Rough Edges

A Contemporary Gay Romance

By: Cardeno C.

Narrated by: Kevin Chandler

Length: 1 hr and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Kyle has an unwelcome crush on his nemesis Brent. Brent has a welcome crush on his friend Kyle. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn't have to be a line at all.

Born on the wrong side of the tracks to the wrong family, Kyle Potter has spent his life clawing his way toward a better future. When he gets the perfect job at the perfect firm in perfect Los Angeles, Kyle is sure there are only blue skies ahead. And then he meets perfect Brent Haralson.

Born with a silver spoon to a well-established family, Brent Haralson has never been interested in leveraging his connections. Friends, success, and dates come easily to Brent and rejection isn't something he has to deal with in life. And then he meets perfect Kyle Potter.

Kyle despises his unwelcome crush on his lazy, arrogant nemesis. Brent welcomes his feelings for his stubborn, brilliant friend. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn't have to be a line at all.

©2017 Cardeno C. (P)2017 Cardeno C.

Enemies to Lovers

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed Kevin Chandler's narration. He pulls off Brent's sweetness, and Kyle's snark. The character voices are subtle, but noticeable and it's not hard to discern who is speaking and when.

Rough Edges is an enemies to lovers romance.

Kyle is more than a bit unlikable in the beginning, to the point I'm surprised he could walk upright and not just tip over with that giant chip on his shoulder.

Kyle makes assumptions about Brent and then proceeds to basically use those assumptions to be a giant d**k to Brent through much of the story.

Brent was sweet, hugely understanding, super hot, and maybe (and by maybe, I mean absolutely) too good for Kyle. He takes Kyle in when Kyles loses his job and place to live, and proceeds to be kind, supportive, and just plain awesome.

My biggest issue with the story is that I didn't feel like Kyle really redeemed himself from his earlier behavior. He's a real a**hole for months to Brent and though, by the end the story, Kyle atones for his douchiness, sort of, for me it was a case of almost too little too late.

Cardeno writes unlikable characters realistically, and the reader - through the dual POV - gets to see both sides of the story, which helps. It makes it worth it when the story morphs into a sweet romance, and the lovely HFN is just right.

In the end, I'm #TeamBrent all the way.

If you're looking for a quick read/audio with some steam and a sweet ending, you should check this out.

Short, sweet with a steamy dash of heat

Rough Edges is part friends-to-lovers and part enemies-to-lovers, only because Brent fits the friend part and Kyle kind of fits the enemies part (in his own mind that is). I have to admit, Kyle aggravated me quite a bit for much of the story with his attitude toward Brent. While I could see where he was coming from, I thought Kyle was just a bit brash and snippy when dealing with Brent when the story started out.

Brent on the other hand, he was always sweet, giving and carefree. He knows he’s had it easy in life, but still wants to help when he can. The two have an attraction between them which at first is more like mutual physical need, but then slowly grows to become more. Kyle doesn’t know everything there is to know about Brent, and once he learns more about him, Kyle realizes there’s more to this trust-fund guy than meets the eye.

The story is short, sweet with a nice steamy dash of heat, and I thought is was a good read—even if the ending felt more like a happy-for-now rather than a happy-ever-after. I hard a hard time settling on a star rating, I keep bouncing between 3.5 and 4, mostly due to Kyle’s attitude during a large chunk of the story. I’m leaning more toward 4 stars primarily because of just how wonderful Brent really turns out to be.

The audiobook narration: To me, the narration actually felt more like reading than acting the story. While emotion does show through in the voices, it wasn’t quite as compelling as I’ve heard with this author’s other stories that have been made into audiobooks (with other narrators). The pacing and diction was perfect, I just wasn’t as drawn in to the story through the audio…this was particularly true with the intimate scenes where the feeling of the story being read vs. acted was even more evident. Three stars for the narration.

One step between Hate and Love..

Where does Rough Edges rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was there amongst my top audios, The story kind of had a Pride and Prejudice feel to it. It is very easy to assume something about a person we don't know, and it is not until we spend time in their company that we realise the type of person they truly are.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really liked Brent. I liked that regardless of his background he is charming and witty and still has such a lovely humbleness to his persona, once Kyle starts scratching the surface he notices so many things about the person he calls his nemesis. Both had put such a front and both had the wrong idea about each other.

What aspect of Kevin Chandler’s performance would you have changed?

I wouldn't have changed anything, however as this is an AUDIO review my humble opinion is that I didn't feel he was the right actor for the parts. He sounds way too young and the characters are meant to be in their 30's so if I was reading I would have been fine but as I heard it it was confusing at times. Also some of the transitions weren't as smooth and it is hard to know who is speaking. A bit monotonous tone at times.
I admire voice actors and mean no disrespect but I think this was a bit of a struggle for Kevin. The performance however had no negative impact into the story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

An enemies to lovers charming story.

Any additional comments?

Cardeno always produces great material and this book was not an exception. It was charming, romantic, funny and although a short story it had a solid plot.

