Sutphin Boulevard

By: Santino Hassell

Narrated by: Rusty Topsfield

Michael Rodriguez and Nunzio Medici have been friends for two decades. From escaping their dysfunctional families in the working-class neighborhood of South Jamaica, Queens, to teaching in one of the city's most queer-friendly schools in Brooklyn, the two men have shared everything. Or so they thought until a sweltering night of dancing leads to an unexpected encounter that forever changes their friendship.

Now, casual touches and lingering looks are packed with sexual tension, and Michael can't forget the feel of his best friend's hands on him. Once problems rear up at work and home, Michael finds himself seeking constant escape in the effortless intimacy and mind-blowing sex he has with Nunzio. But things don't stay easy for long.

When Michael's world begins to crumble in a sea of tragedy and complications, he knows he has to make a choice: find solace in a path of self-destruction or accept the love of the man who has been by his side for 20 years.

©2015 Santino Hassell (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

Hmmm

Ok, I read sunset park first, and loved it. This story not so much. I absolutely loved the narrator for sunset park. I just didn't like the narration for this book. The story was ok, little slow in some parts. I definitely recommend the next book sunset park😍

Santino does it again

So I listened to this out of order, but as always. It was fabulous. The characters are easy to relate to, the story is conceivable and true.

3.5 stars

this book kept me entertained, but i missed the romance of this book. michael spent so much time trying to figure out his feelings that i wish there was the courting period, the dates, etc.

Too depressing

I really struggled to finish this. Nothing good happens too anyone in this book until the last chapter. There is drug, alcohol, emotional, and physical abuse. It's too much too carry through the entire book. This book is a real downer and I do not recommend it!

good

it's more on the realistic side of romance which I love. would have been better if Spanish wasn't so.... well

Wonderful story with a beautiful narration.

Come across this story online numerous times and I regret not having taking it up before! The story is engaging, sorry, funny, and at times frustrating, but in an endearing way. Topsfield's narration was perfect in my opinion. It wasn't a monotone speed reading that so many narrations on audible turn out to be. The pace was perfect. He distinguished perfectly between each character. I didn't feel like I was being read to by my granddad. On par with Charlie David in my opinion. here's hoping the rest of the series gets an audible narration keeping Topsfield's.

Rusty Topsfield ROCKED this!

It’s hard to summarize this without giving too much away but…
Mikey and Nunzio have been friends forever. They have a shared threesome one night and cross the lines between friendship to sort-of lovers.

The problem is that Mikey isn’t in a good place. His mom just died and his abusive, alcoholic dad is back and causing problems and he just got dumped…He ends up having a lot of “self-improvement” issues that eclipse his ability to become the boyfriend Nunzio needs.

Eventually Mikey reaches a point of no return and he has some tough decisions to make. The question at the end is will Nunzio still be there for him when Mikey comes back to his own?

**

Santino Hassell is an excellent writer. His characters are REAL. His language is gritty and his sense of place is perfection. He immerses you in the heads and environment of his characters and you are deeply engaged in their lives.

This is a romance. Yes, but barely. But it’s more of Michael’s own “coming of age” story. We are in Mikey’s head throughout the entire story and we go through all his ups and downs and downs and downs and downs… As a result, besides the very, very hot sex that we see him share most of this is really about his growth.

That isn’t a bad thing.

However, as a romance reader, I really wanted more of the relationship stuff. I felt particularly cheated that the reconciliation and HEA portion of the book was literally the last few paragraphs.

Of course I was grateful that our boys got together and I enjoyed the struggle Mikey endured to get there and I feel hopeful that he and Nunzio will make it, but I wanted them together and happy for longer than a few sentences.

So… as a book I give this high marks, as a romance I detract some.

Audio

I was so skeptical! But…. Rust Topsfield did an AMAZING job with this. He’s got all these accents hidden in him… who knew?! He butchered some of the Spanish… but he got some of the Brooklyn accents down and as a form of entertainment – listening to this was aces! I thoroughly enjoyed it and have to say it’s the BEST way to appreciate this story.

Story 3.5 of 5 stars
Audio 5 of 5 stars
Overall 4 of 5 stars

There's nothing New York about this narration.

One of the main characters of this book is New York City with it's myriad mix of people and cultures. It's central to the feel of the stories. Unfortunately there is nothing New York in the narration of this audiobook. The accent is mostly Midwestern flat and there's little difference in character voices. This is making it very difficult to finish. I loved this book as written and was hoping for a much more New York flavored listen.

I Wish...

I wish that the people in charge of choosing the narrators of audiobooks consider everything about the stories. Age of the main characters, ethnicity, regional and international dialects, etc. I've listened to many audio books narrated by Mr. Topsfield and consider him to be an okay choice for many books. But there have been some, this one in particular that leave much to be desired. The characters in Suthpin Boulevard are from Spanish, heavily ethnic NY neighborhoods. The accents are definitely not Hispanic nor Brooklynese. It took me out of the story and lessened my enjoyment. Choosing a narrator that has a command of dialects would increase the marketability and authenticity of the audio productions and could also make a mediocre book extraordinary. I did read this story and was really excited to hear it, only to be disappointed. Please consider this for future projects.

Loved this

Compelling read. Hot and Also strong story particularly following family friendship trauma and addiction. Want to continue to follow the characters into the next one.