book of Ash Knight but I’m really happy with it and I believe this won’t be the last book from her. If you are looking for a bit serious romance with lots of hurt/comfort, this might be the one for you.

4 the heart remembers stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



Audio rating

Story - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Performance - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sweet

A Second chance romance that tugs at your heart strings. Performance by a new to me narrator was good.

Good

Enjoyed this one from a new to me author! It was a nicely written and had a good storyline with rich main characters. Enjoyed the narration as well though I'm not sure why the narrator chose to use British accents. Still nicely done!

Amnesia Love Story

After reading the blurb,I was excited to read this book. What I got didn't really match the build up to the blurb. Mason and Scotland are the MC's of this story. Mason was in a car accident and one of the injuries was amnesia. From there the story is extremely erratic. We are told of their life before, Mason's past, Scotlands past etc.. Not all of it meshed together. There were jagged edges that kept throwing me out of the story. I so wanted to love this amnesia story and the aftermath. This one was in need of editing or good beta readers.

2nd chance at love

This book is a make/male romance.

I love the amnesia trope and couldn’t wait to listen to this audiobook. Scotland was so patient and his love for Mason shown in every action and reaction he had throughout the story. I do feel like it could have had more development as it went along. The story felt rushed in some ways but in the end, I enjoyed it.

JR Pyfferoen was a new narrator to me. Although he had an accent for Scotland and Natasha, it was never explained why, which felt like a miss to me.

Overall, I’ll give this a solid 4 stars.

Mason and Scotland's Second-Chance Romance

This audiobook was given to me as a free review copy that I requested. I’m now submitting my voluntary opinion of it.

As with book 1, I’m not sure how the author intends these characters to be perceived by the reader. The characterizations are inconsistent. This is especially true with Scotland. There is a section in particular in which he is portrayed as an immature jerk. It’s a little off-putting.

The premise of the story is good; I love the amnesia trope. I just don’t think it’s executed to its fullest potential here. It needs to include some much deeper emotional depth. As it is, it feels superficial and rushed.

**This paragraph has SPOILERS.** I really liked the scenes when Mason is in the hospital the second time. The proposal and wedding vows show the love between Scotland and Mason better than any of the sexy times scenes do.

I wasn’t sure why Scotland and Natasha are voiced with British accents. There’s no context provided in Hale’s story to explain this. I couldn’t come up with anything plausible myself.

I enjoy the narration provided by JR Pyfferoen. His cadence and tone are pleasing to listen to. I'll definitely listen to more books from him.

“I was born to love him”

“Every love story is beautiful but ours is my favorite”

Mason and Scotland's story is a little emotional. Both men couldn’t be any sweeter so it hurt my heart a bit to follow them as they maneuver their new life together. The love Scotland has for Mason is so strong and the two really seemed meant for each other.

J.R. Pyfferoen did a pretty good job. He changes the voices for each character and the emotional parts are portrayed well. I don’t know if it's just because I was using headphones, but I could hear when the narrator inhaled and at times it was a little distracting.

Well done book with amnesia trope

First of all, I think the cover of this book is perfect! It has been quite awhile since I’ve read an amnesia-focused romance, so I was eager to listen to Meant To Be Gay. I have listened to this narrator before and enjoyed his excellent voice portrayal of characters. This audiobook was just as well done. He is able to make a range of voices that are easy to discern and immensely enjoyable to listen to.

I liked the way the story unfolded with some time changes going to the past and present. Sometimes that can be more confusing in audio, but the narrator handled it well enough that I had no trouble and the author was clear when the changes took place.

All in all, I found this an enjoyable book to listen to and actually liked it better than the first one in the series....plus seeing those characters make a cameo in this book was nice to see.

A beautiful love story and fabulous performance

OMG my heart wasn't prepared for that 😭💔💕

SJ and Mason are weeks out from their wedding and are madly in love at the start of the book when Mason is in a terrible car accident and doesn't remember the last 10 years and thinks he's straight. SJ wants him to learn things for himself so he tells him they are just roommates, takes down all the pics and moves into the guest room but Mason finds his diary.

I could not stop listening to this. The characters were wonderful (there is one side character that throws out alot of homophobic hate speech though but it's brief).The 2 main characters had amazing chemistry and a beautiful love. This is the epitome of all the feels. A rollercoaster of emotions. It broke my heart and then put it back together. Truly a beautiful story of true love surviving anything. There are plenty of steamy scenes. This is a pretty short story. Just over 4 hours but it felt complete. I would absolutely recommend this but be prepared for an emotional ride.

The narrator did a fabulous job. They had a pleasant reading voice, kept a good pace and expreased the emotions well. They used a English accent for one and a American accent for the other so it is very easy to tell them apart and follow the story with ease. I'll be listening to this many times more.

Easy listen with emotional moments

New-to-me author and new-to-me narrator.

An awful lot is crammed into this book, despite the audio being just under 4.5 hours (including epilogue and bonus chapter).

