Streets Apart: Hearts Apart

By: H. J. Perry

Narrated by: Piers Ryman

I’m Aaron. I’ve got a crush the size of Europe on Joe, who lives across the street, and when he’s around, I transform into a prize idiot. The rest of the time, I’m a trainee plumber. On Sundays, I play in the amateur football league. In all, I'm a confident, well-adjusted guy - for a 20-year-old virgin who lives with his parents and falls apart over the boy not quite next door.

Joe’s cute, sexy, fun, and the reason the word sexy was invented. We used to play together as kids in the massive posh house he lives in with his parents, the doctors. Now, he’s at university, studying literature. How do I ask a guy for a date when I can’t string together a coherent sentence when he’s around and I don’t even know if he’s gay? And what’s more, no one knows I’m gay.

Who keeps their boyfriend in the closet these days? I want the world to know how much he means to me. I’m going to come out, but not today; I can do it next week.

This is a hot, sexy feel-good romance about two young men who fall in love for the first time. They are crazy about each other and do lots of kissing, hand-holding, and taking their clothes off.

©2018 H J Perry (P)2019 H J Perry

Sweet and funny love story

Narrated from a first point of view of Aaron, this is the sweet story of how Aaron gets together with his childhood friend and forever crush, Joe. Aaron and Joe live in the same neighborhood, but Aaron is a closeted working class boy, going for his plumbing certification, while Joe's family is far more affluent, with doctors for parents, and Joe is out and works with LGBTQ youth. It is a fun story with a beautiful narration. Aaron is sweet, funny, somewhat naive, and is deeply in love with his Joe, and their relationship is very tender and humorous. There's some angst, with Aaron's struggling to come out to his family friends and coworkers, but there's a lovely happy ending. It is enjoyable and cheerful, and the narrator performs very well. Aaron's accent is a pleasure to hear, and the characters are distinctive.

Friends to lovers romance

Okay, this is a nice story about two young friend-ish neighbours, one openly gay, the other one in the closet, that decide to give it a try to a relationship.

The good in this story is that present realistic fears and expectations, particularly for a young man who, even if he has been aware of being gay for some years, has never acted on his feeling, nor has come out to anyone. It has too many sex scenes for my liking, but that's only my taste, not something bad by itself.

I liked how supportiveAaron's family is when he finally decided is time to come clean to them about who his 'girlfriend' is... although he took his sweet time to do it.

And the narrator, Piers Ryman... I really didn't like his style :/

But all in all, this is a nice story for those who enjoy the genre.

Sweet Friends to Lovers Story You Will Love

HJ Perry's novel finds 20 year old Aaron ready to take a chance on love with his best friend, but there's a couple of problems: Aaron is not out to anyone, and he is not even sure if Joe is gay. Aaron lives at home with his parents and is a blue-collar plumber. Joe comes from a more affluent family and is away at college.
The two fall deeply in love, but there is a bit of angst as Aaron struggles with coming out to his family.
Overall, it's a sweet love story you will love. The characters are great and well rounded and Piers Ryman's narration is excellent.

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

Would’ve liked more story and less sex

The overall story was, for me, only okay. Neither here nor there, just a lot of sex and repetition between the characters. Aaron’s inner dialogue felt like a rambling stream of sex, boyfriend, sex, omg sexy and boyfriend, with very little else, and the dialogue between Joe and Aaron, while innocent in that friend-to-lovers kind of way, didn’t come across as entirely realistic. At times, I felt like I was hearing Piers Ryman’s voice but not quite hearing the words; like I knew he was talking but all I was hearing was the sound of his voice and not the actual story, which was a bit upsetting that I wasn’t able to keep my focus entirely on the book. Overall, it was a good performance and a decent friends-to-lovers story, but it lacked a maturity to it.

angsty

I liked the acceptance and change Aaron's dad made after some time. I was glad Aaron finally found the courage to come out. It was good to see Damien change after his near death experience. I found it do sad and disappointing that it took saving Damien for Joe's parents to really see and accept Aaron. I'm decimated over that prejudice. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job.