Protecting My Commitment

Sulfur Springs, Book 1

By: Taylor Rylan

Narrated by: Michael Dean

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Dalton Andrews has seen it all. After spending a little over 10 years with the Denver PD, he’d had enough and joined Wildlife Services, not expecting it to be such an isolating career. When his job takes him on assignment to Crooked Bend, he jumps at the chance to work with actual people again when the town’s sheriff needs to hire a few more deputies. While at his new boss’ wedding reception, he unexpectedly meets a blue-eyed architect that makes his brain go fuzzy.

Collin McKenzie has trust issues. After countless bad experiences, culminating in spending over a year hidden in the closet by his ex, he decided enough was enough. He not only broke up with him but he moved to a different state to start fresh. He loves working for the Welsh brothers and living in Wyoming puts him closer to his family. He’s sworn off men, but while attending a wedding, he sees a dark-haired man that makes him catch his breath.

After spending an unforgettable night together, Collin mistakenly lumps Dalton in with his past experiences. Things are awkward between them, but the attraction is there and undeniable, so they agree to give it a try. But when Collin’s ex finds him in Wyoming and won’t take no for an answer, Dalton steps up and claims what he wants - Collin. But will he be able to protect the man he’s quickly falling hard for? And will Collin ever trust him enough to let him in?

Protecting My Commitment is the first book in the Sulfur Springs series. This is a Men of Crooked Bend spin-off, but it isn’t a requirement that you listen to that series to enjoy this one. Familiar faces will be seen, but this series takes you off of the ranch and into the lives of those in Sulfur Springs. While each book focus’ on a different couple and may be listened to as a stand-alone, you will receive maximum enjoyment listening to them in order. Each book contains sexually explicit material between two men and is intended for adults over 18 years of age.

©2018 Taylor Rylan (P)2018 Taylor Rylan

Excellent narration, very good story

I listened to this as an audiobook, and Michael Pauley is a dream narrator for me. His voice is so amazing, and he did really well with this book.

I liked this story. It took me a while to really get into it. Dalton and Collin have one night together, but Collin thinks Dalton left and freaks out. Unfortunately, Dalton sees Collin's freak out session and decides he should just leave. When Collin sees him out again, Dalton won't really give him a chance. Now I can understand this. They met once, didn't go well, and he doesn't want to continue on. But Collin has some kind of guilt or something that makes him want to keep apologizing. And Dalton has some kind of bad attitude that makes him want nothing to do with him. Except that he can't stop thinking about him. I felt like I was watching a yo-yo for a bit there. It didn't make sense, and I really couldn't see how they came together in the beginning.

That said, once they finally got together, they were totally sweet. Yes, I did have to wonder how the heck their relationship was able to move forward so quickly after the yo-yo, but it worked for them. There was some mystery/drama involved, and I liked how it played out.

Great potential for more in this series. Hopefully we can see Collin and Dalton a lot more stable in the future. Don't get me wrong, I believe 100% in their HEA, but they really know so little about each other and how they function together that it would be cool to see them more settled.

I am voluntarily reviewing an ARC provided by LesCourt Author Services

Love It!

Absolutely love this story and it's an amazing start to a new series. Collin and Dalton are spectacular together and their chemistry sizzles right from the very beginning no matter how much they try to stay away from one another. Love watching them grow closer little by little as they go through several ups and downs. The narrator did an absolutely AMAZING job with the story and with all of the characters. Love seeing characters from the Men of Crooked Bend series, wish Michael Pauley would narrate those as well. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Protecting My Commitment

OMG this audio book was absolutely amazing. I had absolutely loved it. I recommend this.

All the feels.

Oh, my goodness. This book hit it all in my heart. I laughed out loud, I sighed, I balled my eyes out. Taylor has a way of sucking us into her books. I was at the little table in the back of Son of a Biscuit eating my coffee cake and having my coffee, while I watched Collin and Dalton figure each other out. YOU COULD NOT LOOK AWAY. I loved this book I was there thru the whole thing watching hoping and crying alone with Collin thru the whole thing.
I loved this book to read as you can tell from up above, But when Michael got a hold of this book it just brought it so much more to life for me. The voices he did for my guys in this book were just amazing. Michael had a way of just making this book 100 times better than it already was and that was a hard thing to do.

Great start to the series

A bad experience with love has Collin weary of his new found man. Can he learn to trust Dalton? Can Dalton protect Collin from a dangerous past love? I so enjoyed the story line, characters, and narration. Highly recommend the book and can't wait to continue the series.

Excellent Beginning

Excellent beginning to this series. Colin and Dolton's what a couple. Another awesome story written by one of my favorite authors. I have listened to practically all of Taylor Rylan books, and have not been disappointed. What a talent. With Taylor's writing and Michael Pauley's narration, you've got a winner!