Both characters have endured a fair bit of trauma, including abuse and amnesia. The main plot points are sometimes overwhelmed by background information and other times aren’t as fully developed as they could be, due to cramming in a lot of sex scenes. I’m a sucker for a good amnesia storyline and this one definitely has its strong points, but I guess from the blurb, I was expecting …more. More development of the memory-based storylines and more details about coming to terms with losing part of your life’s memories.

That being said, there are plenty of emotional scenes that seem to have been well crafted. Lots of feels.

But on the other hand, the relationship between Mason and Scotland often falls in the too-good-to-be-true camp, with an awful lot of mushiness and I love you’s and limited relationship conflict.

Nevertheless, mostly entertaining listen.

What a fabulous story!

Excellent story line and the narration was spot on. Brilliant ending, HEA! Highly recommended to all.

Fantastic Story

I really enjoyed this story. I felt so much for Mason and Scotland after the accident. I cannot imagine how much it would hurt to be so in love, ready to marry, and have one's love not only not remember you, but not remember he was gay! I have read many memory loss stories, but that was a new twist for me. The story of Mason's mother and what she did was so sad. I liked the positive changes that Mason went through as he recovered, reconnecting with his family and the changes in his attitude toward kids. There was definitely some sadness and angst, especially for Scotland, but I loved the way he and Mason grew together. This story had so many unique and different spins on the memory loss trope and I really enjoyed them.

The narrator was a new voice for me and he really did a great job with the voices and emotions. He really added a fantastic layer to the story.

I received a free copy of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

What a sweet story’

I like to read memory loss romances where there are happy endings. This book about Mason and Scotland, gives me all the nice feelings. Mason loses his memory just before his wedding date. Scotland is going crazy but he doesn’t tell Mason they were engaged, since he lap forgot he was gay. I enjoyed their journey back to love, the family coming back together, friends helping up and Mason never straying away from SJ. It’s sweet and totally sexy when it matters. The narrator did a good job too.

Interesting trope reversal

The friends to lovers trope is one of my favorites in the romance genre, but this one gives it a really fresh new twist due to Mason's amnesia. Here, we have a lovers to friends to lovers story that is both heartbreaking as we watch Scotland have to hide what he and Mason are to each other, all the while supporting him all he can in his recovery. Their new relationship develops in a lovely fashion and J. R. Pyfferoen does a magnificent job of portraying all the emotional ups and downs of the story.

Another cute story

I enjoyed the first book in the series, and so was happy to pick up this one. I adored Harvey and Tobias and was thrilled to see them building their own little family. Harvey’s friendship to Scotland is what pulls them into this book.

Ah, Scotland. Appropriately named. He is living the perfect life. He has his boyfriend Mason, they have a lovely house, and they’re getting married. But the stress over the wedding is getting to Mason, but he loves Scotland so he’s dealing. Then a horrific car crash stops everything, including Mason’s memory. Ten years, in a snap, are missing. He doesn’t remember Scotland. Doesn’t remember his mother’s death. Doesn’t remember his estrangement from his sister and father. All of it – just gone.

I think we’ve all had that transitory thought of ‘what if I lost my memory’? For those of us passing middle age and into our senior years, the reality is that much closer. So I wondered how Mason would cope. How Scotland would cope. Especially since Mason somehow doesn’t remember that he’s gay.

The solution is for Mason to go back to a home he doesn’t remember with a man he doesn’t know who claims to be his roommate. Now, the one point that kind of stretched me a bit was Mason was seriously hurt in a car crash and then he comes home with not even a twinge of pain. I’ve been in even minor collisions where the pain stuck around longer. But I digress.

This is obviously killing Scotland – watching the man he loves and not being able to express that love. Wanting to help but not being able to. Mason, for his part, senses there’s more but can’t articulate it. Eventually the men restart their relationship with Mason accepting he’s gay. Then something else happens and everything is thrown back into chaos.

The story has a happy ending which I was glad of. Mason and Scotland had to overcome a ton off hurdles, but I guess true love always wins the day. J.R. Pyfferoen is a newer narrator to me but I enjoy his performances. Can’t wait to see what comes next.

Great

Super addition by Lara Hale. Mason and Scotland are interesting characters and it was a joy to follow their story. RJ Pyfferoen did a great job with the narration. Hope to find many more stories by Lara Hale on Audible.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Emotional

A beautiful love story.
Mason and Scottland have been in an established relationship for some tome.
When Mason is injured, it has devastating consequences.
As they struggle through to get beck some semblance of their previous life, it's heartbreaking to see them both suffer.
Their HEA is hard fought for and absolutely deserved.
J. R. Pyfferoen is a new narrator for me and I absolutely enjoyed his work.

worth the listen

it was a good story with good narration. nothing highly dramatic but it does pull at your emotions. easy to listen without feeling you missed something in the story if you stop and start for distractions.

Hard to imagine what it would be like

This is such an emotional story. Mason is in an accident and loses his memory. Since he is engaged to be married that makes things a little hard for Scotland his fiancée. Scotland is waiting for Mason’s memory to return and things get a little painful. Mason feels Scotland is keeping secrets. Scotland just wants to help Mason and things get a little edgy. The narration by J.R. Pyfferoen brought these two characters to life. I feel the audio version gives the story so much more depth.