Sticking to the Script

Cipher Office, Book 2

By: Smartypants Romance, Stella Weaver

Narrated by: Alex Kydd

Steven Thompson had a bad year. A string of mean, kinky (the alarming kind, not the good kind), and crazy dating debacles combined with a boss who appears to be experiencing male-prenatal-psychosis means Steven's stress levels are high. They're so high, he's decided to quit dating and focus instead solely on his job.

Until he meets Dr. Ken Miles.

Doctor Ken Miles is having a fantastic year. His hard work is paying off in a big way...professionally. But his social life? Not so much.

Until he meets Steven Thompson.

Steven isn't so sure about Dr. Miles, but Ken is 100 percent certain about Mr. Thompson. And even though both men know full well that the key to getting what you want out of life is hard work, they can't seem to make them - together - work.

Will they ever get on the same page? Or just keep sticking to the same old script?

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Smartypants Romance (P)2020 Tantor

slowest burn with sweetest reward

love love love. smart, fun, and so so sweet. DKM is my fave now, which I hated him in Knitting in the City lol

love this series

love the spin off of Penny Reid's series Knitting in the City and the Winston Brothers. This is my favorite from the first launch of the smartypants romance. loved Steven from Knitting in the city and this spin off does him justice. and love that DKM is put in it too, since we got a different glimpse of him in Friends without benefits. i go into this series not reading up about plot, to be surprised and boy was I! loved the book from start to finish. the narration though...not my favorite. he also narrated Weight Expectations (which i also liked very much) and he is not my favorite. wish there were two narrators because he sounded so much the same as both. definitely recommend this book and series!

Another great book by Smartypants

I love love love Steven and DKM and was so excited to be able to experience their story again over audio while I was busy at work!! You will grow so attached to these faulty/loving/aggravating characters. Narrator was okay (it’s rare that they match up with the tone you imagine) but the story is good enough to overcome any faults with the narration.

I read the kindle version of this book a little over a year ago and adored it. It was my first Pennyverse book and it led me down the penny Reid rabbit hole.

You don’t need much knowledge about the Knitting In the City books/world to be able to follow this story!! I had no prior info and wasn’t confused(just curious!)

WILL read anything else Stella Weaver does and look forward to new smartypants books.

loooooved

I've loved this story since it was fanfiction on Wattpad. I loved it even more when it was revised and turned into canon as part of Penny Reid's Smartypants Romance publishing arm. And I have adored listening to Alex Kydd bring Stella's interpretation of these characters to life in such a genuinely lovely way. Recommended especially for those who are fans of the Knitting in the City series however can be listened to as a standalone. 5 stars all round.

DKM Has Grown On Me

I was very surprised to hear Ken Miles in this story giving his assholery in Elizabeth's story, but I really have a soft spot after listening to everything. He's super sweet (a bit dry in some aspects, but still) and I love the growth between him and Stephen and owning up to his faults.

I wanted to love it…

I thought this book would give a window into the life of Stephen, a funny and interesting character from Penny Reid’s books. However, after finishing the story, I’m left with a big hole about his back story, and why his self-esteem is lowered. I wish the writer had taken more time to guide us through Stephen’s character arc instead of giving us a quick psychological conceptualization at the end of the conflict.

The whole story, great

I have never listened or read a love story about a same sex couple. Guess what there is no difference, meaning I loved the whole thing! Funny, witty and romantic, I highly recommend it, Love Is Love❤️

sweet romance, some drama

Trigger warnings for pregnancy and sexual assault, stalking.

I was excited for Steven's story, as he was a character I enjoyed from Knitting in the City. I was surprised his love interest was DKM, but that provided a great opportunity to hear DKM'S side of events. I actually came to really love DKM as a character (I didn't think I would, because his voice was so terribly, dreadfully dudebro). Their initial confusion about their first dates was frankly adorable. I do recommend this read.

I'm at this place in my life where authors writing about diverse characters and tackling fairly deep issues but failing to note trigger warnings causes me to remove a star. Automatically. Don't care about your readers, loose a star. Steven is assaulted and stalked. While you might think a romance between a gay guy and a bi bloke would be safe from pregnancy and baby talk, it wasn't. I'm actively trying to read these fluffy rom coms to avoid the depressing things in this world and in my life. Trigger warnings hurt no one and can actively help people (and prevent tired people like me from removing stars). One star removed from performance for DKM's voice.

Not Bad but absolutely needed 2 male narrations

I surprisingly enjoyed the story. Why surprisingly, well I'm not a M/M fan, and I haven't had the best luck with the writing of Smartypants authors. But THIS was a good story, very well written. Unfortunately it needed two narrators not just one. The story is told in the MCs POVs. When the POV changed it was confusing as to who was speaking. Yes, the name is announced at the beginning of each chapter but I still had to back up and regroup too many times to figure out who was telling the tale at that point.
Honestly I think reading the ebook would be a 5 star as apposed to the audio with this narrator. 🤔 sorry 😞

Confusing Performance

This book really needed more than one narrator. It was often confusing trying to figure your who was talking.