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Speakeasy  By  cover art

Speakeasy

By: Sarina Bowen
Narrated by: Seraphine Valentine, Lance Greenfield
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Publisher's summary

Sometimes you fall for Mr. Right, and sometimes for Mr. Right Now....

May:

Did you hear the one about the girl who walks into a bar and catches her live-in lover kissing someone else? No? You’re the only one in town who missed it. Luckily Alec is there to wrap me up in strong arms and carry me out the door before things get too ugly. And that’s not all Alec is good at. Our unexpected chemistry makes him the perfect rebound guy.

Alec:

I should know better than to hook up with my rival’s little sister, but the fiery look in May’s eyes really turns my crank. She needs cheering up, and I’m just the guy for the job. It’s not like I’ll fall in love. Not even after a string of scorching hot trysts and the realization that we’re good at the same things: wild nights and familial disappointment. I don’t do love; never have, never will. So this is the perfect arrangement for both of us. Nobody would approve, but nobody has to know....

Cover design by Sarah Hansen.

©2018 Sarina Bowen (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Speakeasy

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    5 out of 5 stars

narrators can make or break a book

I love Sarina Bowen's books. I have listened to many of them, some several times and read several in print. The listener/reader can really get under the skin of her characters and for the most part, the narrators chosen for her books have done a great job bringing life to those books. Until this one. Lance Greenfield is just not the right male voice for this book. I will finish it, because I bought this book, but I doubt I will listen to it a second time.

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15 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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My Favorite!

May & Alec
I think this might have been my favorite of the series, you see May is a character I loved through all the books. This book shows us her struggles but also how much she truly cares about everyone in her life. She doesn’t want them to worry about her. Even if she needs it.

Alec sees May for who she is, he is there for her even when she doesn’t want him to be. He is also going through a lot and is learning what it means to ask for help.
These two together is explosive, love is love people I loved that a Bi we had a character who is female and Bi! It just goes to show you that anyone can be anything and like who they like who cares about the body parts.

Then we have the addiction and how hard it was kind of on everyone and how May has to deal with it but also how she can’t do it alone. I really enjoyed getting to see that she has support. This book just had all the feels for me.

Narrators – I am a huge fan of Lance, his voice oh sweet baby Jesus it just does it for me, I can hear his humor I love it. Seraphine is fast becoming a female narrator I am seeking out she makes it effortless to listen to.

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11 people found this helpful

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✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫

Oh this book was PERFECT! I loved everything about it. May is a seriously great character, she has baggage but she is so sweet and sexy! Alec is the best kind of guy, he's funny, sweet and so SEXY. Their relationship has amazing chemistry and they really do compliment each other perfectly. This story hits on a lot of things between both of them but together they overcome so many obstacles and so much baggage without an extreme amount of drama. I know this book will be a re-listen for me for sure!

The narration was incredible! Seraphine Valentine might become my new favorite narrator. I really hope to see a lot more of her on Audible.

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9 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Good Story Enjoyable Listen, Spoiler Review

So I typically listen to attorney stories because I’m an attorney. May is a typical attorney, smart, multifaceted and compassionate. But her law school is bizarre with the rose ceremony, and that should have been a warning but the alumni /new student meet and greet I’m right there, yet I digress. So I basically listen to these books for the escapism of the romance/sex. While I commend Sarina for wanting to go into the pain of recovery from addiction and give sufferers a story they can relate to, May’s addiction and Alec being a bar owner is to much past the suspension of disbelief 11 months into her recovery. Then Sarina makes May bi-sexual, going from the girlfriend now to a boyfriend, ok perhaps, I have no frame of reference for this but zero transition no down time, maybe. Then the story reboots at the end and May is literally right back where she started. Living in her lover’s home. I don’t know that she grew or if she was healthy enough to do it. So that was intellectually and emotionally troubling for me.

Then there is Alec, let’s start with the fact that I basically only listen to a few male narrators and the beautiful voice of Lance Greenfield is at the top of my list. His voice is like Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt, Idris Elba and Henry Cavill wrapped in sound, I love it, but I digress. Alec, I love he is the perfect self-made man. Alec is the dream, loyal understanding and patiently driven. He got me and May with his horrible jokes, but they made the story. He loved May and would be there for her no matter what, no suspension of disbelief there we are mono e mono. I really loved the book but May had too much going on to be able to function unless she was left handed but she is right handed, lefty joke so I digress. Would I recommend the book yes, am I listening to the next time in the series, yes because if Lance Greenfield is my 007, Zachary Webber is my Jason Bourne. Am I into the series, yes, Sarina had great character development and it’s great but hopefully more sex next time, it’s why I read if the story does not make logical sense. If she had just been a recovering addict or just flipping her sexual partner because she is bi and exploring ok but both was too much for me.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

love the truth north series but this one is tough

The male natation is horrid it's a ridiculously angry voice for narration. character dialogue is fine

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    4 out of 5 stars
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More interested in what happened with the bar...

First I really did not like the narrator chosen for this male voice. Perhaps it’s not the narrators voice so much as how it was always intensely the same biting sound as though he was chewing out each individual word. He did not endear me to the character. Second, I really didn’t get the point of the female character being bisexual It “comes out” in one of the earlier books in the series so it wasn’t a surprise but I just didn’t see the point. By the end of the book I really didn’t care about the May character anymore, she was a little annoying, I was much more interested in seeing whether or not Alec could develop the bar the way he had hoped.I have enjoyed this series of books but this is my least favorite.

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Probably should have read this one instead.

I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed this one a lot more if I had read it instead of listened. I feel bad saying this, but Lance Greenfield's narration just didn't work for me. This is the first book I listened to with him as a narrator, and while I'm guessing his voice is probably great for other characters, in this instance it was a let down. I had a really hard time connecting with, and even liking, Alec because of the way he was voiced, I found myself wishing Seraphine had been the sole narrator. It was like Alec was 2 different characters, depending on who's pov we were in.
It's disappointing because I've really enjoyed this series up until now, and this one was just a let down. Even the story didn't pull me in, and I'm sure it was because of the narration. Ugh, I feel bad but they all can't be winners.

***Borrowed through AE.

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Not the best performance

I've really loved all of the books in this series so far, but this one is probably my least favorite. I think the main problem for me was Lance Greenfield; he was definitely not the right choice for Alec. He kind of has this older voice with a super New England accent and it ruined Alec a bit for me. I found myself wishing for his chapters to be over, which I didn't like because it made me miss parts of the story. Seraphine Valentine did an excellent job of bringing May to life and I feel like her voice was the perfect voice for May's age and personality.

The book itself was pretty good. I liked the deep dive we took into May's sobriety, but I also feel like since Sarina Bowen already wrote a book in this series about addiction with Jude, it wasn't all that new of content. May's story just seemed a little too bland in comparison. I think this book would have done better had it not been in the same series as a Steadfast.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between May and Alec and I loved how much Alec cared for her and how he changed his outlook on certain things for her. It made him super endearing and perfect book boyfriend material. May was also a great character because you could sense how much she wanted to change and how important working on herself became. I thought she had a lot of admirable qualities and she is definitely a fantastic role model.

Like I said before, I wasn't wild about Lance Greenfield's narration and I wish I had actually read the book because I think I would have had a completely different experience. Either way, I'm really looking forward to the next book!

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some of my favorite things

I love when books include some of my favorite things like knitting, bartending, and silly dad jokes. The overall story line isn't my favorite from the series but I did still enjoy this book! I also love that grandpa was included more in the book. He is hilarious and I hope I grow up to be just like him!

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so good

loved this one. the comedy made me laugh so hard I had tears. read it.

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