Patchwork Paradise

By: Indra Vaughn

Narrated by: Craig Beck

Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Oliver and Samuel's relationship is fairy-tale perfect. They share a gorgeous house in Antwerp, go out with their friends every weekend, and count down the days to their dream wedding. But their happy ending is shattered one late night, and just like that, Ollie is left bereft and alone.

The months that follow are long and dark, but slowly Ollie emerges from his grief. He even braves the waters of online dating, though deep down he doesn't believe he can find that connection again. He doesn't think to look for love right in front of him: his bisexual friend Thomas, the gentle giant with a kind heart and sad eyes who's wanted him all along.

When Thomas suddenly discovers he has a son who needs him, he's ill prepared. Ollie opens up his house - Sam's house - and lets them in. Ollie doesn't know what scares him more: the responsibility of caring for a baby, or the way Thomas is steadily winning his heart. It will take all the courage he has to discover whether or not fairy tales can happen for real.

©2016 Indra Vaughn (P)2016 Riptide Publishing

Oh, my heart.

This book is fantastic. It is such an emotional journey that feels entirely realistic. I choked back tears again & again as Ollie worked through his grief as it waxed and waned, and as he worked through how to grieve and how to move on and what to let go and when. There were also times I could've cried because of the happier moments, with that ever-present twang of bittersweet. I laughed out loud at times as well, at the periodic absurd moments Ollie created by his social awkwardness & frequent obliviousness. There were moments with Thomas as well that were often funny, particularly as they worked through taking care of a baby.
It's also a sort of coming of age book in a way, because Ollie is forced to move onto a new phase in his life, with new responsibilities, learning to stand on his own two feet after his entire adult life that far having Sam. His small circle of friends are also moving further into adulthood, facing different challenges.
The narration is excellent - great differentiation of character voices & on point emotion & pacing. (It struck me as a bit amusing, once I considered the fact that the characters are living in Antwerp, Belgium & everyone speaks English - but of course they would, because otherwise as an English speaker, I wouldn't be listening to it!)
All in all, a fantastic listen. I don't know if my heart could stand another listen - just thinking over the book for this review makes me teary-eyed, but I highly recommend it.

Lovely, impressive story.

*4.5 stars* - Same rating as my original ebook rating on audio reread. Lovely narrator.

This is one seriously good book. Heartbreaking, heartwarming, and really skillfully written, all fans of hurt/comfort and friends-to-lovers stories should give this one a shot.

I see you looking at that cover and I KNOW what you are thinking. And no, this book isn't cheesy or lame in the least. Despite the fact that these two look like they are in a commercial for foot fungus cream and are wearing matching cable-knit sweaters (*groan*), there is a really touching story within.

My only warning for all of you is that if you like your MCs to hook up ONLY with each other over the course of a story, don't try this one. It takes the main characters a long time to get together, and there are many bumps along the road getting to that point.

I read the book first in ebook form, so this was my second time around with this story. Audiobooks are sometimes funny things, and I book that I LOVED in ebook format sometimes has a crappy narrator or doesn't translate well when read aloud, and vice versa. This story was just as lovely the second time, and I was again impressed with Indra Vaughn's abilities as a writer. The audiobook narrator, Craig Beck, did a great job, and I'd listen to him again any day of the week.

I think some of the trickiest stories to write are those that involve people getting over the death of their first love. However, I tend to LOVE these second chance at love type stories, and they rank as some of my all-time favorites (Second Chances, After Ben). Indra Vaughn really did this trope justice. The relationship between Ollie and Sam felt authentic, Ollie's grieving period after Sam's death felt authentic, and Ollie's evolution of his relationship with Thomas felt authentic. It all felt true and heart-wrenching and meaningful.

My only issue with this story is that it takes a looong time to get to where our two MCs are together. Granted, that is a also a positive for me because the author had time to really make us know that Ollie's feelings were real, but still there are a LOT of details of our MCs with other people, which grew to be a bit distracting.

There is also the kid issue, which can be tricky in stories, but I think that the author did a beautiful job with it. The child aspect to the story really ratcheted up the emotion and intensity between Ollie and Thomas, in a good way.

This was a long, emotionally difficult story with a beautiful HEA in the end. You will be rooting for our MCs to get together and for Oliver to find peace and happiness once more. All fans of hard-fought, friends-to-lovers stories should not let this one pass them by.

**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

Great story, Great narration!

The author pulls you into the story quite nicely. The accent of the narration is to die for. Enjoyed the story immensely.

Love it

I really loved this book when I read it in ebook format and I truly believe this narrator brought out the best in this story. His voice was wonderful and his reading emphasized all the emotions this story evoke the first time I read it. I was in tears more than once over These men always missing those opportunities to be together. Omg this story was just so well done I don't know how else to show my love for it. I will def. be listening to this one again and again.