Nice start to the series!

This was my first Taylor Rylan book but I can guarantee it won't be my last. I really enjoyed the story telling in this book. It was a good blend of drama and romance and packed full of very intriguing secondary characters that will have me looking into the series this was spun off from. The beginning for these two men was a little rocky and they did seem to move really fast once they got their heads above water but that didn't bother me at all. The angst coming from Collin's ex was disturbing as he was more than a little crazy but watching Dalton go into protector mode made me swoon big time. Even though this is a protector trope, there really isn't any on page action but again, I was okay with that. I enjoy reading different type of books and this author is definitely going to be added to my list. Michael Pauley did an outstanding job with the narration which was no surprise as he is awesome at what he does. Very enjoyable listen and story. I will be looking forward to the next in the series to come out on audible!

Sulfur Springs is Hot

Taylor Rylan is a new to me author and for my first book from her Protecting My Commitment was wonderful. It has plenty of the steamy times that I enjoy with low angst. Throw in a bit of action and this was the perfect insta love mm romance. Oh and as always Michael Pauley was fantastic.

Good start for a new series

Collin McKenzie admits he can be immature. Dalton Andrews admits he can jump to conclusions without all the facts. So, flawed human beings. I like those characters. Ones who have a lot of growth potential in the book. The book begins with a very memorable rant by Collin. Dalton has overheard and to say this makes things awkward is an understatement. This misunderstanding ends the chances of any possible relationship between the two men. Or it might have, but as they both live in a small town and keep meeting each other, the attraction continues to sizzle and, inevitably, they act on it.

Then Collin acts immaturely, Dalton gets upset, and the cycle begins again. Only this time, it’s Collin who’s doing the running. When his ex-boyfriend enters the picture, it’s only natural Dalton, the law enforcement officer, get involved. An interesting solution to the stalker problem doesn’t yield the desired results and more characters becoming enmeshed in the whole mess.

I want to pause here and point out, this is the first book in a series. It was pretty clear from the outset, though, that this series is an offshoot of another one. There are many, many characters (mostly male) who are married, settled and happy. For readers of Ms. Rylan’s books, I’m sure it’s always nice to revisit old friends and watch their maturation and happiness. Occasionally (emphasis on occasionally), I got confused at all the other characters. Also, there were only a couple of female characters. One is the girl who worked in the coffee shop who has a crush on a gay character and another is a vapid nasty selfish woman. There weren’t even any female deputies.

I’m highlighting the lack of good females because this is something I often see in m/m romances and it bothers me. Especially because these are often books written by women and the women in them are reduced to stereotypes or cardboard cut outs. Some of my favourite series have strong female secondary characters and I hope there will be more women in subsequent stories.

The ending was perfect and I did enjoy the book. At times, though, I felt like I wanted more. I wanted to love the book but just couldn’t fall in love with the characters. I blame that on myself and not Ms. Rylan’s book, which I do recommend. I believe (or hope) the next romance will be Collin’s brother Daniel, and I’m looking forward to it.

Finally, Michael Pauley. I LOVE Michael Pauley and always find his narration to be great. Given that this is Ms. Rylan’s first audiobook, all those other male characters from previous books did not have voices and Michael provided distinct ones for all of them.

Overall, a good listen.

Protecting My Commitment

3.5 Stars for the book
4 Stars for the Narration

Overall I liked this book, even with some of the reservations and some "what the heck is even happening" moments I had regarding some parts of the story line. There's a decent amount of drama and family issues in this book but I think the balance between them was okay. Not my favorite of Taylors books I had read so far but I am interested to see where this series goes and who comes next.

The narration by Michael Pauley was great and kept me entertained and focused on the storyline. He is a great narrator and has a solid voice especially when voicing several different male characters. I never get lost when trying to figure out who is who and who is talking at the time.

This book is the start of a new series, but it is a very obvious spin-off from the Crooked bend series. If you have not read that series yet, you may be a little confused at times during this book since there are a lot of characters that are mentioned and that we meet who are from those books and its not super clear who they are and where they came from.

But again, overall this book was good, it was structured pretty well and I "mostly" liked the characters. Dalton was kind of an asshole for about the first half of the book and it made for some slightly immature drama between the two main characters. I'm not quite sure where his attitude was coming from or if that was just his natural personality, to treat others like crap without really even getting to know them first. Poor Collin just wants some one to love him and treat him well, but seems to have the worst luck with men. But for all the time that Dalton acts a jerk and treats Collin like crap, all of a sudden there's a 180 in Daltons personality and he cant live without Collin. I think even after the rocky start of their relationship and all their drama, these two guys are pretty perfect for each other.