Montana

Montana, Book 1

By: M. J. Roberts

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux

Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Life on a Montana ranch can be harsh. It's lonely for Noah, growing up with just his brother. When Noah's brother Clay hires Kevin, things immediately begin to change. Noah knows Kevin's straight. But that doesn't stop how Noah feels; the craving to touch and feel someone's skin against his for the first time. Can Noah get Kevin to fall in love with him, and get him to stay?

©2013 M. J. Roberts (P)2017 M. J. Roberts

A perfect story

I love this story so much it’s burning my heart ❣
Noah’s awakening is beautiful told and I cried a bit at some parts of this wonderful story.

The author has done a excellent job with the characters descriptions without using so many words.
It’s a good storyline that steadily progresses to a end that’s bittersweet (in my opinion)
Good amounts of dialogues and no unnecessary descriptions of surroundings makes it enjoyable experience.

Narrator:
Soothing and soulful voice that has clear pronunciation. This narrator obviously reads with a lot of feelings, no wonder I cried

This is a new to me author and now I’m craving more, this is going to be one of the authors I read all the books from.
I highly recommend you to try it you love good mm romance 💕

Dang

I think my heart is broken. Lots of feels in this story. Now I got to buy a comedy to lift me back up. Narrator was fab, story well written.

Sweet Story, But Just the Prequel

4.5 Overall
>5 Greg's narration
4-5 actual story / 1-2 trauma & frustration of discovering
you used up kleenex on a prequel w/ no HEA yet... So 3 stars for story

The story its self is sweet & well done, but if I had it to do over I'd want to know ahead it was only a prequel, Not a short first story. You do get a brief preview of what's to come, but I think readers will be happy when the next book is available so you can read both together.

A coming of age story that will capture your heart

This was one of those stories that packed a lot in a little time. This is a gripping and beautiful coming of age story of a young man named Noah. Noah was orphaned at a young age, and was raised largely by his older brother Clay. They run a family farm, and take on help in the form of a young man named Kevin. It is through Noah's friendship with Kevin that he comes to understand himself and accept himself.

Some warning, this will make you ugly cry, and I won't say there isn't a lot of love in this book, but I will say this isn't a romance story. Prepare yourself accordingly.

If you take the time to listen, you'll get a touching (couldn't help myself lol) story with an amazing narrator.

She Love’s Love

This was a beautiful coming of age story with rich characters and a heart-tugging arc. Greg is a master of the feels and I cried buckets. Loved it!

Prequel to the real story

I've read this and the 2nd book (where the Noah finds his forever-man; Lore) and can not say enough about it. It's been a couple years, but it really left an impression. Although it would be better to have both parts to read/listen to together, I was so excited to see part 1 on Audible. I am anxiously awaiting book 2.

Sweet sad unfinished

I liked this up until the end, when I realized it was indeed ending. Engaging but needed more, it was like a really long prequel.

Heart broken

This is a beautiful love story. But the ending killed me why oh why did it have to end this way. It just broke my heart to see it end this way. And I guess she is right not everyone has a happy ending but they should.

Speechless...

I don’t know why the ending was such a shock to me. The relationship between Noah and Kevin was very one-sided, although it seemed to work for them. It was a bit difficult to get involved with the book, but by the last few chapters the emotion was so heartbreaking it is still lingering. There is something of a resolution in the epilogue, and you see how the relationship helped Noah. But make no mistake, this is not a typical HEA or HFN.

Coming of age NOT a romance

This is a romantic coming of age story but you should know that due to no HEA/HFN, it is NOT a romance. It was marketed to me as a romance so I was caught off guard. Content Warning for parental death as plot point & discussions. There is tender feeling in this book and bouts of joy and much success with financial endeavors but it is not, on the main, happy. If this is what you’re looking for, I recommend it.

The main characters are affecting & tug the heartstrings. In that, it is well done. I care what happens to them. Secondary characters are few. They are well done, if skeletally, like the word version of a minimalist line drawing. It’s too minimalist to support one main scene though. After almost no proof of interaction with the world outside their farm, somehow the entire town comes to help them on a project. Wait, where did they come from & why? We know why the guys need them, but not how the neighbors knew to show up. Also, Kevin’s broad expertise struck me as precocious. Not unbelievable exactly but I needed more reason to trust his miraculously profitable knowledge.

(Minor spoiler, by which I mean I reference the last paragraph. At some point Noah spouts the “It’s God’s Country” platitude. In the last bit he waxes cliche with “at least I still have X, Y, Z & God. Uhhh sure? I’m not going to deny you that but we never saw you pray or think of any god outside of admiring scenery. We don’t see you think of god when dealing with death (if it was there I missed it) or go to church or temple. We get to observe 3 years and functionally none of it is god related so to say god remains a comfort at the end came from nowhere and rang so false that I wrote this whole paragraph about one word. /End Spoiler)

Steam: Med-low. M/M sexytimes happen, often, on page as the main focus of the book. Penetrative sex is not included. M/F sex is alluded to but not shown. It’s kind of sweet but is unbalanced because it is Noah’s story, not Noah & Kevin’s story.

Narration: Excellent. Voices are differentiated. Quality is consistent.