Northern Star

By: Ethan Day

Narrated by: Jason Frazier

Deacon Miller never had it all - he never really believed he could. Growing up in a broken home with an alcoholic mother and a revolving door of truly pathetic father figures taught him to keep his expectations low. Now at 27, on the night before Christmas Eve, his life is turned upside down yet again; his boyfriend has dumped him, he just fled the holiday family reunion from hell, and now to top it all off, a blizzard has left him stranded in an airport hotel.

Steve Steele has spent the better part of his 44 years living a lie, ignoring his attraction to other men in an attempt to fit into the mold of the man he thought he should be, instead of living life as the man he knew himself to be. Recently divorced after coming home from work one day and coming out to his wife, Steve has floundered over the past year, desperately attempting to wade through the guilt and find the courage to start again. That's when a chance meeting in a hotel bar brings two lonely men together...and what should've been a one night stand turns into something much more than either one ever expected.

©2013 Ethan Day (P)2017 Ethan Day

This Story tugged at my heartstrings!

I have a penchant for May/December romances and I love ones with a big age gap.
Deacon grew up poor, on the wrong side of town, an alcoholic mother that blamed him for all of her failed relationships. Now on Christmas Eve, he finds himself in a bar alone, his mother once again calling him names, and his boyfriend dumped him by text. He meets Steve, a handsome businessman and they hit it off. Then he gets a call from his sister that his mother was in an accident and finds himself staying there, back in his hometown and the house he hated to raise his 16-year-old sister. The characters are amazing, the storyline interesting and plenty of twists.

I would give Jason Frazier a 15 on narration alone. Holy cow, his voice is sultry and hot but he adds in all of these mmms, moans, grunts, sighs and I melted with each one. He gives each character a unique personality even the kids and women you could tell who is who. I think he brings a fabulous story to even greater heights. I could listen to this one over and over!

If you like older men/younger men, Car salesmen, cute kids, and fabulous romance I highly recommend this and if you can get the audio do so!

Not just narrated, PERFORMED !

Ethan Day's story Northern Star is definitely enjoyable, but Jason Frasier's performance is what made this particular M/M romance stand out for me. IMO This is one of the best audio performances of the >1000 audio books I've listened to over the decades. (with exception of his really, REALLY ill-advised & failed attempt @ Italian- and Irish- American accents in one scene)

Jason created multiple good male, female & child character voices. Except for the short accent debacle, it was easy to tell exactly who was speaking. There are a number of male narrators who do older women's voices well, but few that can pull off a decent younger one.

Additionally you can hear ALL the emotions in Jason's character voices. Even his breathing & sound effects here are just right. Usually someone attempting kiss sounds is just cringe worthy not sexy! Honestly, if Jason Frazier is in person how he makes MCs sound, he is one of the hottest gay boys out there.

So in short, 5 stars & worth a credit ; )

Northern Star

Deacon had a rough life growing up. His alcoholic mom was single and had men coming and going. And she certainly did not approve of him being gay and didn't want him around. She blamed him for all that was wrong with her life. He escaped when he could and only saw her around holidays. But then everything goes wrong for him. He's decided to leave his mom's home on Christmas Eve because he can't take it anymore. He gets an e-mail from his boyfriend dumping him and telling him to have his stuff moved out. A blizzard hits and he's stranded in a hotel. And, to top it off, his mom is in a wreck caused by her drunk driving and his teenage sister needs him to pick up the pieces. While at the hotel bar drinking away the misery of his dumping, he meets an older hot guy, Steve. Steve and Deacon plan for a hook-up but as Deacon's life falls further apart, it becomes much more.

I didn't hate the characters but I also didn't love them. I thought Deacon had a lot of potential and found him amusing when he was getting drunk in the bar. I was horrified by what he was saying to Steve, only because I thought he would be but it was funny. He was definitely putting good effort into drinking his ex away. But that was about the end of the feel-good emotions for me. The rest of it just seemed depressing, which is probably how Deacon felt as well. I don't know that I ever come to have strong feelings about Steve. At first, I really liked him but then he got on my nerves regarding the way he acted towards Deacon. Almost parental, instead of as a boyfriend.

The narrator of the story is Jason Frasier, a first-time narrator for me. He had an easy-to-listen-to voice, was able to give many characters voices and didn't have weird pauses in his narration. He brought the story to life and expressed emotions appropriately. Though he did give individual voices to most characters, I wasn't a fan of his young girl voice. And I'm sure it's just me, but I was not a fan of the kissing noises he acted out. It just felt awkward, but again, probably just me!

This is the first book I've read/listened to from this author and I've had a hard time writing this review. I've read books with much heavier topics and didn't feel the level of sadness that I did with this one. I felt bad for Deacon, but maybe if he spent less time in his head running through everything negative that had happened in his life, it may help him. And, maybe if I'd read/listened to it at a different time, I'd feel different. This is a book that you should judge on your own. If you read reviews, you'll know my thinking is the minority so don't let my confusion over my feelings stop you from checking out this book!

Overall: 4 stars
Performance: 4 stars
Story: 4 stars

I couldn't stop listening

I just finished listening to Jason Frazier's audiobook performance of Northern Star. Ethan Day provides his readers with just the right amount of detail to imagine the scene clearly in the mind. The storyline, with it's navigation through ups and downs, involves the reader in the emotional relationship between the two main characters and one's struggle with depression.
Jason Frazier did an amazing job on this performance. The amount of detail he put into the characters was perfect. Bringing to life the pages through tone and expression he creates a scene that's hard to resist. The emotional scenes were extremely convincing which gives you a sense of inclusion in the character relationships.
Throughout this performance so many physical reactions took place which were brought on by Ethan's writings and enhanced through Jason's voice. This was a fun experience and so many events within this book brought me to an emotional state. There's a few spots they get you chuckling and then a few to bring a tear. There was also a great deal of suspense that I hadn't expected. I truly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a well-thought-out storyline with a great amount of detailed love scenes. Thank you Ethan day and Jason Frazier this was such a great experience.

A Truly Special Romance & Jason Frazier Delivers!

Ethan Day's Northern Star is an absolutely lovely novel and I highly recommend it... but it's very emotional, and filled with the heart-wrenching characters Ethan Day wrote so perfectly, and it's taken me awhile to muster up the fortitude to delve into the audio version.

Well, I was in just the right mood last week and I’m so glad I loaded this one up!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, nobody performs an erotic romance scene like Jason Frazier. Ethan Day had a real gift of capturing the mood between two lovers, and Mr. Frazier imparts every bit of feeling into these scenes. From their hot and dirty hook-up to the intimate exchanges of lovers, Deacon and Steve’s emotions truly come through in the audio version of Northern Star.

There’s an extremely large variety of characters in this novel, OAPs, kids, blue-collar types, and Mr. Frazier moves seamlessly between them. Plus there’s a good bit of humor woven into this emotional story and Frazier makes the most of the opportunity to turn this into a real performance.

One of Ethan Day’s most moving novels, Northern Star makes one truly spectacular audiobook.