Practice Makes Perfect

Housemates, Book 3

By: Jay Northcote

Narrated by: Mark Steadman

Getting experience with the guy next door seems like a great idea - until the lines blur.

Dev, a geeky first year physics student, has zero sexual experience and he's determined to change that ASAP. After a bad time in halls of residence, he's starting the summer term with different housemates and a new plan of action.

Ewan lives in the house next door to Dev. He's young, free, and single, and isn't looking to change that anytime soon. When awkward circumstances throw them together, Ewan offers to help Dev out in the bedroom in return for math tutoring, and Dev jumps at the chance.

They work their way through Dev's sex to-do list, but what starts as a perfect no-strings arrangement gets more complicated as their feelings for each other begin to grow. If they're going to turn their lessons in lovemaking into something more permanent, they need to work out how they feel about each other - before they get to the end of Dev's list.

©2016 Jay Northcote (P)2017 Jay Northcote

Hot New Adult Romance

Jay Northcote's words are a perfect match with Mark Steadman's narration. Great story that features friends with benefits to more.

Housemates and hot neighbours

What did you love best about Practice Makes Perfect?

I'm a sucker for Ewan's accent as he teaches Dev from the house how to...well... all the ins and outs of gay sex! Jay's third tale in this series is a cute addition. Jez and Mac are still together from the first book, and Josh & Rupert from the second book are the ones who help Dev move into the house after a semester from hell in the halls of residence.
Sweet little Dev was targeted by homophobic bullies, forcing him to look elsewhere for sanctuary.

What other book might you compare Practice Makes Perfect to and why?

If you enjoyed this, look for the other Housemates books.

Light hearted and romantic

This series gets better with each new book.

Practice Makes Perfect have the ideal combination of sweetness, naiveté , hotness, romance and humor. I love listening to a Jay Northcote book as it takes me away from the every day hustle and grind and gives me a needed escape from reality.

Mark Steadman once again did a fantastic job in his narration , especially his hot AF Scottish accent for Ewan and the intensity and passion in the sexy scenes.

I am definitely addicted to this author work. Onward to book 4 .

✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

Dev & Ewan's story was great. Their meet-cute is one I will remember for sure ;) This is a sweet and sexy couple who start as FOB and fall in love. Not only did they have a sweet non-relationship, they were seriously HOT too. Love that this book was very low on drama and in the end I was smiling because of their Happily Ever After <3

Mark Steadman was perfect for these characters.

The ginger and the geek!

This was a quick listen and I didn’t want to stop once I started! Mark Steadman’s vocal performance was really good. He floated into the Scottish brogue seamlessly and had clearly distinctive voices for each character. He brought the emotions of the book to life!

I loved these characters! Dev the shy, nerdy virgin and Ewan the more experienced, more confident, not as studious neighbor (and a ginger to boot!) were the perfect balance for each other. These two were adorable together. They bumbled around each other a bit but when in a sexual haze held nothing back.

The story is a bit predictable but still good with not a lot of angst. I loved seeing Mac & Jez as well as Josh and Rupert from the previous books. They served as a great supporting cast in the story.

I really loved this one...

Would you consider the audio edition of Practice Makes Perfect to be better than the print version?

I'm not sure if I'd say better but for me it was probably more enjoyable. The narrator just did a fabulous job with the accents and I love an English and/or Scottish accent and in this story I got both.

What did you like best about this story?

The humor it was cute and engaging and the things that happened were things that I could easily imagine happening in real life.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were several but the one that comes to mind was when a parcel from Amazon was delivered to Ewan by mistake and he opened it and then had to give it to Dev when he realized the mistake. Their conversation was priceless.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I'm not sure there was any one particular moment. Practice Makes Perfect was one of those books that engaged and enchanted me from the word go. I loved the characters and the flow of the story was excellent.

Any additional comments?

I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet, engaging feel good romance that's guaranteed to leave you smiling and wanting more.A copy of this audiobook was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Practice Makes Perfect, Housemates 3

My Favorite in the housemates series....
You can read/listen to this one as a standalone, but you will be seeing some of the characters from previous books so you might want to just start at the beginning since the first two books are great too.
This one is funny and cute and deliciously sexy. Dev is sweet and awkward and shy, kind of geeky and totally innocent. He likes to make To-Do Lists for everything, even when deciding what Sexual things he would like to learn about and do. lol. And once Ewan finds out how inexperienced Dev is he comes up with the excuse that he needs help studying math just to help Dev mark items off that sexy to-do list. I think this book was even better once you listen in Audio too, I was Laughing and Blushing right along with Dev and Ewan during Mark Stedman's narration of this book. I really liked his accent used for Ewan's voice since it was so different from all the others so far, I think it gave the audio a little extra that was needed for this book. It was really fun to listen to and will be one I come back to listen to again.

great book in this series i love!

What made the experience of listening to Practice Makes Perfect the most enjoyable?

everything about it really.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Practice Makes Perfect?

the respect between them, its a hookup or a fling but they are still so honest and there is no big drama.

What about Mark Steadman’s performance did you like?

the narrator what very good, loved is accent and the way he differentiated each character. He was sometime a bit flat, especially in sex scenes when I would have liked more emotion or feeling in his voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes!!!

Any additional comments?

i really like Jay Nortcote's books, maybe because he is a trans man he can add another dimension of masculinity. I know it sounds odd but I feel like he really pays attention to things other books don’t. It's a nice read with a HEA from an author who brings a new edge to LGBT M/M romance, in my opinion anyway, and I loved it A LOT.I liked the fact the fast way the Dev and Ewan together was so believable even though it was fast and out of the blue. Dev is so cute and the way they explore each other is lovely, respectful while still sexy and romantic. I haven't read the other book in this series but now I will definitely read them, especially the newest one about a transgender man starting over and learning how to live as a man while transitioning. I think it's so important to have these voices and characters that are not mainstream but still in a romantic HEA setting.

Adorable Awkward Main Character

Oh my god! I loved this book!

Dev is an awkward vir*in character who is good at maths but relatively bad at...socialising. I could identify so much with the last one. Ewan is an adorable Scottish neighbour who needs help with maths so they come up with a plan. Dev helps Ewan with maths, and Ewan helps Dev to explore his sexuality. I don't know how to say more than I adore this book so much. This is a thing I keep saying about Northcote's books, but they are all just amazing <3

adorable New Adult romance - great series

4.5 stars
I received a free copy of this audiobook for my listening pleasure.

I love lists. Seriously. I live my life by lists and the happiness of checking of items of said lists. So the blurb of this book sold me when it first came out, and I loved it! And having a favourite come out in audio format is always great.

Dev is moving out of the dorms and into shared housing. College so far, has not been exactly what he had been dreaming of, and he hopes this will be a fresh start for him. And it seems like he might be right. Almost all of his new house mates are nice and friendly, two of the guy's in the house are a couple and the boy next door is an adorable Scotsman, with a big smile and a sexy accent.

Dev lives his life by lists. Short term goals and long term ones. His long term goals include making friends, learning to cook and joining Grindr to get some sexual experience, in order to get a boyfriend. What could go wrong?

Dev and Ewan are adorable and hot together and it was lovely to meet the couples from the two other books again. This is the third in the series, but can easily be read as a stand alone, if you wish. However, please do not cheat yourself out of the cuteness that are the two first books of this series.

The narrator Alan Steadmann does a good job as always with distinctive voices - we even got a bit of a Scottish lilt for Ewan - and re-enactment of emotions. I can warmly recommend this series in both book and audio book form.