A Beautiful Romance

Patchwork Paradise is a contemporary standalone romance that made me cry, laugh, and swoon. The agony Ollie feels when he loses his fiancé is so sharp and painful, but the healing process was a beautiful journey to go through with him. Thomas was such an interesting character and I really felt for him. There was a lot of drama within the plot, but the author never went over the top with it, which made it all feel very realistic and relatable. I felt for each and every character, and when they finally overcame their obstacles, I cheered them on. I loved this story and felt very touched by it.

Slow burn second-chance-at-love/friends-to-lovers

I came across this little gem whilst seeking more audio titles narrated by Craig Beck. Favored narrator + reliability of Riptide = easy decision to give “Patchwork Paradise” by NTM author Indra Vaughn a go. Being an AudibleRom title simply precluded a wait on my TBR list :)

Told in Oliver’s single POV, “Patchwork Paradise” sometimes read more like a memoire than a romance to me. Covering 1+ year, we follow Oliver as he recovers from the death of one future & finds the courage to dream of a different one. Interspersed in between are tangential changes re: persons closest to Oliver.

I was a bit surprised that the story began the way it did (present action, as opposed to already past event), but it worked for me. Most second chances at love after a death will be bittersweet and sprinkled with emotional bombs, big and small. Here, the friends-to-lovers trope & certain zig-while-zag moments eased, and then buttressed, believability in Oliver's emotional journey.

Aside from a few minor personal nits, I really enjoyed listening to this well done, slow burn story. Also, the story's locale of Antwerp/Brussels revived long-forgotten memories of that tiny but diverse country.

Emotional!

Very tearful beginning, but as the story continues, You see growth, friendships and love and laughter! Good read!

Heartbreakingly good!

Patchwork Paradise is in a word heartbreaking and it is a good idea to have tissues nearby - you will need them. But it’s also beautiful. All the characters and the events in this book are all incredibly real, at times horribly and hauntingly so. And I think that’s one of the reasons why this story is so moving. It grips you, it’s relatable and it shows you that life never turn out the way you planned.

We go through it all with Oliver, the feeling of living his happily ever after with his first love. The devastating loss when it was abruptly and brutally yanked away. How he slowly starts to live again and going through the difficult firsts, first kiss, first Christmas, falling for someone new. I liked the fact that Ollie and Thomas’ romance was a slow burn one, and I mean really slow burn. But I also think it needed to be. There was history and friendship to consider. It wasn’t easy between them and the “rules” kept changing on them, but again that’s life. It never waits for you to figures stuff out it throws you for a loop and turn things upside down just because.

Craig Beck is a wonderful narrator and he really captured this book, captured Oliver. He made you cry and laugh and cry again. This book is narrated solely from Oliver’s POV, and Beck really fits him, really understands him. He makes you feel the joy of being in love, the loss of having it taken away in the most horrific of ways, and the struggle of finding your way back. There was so much emotion in his narration, so much passion, he made you feel everything and it was often painful. But there were also times that were funny and heartwarming. The cooing voices whenever Ollie talked to Milo, or the sarcastic lines about blue balls whenever Ollie and Thomas were interrupted by Milo’s cries. Then there was the first diaper change – it was priceless. To sum it all up, Craig Beck was perfect for this book and made it a wonderful listening experience.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

Cute

I am not normally one for fluffy, but this was a great look at loss and love. It is worth reading.

So much angst! Great narration!

OMG. Kleenex, chocolate and wine. That’s what you need to get through this book. WOW!

If there were some angst, poured on top of an angst pie with some angst icing… that’d be this.

First, Oliver loses the PERFECT guy (Sam) to a stabbing.

Then, Sam’s family acts like a-holes and tries to take away the house they’ve been building together.

Then Sam tries to date (months later) but it doesn’t work out and then he finds out his best friend has been crushing on him all this time only he’s bi and he also slept with their female bestie while she was on a “break” with her boyfriend and then he also slept with someone else who got pregnant who then had the baby and had post partum depression and now he has to raise the baby for them both and now … gasp….


OMG

Right?

So. Much. Drama.

It felt a bit like being in an ocean. One wave would crest then another would hit and knock you down again.

I just wanted poor Olly and Thomas to find some happiness!

It does finally happen but not without a LOT of work.

So – be warned – if you’re interested in an easy-going love affair – keep looking! This is really well written but soooooo angsty.

I think there was a lot of realism in the story and that made me really happy at times but also kind of brought me down, too. I definitely didn’t get enough “it’s all good” time with our MCs – not to balance the boat load of sadness that we had to wade through to get to our happy.

However – the narration saved this book for me. I LOVED it! Craig Beck is a new to me narrator, but he was so easy to listen to. He also gave each of the characters a vaguely different accent so it was easy to tell who was speaking and it wasn’t quite British but leaning that way so it felt foreign enough to be in Antwerp (I have no idea what accents there would sound like … but I enjoyed Craig’s interpretation.)

I don’t know that I would have stuck with the book, but I absolutely loved listening to this story and was really glad I’d made it to the end.

I think, for fans of long, long heroic journeys with a SLOW burn romance, you’ll like this story.

Overall 4 of 5 stars