I received a copy of this Audio in exchange of an Honest review.
REVIEWED for Jo&Isalovebooks Blog

Great story.

I loved the story line. It was a slow burn but finished hot. Great ending.

Another shorty but goody

These shorts are always so weird for me on the one hand they are well written and usually has a lot packed in them so you feel like its a nice full complete story but at the same time you want more. It's all very confusing but Cardeno gets the best narrators honestly I haven't come across a bad one yet and Chandler doesn't disappoint with this one!

Brent and Kyle

4.5 stars. Kyle has a major case of assumption. He's positive he has Brent figured out based on nothing but knowing Brent is unemployed and wealthy. Cue the biting snark! It cracks me up because Kyle is trying so hard to be what he assumes Brent is; a wealthy, pretentious jerk. Brent totally sees through Kyle's attitude to his motivations. He doesn't take any of the barbs personally, he just finds Kyle a bit amusing and seriously cute. Living together gives Kyle a new perspective and helps him see the real Brent.

Audiobook: narrator did a great job

A very short story

Sweet and cute, this is an entertaining story and very well narrated by Kevin Chandler.

Nice story.. Lacking Narrator

As always Cardeno is great at love stories. But this time I struggled a bit cuz the narration was too bad.. I felt it lacked emotion. It was extremely hard to distinguish between the different characters..

it is worth it

i like it a lot but to short but i really like the romance of it all

Short and sweet Frenemies to lovers

Rough Edges is a short story that originally appeared in the It was Always You anthology. It is now available individually and in audio. I actually really enjoyed this short- it made for an easy, enjoyable listen while I cleaned. The characters are interesting, with a decent amount of depth considering the length. There’s some smexiness and minimal angst with a happy-for-now ending.

Kyle and Brent are basically frenemies who have harbored a crush on one another for 2+ years, though the “enemy” part is a little lopsided because Brent is that all around good guy. I had a difficult time liking Kyle initially. He had a guarded, judgmental persona that came out in full force when Brent was around. It was off-putting, particularly because there wasn’t really a good reason for his disdain. As the story progresses, his character develops and Brent and he discuss the root of his animosity. While these discussions explained his feelings more, I wasn’t completely convinced. This may be the one and only time I wished main characters were younger, because at least then I could dismiss his pettiness for immaturity. To a large degree I understood Kyle’s snap assumptions about Brent’s silver spoon privileged life, perhaps because I grew up as the scholarship student going to a private, college prep academy. That said, it did seem like Kyle had a mighty big chip on his shoulder for being over thirty and a self-made success.

Honestly, had there been a more believable reason for the bad blood or if these men were in their early 20’s, this probably would have been a five star read for me. It really was a nice little story that ticked all the boxes. I liked the scenario that thrust the two men together to work out their differences and the development of the relationship was spread out enough to be believable. It included sweet moments, character development, and the start of a solid relationship wrapped up with good dialogue and brisk pacing. The narrator fit the story and tone well. His enunciation was clean and pauses/speed had a natural flow that made for an enjoyable listen. It’s always nice when the couple just fits together and it’s a fairly straight forward romance with just enough drama to keep my interest.

*Reviewed for Alpha Book Club*

as good as the ebook

The story is always full stars, because if I wouldn't like the story as ebook, I wouldn't listen to the audiobook. I can't listen to an audiobook without knowing the book, that's not possible for me.

The performance from the narrator is also very important for me. I can't listen to a lot, because my English as a non-native-speaker isn't so perfect to follow a whole story over hours, when the narrator speaks too fast or too sloppy. Normally I have to SEE the person, who is talking to me in English. It took me a little bit, to come into the narrator, but at the end, it worked. I only have to take a few breaks between. I'm just not yet finish with the book, but I listen enough to give a review.

PLEASE READ MY RATING SYSTEM!!!

To my ratings:

5* - very very good
it's like an A+

4* - very good and will be often re-listening
it's like an A

3* - it's more then a one-time-listening.
it's like a B

great story, but not so great narration.

Any additional comments?

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted the AUDIO file of this book.


When I write a review for an audio book, I usually write about the book first, then the narration. I have to do it the other way round here.


I wasn't overly impressed with Kevin Chandler's narration. His voices were similar for a couple of characters, making it difficult to follow in multi person conversations. But what really put me off was Kyle. For almost all of this book, I thought he was saying KARL and I had to check a couple of times to make sure it was KYLE and not KARL.


His speaking voice was okay, dipped in places though and I didn't like that.


I might not listen to anything by this narrator though.


So I gave the narration 3 stars, because I did finish listening.


BUT!!


The story itself is lovely! Very much a Cardeno C book, with very little angst or drama save Kyle losing his job and his home. I loved the way Kyle didn't like Brent very much because of what he thought he represented. Loved that Kyle didn't like how Brent made him feel, with out Brent even knowing it. Loved that last line!! I think I might go back and READ this one at some point.


So a lovely 5 stars for the book.


4 stars overall.


**same worded review will appear elsewhere**