Sweet Thing

Pretty Boy

De: Isobel Starling

Narrado por: Gary Furlong

French male model Simeon Duchamp has a lot of explaining to do.

Two years after a breakdown Simeon is off drugs and booze and wants to stay that way.

On his road to reclaiming his life and modeling career, Sim first needs to apologize to the man he hurt the most—his ex-best friend and object of his unrequited affection Pieter Bayer. Pieter now has a long-term partner, artist Emily Raven, with whom he shares a baby son. Sim is amazed when Pieter accepts his apology, and invites him into his family.

Closeness to Pieter sees Simeon's longing for his friend is rekindled. But then, when Simeon meets an attractive older man, Bastian Roth at an Art Exhibition, he realizes that there is a soul more broken than his, and Simeon feels compelled to help. Simeon's connection with the troubled Bastian Roth turns his world upside down. He has to decide whether to allow himself to fall for the man who wants him or pine for the man he can never have.

©2017, 2025 Isobel Starling (P)2025 Isobel Starling/ Decent Fellows Press

Great narration!

Gary Furlong is a new to me narrator, but I will surely listen to more books narrated by him.
Loved the German and French accents, and the foreign sentences, and he's capable of portraying both Bast and Sim in a lovely way!
The book is fascinating, although I would have liked to smack Bast a time or two, or three.

excellent!

First book I've listened to by this author and I am very impressed. The story telling pulled me right in and kept my interest until the end. The characters were well fleshed out, the chemistry and intimate scenes were sexy, and I loved all the supporting cast. The narrator Gary Furlong was perfect for this book and I will look for more books performed by him. This author is now on my must read and I will look for her other publications.

Love it!

As far as love stories go, this is on of the best I've listened to. Through tragedy and heartbreak. Real lasting love wins Everytime.

I love the narrators accent,. it adds passion to this story.

I received this audible free at my request. I'm thrill to be able to leave my review

Wonderful, sweet story

I loved this audiobook. Simeon was so sweet and cute (and hot!), but also funny. I loved the way Pieter and Emily were so forgiving and wanted to help Simeon’s recovery, and I loved the way that also inspired Simeon to forgive and want to help Bastian. Bastian’s tragedy, and the betrayal when it came out, broke my heart, but I was so glad to see him and Simeon come together. All around, a fantastic story of love, redemption, and forgiveness that I will definitely revisit in the future.

The narration by Gary Furlong was exceptional. He is one of my favorite narrators. He does such a great job giving distinct voices to each character and he is always spot on with expressing the characters’ emotions.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

You are the only drug I need, Bast

So there are books that are meant to be read and there are those that are meant to be heard. And this definitely is the kind of book that you need to listen to enjoy its story to the fullest. 😌 Man oh man! 😱 Gary Furlong did such a sublime job narrating the hell out of this book, he instantly became my new favorite obsession. 😁 And although unplanned, my audio soulmate Trio and I ended up BR-listening this book together and we are both enchanted by this little gem. 😉 Now, let’s talk about the story.



Simeon was a spoilt, selfish and self-destructive supermodel who was on the verge of ending his own life. But that was a past life for him now. As a fledgling recovering alcoholic, Sim is now trying to salvage whatever friendship is left between he and his once best friend/his unrequited love Pieter. And surprisingly, Pieter forgave him for what he did in the past and embraced him as his best friend again. Now on the road to recovery, Sim met an interesting and mysterious handsome man while attending the opening gallery of Pieter’s partner Emily. Now Sim has to decide whether to still pine for a man who would never love him that way or to start a new life with a man who’s meant to be with him in every way.


After the tragic death of his lover and his father in the same accident, Bastian has been a living corpse for almost two years now. Life has lost all meaning when he lost the love of his life on that day. Being unable to digest the idea of physical intimacy with another man for a couple years, Bast’s interest is roused for the first time when he laid his eyes on the irresistible Simeon Duchamp for the first time. But he’s a broken man and Sim has his own demons to battle. Can he let go of the past to start a fresh new beginning with a man he knew is going to be perfect for him? Or will he wallow in the inescapable misery until the end of his time.


The hesitant dalliance between Sim and Bast is uneasy to say the least. But the men are trying their best to make it work. However when the demons from both their pasts caught up to them, will they be able to overcome the biggest obstacle in their relationship to see the happily ever after in the end?



This book could have gone so wrong for me because there are a lot of things that I try to stay away in this book. I’m not good with books where characters have mental problems. I can understand the appeal for some people but it just isn’t for me. Also, I dislike the characters who are still pining for their dead lovers or ex lovers from the past. 🙂 But boy OH boy, I felt like this book was just made for me because I loved every single second listening this book. From being quite hesitant and somewhat scared of diving into it, just after 30 mins into listening this book and I was so hooked. I admit that I struggle to empathize with Sim in the beginning just because he’s so entitled and spoilt but you really do warm up to him. The tale of these two men finding love, hope and a new beginning in each other was simply beautiful, lyrical, heartbreakingly romantic and somewhat mysterious. 💜 This really is so much more than a book to recovery and love. There are mysteries that are waiting to be unfold (I’ll tell you one thing. I didn’t see that coming 😳 and I certainly didn’t see that one coming either. 😱) there are jaw dropping moments which made so much sense about the whole spectacle and I loved every single second witnessing it. And did I say Gary Furlong became my new favorite obsession? 😂 OMG! I can’t even! 😱 His French and German accents were simply divine in this book! It’s toe-curling delicious!!! 😋 And don’t start me on smut, the smut in this book was .. well, simply out of this world! It was all kind of sizzling, scorching and unbelievably erotic! 🔥😍🔥 I was breathless, ecstatic and obsessed about this whole book! 😍 It’s now my life mission to listen to every MM book Gary Furlong narrated. 😁 And did I also tell you about the ending? It was just magical and a fairy-tale like. It really worked out well in the end. 😌 My only advice to you is that just to be a bit patient when you go into this book because you might not warm up to the characters immediately but after Sim met Bast, you will be a goner! And do listen to this book instead of reading it if you are into audios because everyone needs to witness the perfect baby concocted by Gary Furlong’s magical narration and Isobel Starling’s beautiful writing. Can’t recommend enough! 👏 Loved it so sooooooooo much! 😍



5 the only drug I need is you, Bast stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️




Audio rating

The story - 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The narration - 5 sublime stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The performance - 5 toe-curling stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - 5 awesome stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️