The Mating of Michael

By: Eli Easton

Narrated by: Michael Stellman

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Everyone admires Michael Lamont for being a nurse, but his part-time work as a gay sex surrogate not only raises eyebrows, it's cost him relationships. Michael is small, beautiful, and dedicated to working with people who need him. But what he really wants is a love of his own. He spends most of his time reading science fiction, especially books written by his favorite author and long-time crush, the mysteriously reclusive J.C. Guise.

James Gallway's life is slowly but inexorably sliding downhill. He wrote a best-selling science fiction novel at the tender age of 18, while bedridden with complications of polio. But by 28, he's lost his inspiration and his will to live. His sales from his J.C. Guise books have been in decline for years. Wheelchair bound, James has isolated himself, convinced he is unlovable. When he is forced to do a book signing and meets Michael Lamont, he can't believe a guy who looks like Michael could be interested in a man like him.

Michael and James are made for each other. But they must let go of stubbornness to see that life finds a way and love has no limitations.

©2014 Eli Easton (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

A lovely romance!

Any additional comments?

What a lovely story this turned out to be and Michael Stellman did such a wonderful job bringing Michael and James to life for me.

I fell so head-over-hills in love with Michael, from his caring personality to how he sees the world and those who are less fortunate than himself was so beautiful to me. I appreciated how Michael and James became friends first and I was just as excited for their first time as James was. Though there are some heartbreaking bumps in the road to their love story, I loved the HEA ending.

Lovely

I’ve listened to this one several times. I love the relationship between the characters and the empathy of Michael. I want to read James’s books too, though!

excellent and unique

listened to this for the second time and was reminded of just how special and original the story and its characters are. definitely a treasure.

Best gay charcter with disability

Any additional comments?

I felt the author accurately portrayed the double challenges of finding love while being gay and disabled. Very engaging story of romantic minefield we navigate and the challenges we struggle through. I felt the author captured our angst accurately in an enjoyable and inspirational story.

Such a great story

And such a great narrator. I love Eli, one of the first authors I read when I started to reD M/M

I didn't think I'd like it! BUT I DID!

Love most of Eli's writing - loved Second Harvest - loved Merry Christmas Mr. Miggles
(and frankly I thought that one would be ok and was again, pleasantly surprised). I had a hard time getting myself to turn this off. I like this narrator. He does a great job translating Eli's work. I enjoy characters who I believe could really exist. These two do just that - and Michael and James manage to suck you in with yet another story line I could believe. There isn't a bunch of silly dialogue - and I can just see these people in my head - Thanks Eli again for your great talent and bringing to life ordinary people. I have been gravitating to M/M romance for a while to change it up - I'm a Romance HEA freak. Thanks for your continued writing and bringing us the additional bonus of audible!

Funny, sensitive and geeky

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the themes with sci-fi, writing and nursing.
I was happy that people seemed real and that there was not too much of a grand gesture (always cringe at the running through airport scenes)
I love how the story gave me the feeling that they were just right for each other.

Which scene was your favorite?

Probably the excerpt from J.C.’s book. At first I was a bit annoyed by them breaking up the story, but they completely won me over.
Such a beautiful little story within the story.

Loved it but when Can i read the book being written i the book?

The story is very Well written and the MCs are interesting and i had to look up sex surrogate - and yes it is a job. I liked the other book i listened to from this author too allthough very different plot. She Eritrea Well and the stories come to life in your head. The narrator is fine. The MC Who is an author in the book i writting a book in the story and passages of that book is a part of the story. I actually Think it would make a interesting story in it self.

Good story ineptly named

Just finished listening to Michael Stellman's audio-book reading of Eli Easton's The Mating of Michael. His seems to be the perfect voice to narrate a story about these two young men.

I've been curious about this book since I first heard raves about it in a couple of of my GoodReads discussion groups. When the audio-book version became available for review I jumped at it. I didn't know much about the plot but I had heard that the title was a bit misleading. This is NOT some bad M/M shifter story. Instead it's the story of a Michael, a young man who's compassion and empathy are his defining features. He mostly works as a home health nurse but also does some work as a sex surrogate when he can get it. It's a work that he's uniquely qualified for and from the moment we meet him visiting his young burn patient, we begin to see sex surrogacy in terms of compassion and therapy instead of as some lascivious activity.

When Michael meets James Galloway, the real world man behind J.C. Guise, Michael's favorite sci-fi author at a book signing and discovers that the young man is confined to a wheel chair, Michael's empathy goes into overdrive and he's immediately smitten. While listening to Michael's struggles to overcome the trust issues that James has, I was continually impressed by the development of the secondary characters. Their development adds a depth to the story that make it rise above just a simple cookie cutter romance.

But then again "The course of true love never did run smooth." and soon we're so wrapped up in Michael's campaign to overcome James's reluctance to trust that when Michael elects to NOT disclose his "shameful secret" - his sex surrogacy work" it's perfectly understandable but it as with any truth concealed it sets up the grounds for future trouble. For me as an older reader, Michael's decision to conceal his "shameful secret" resonated in a story about a gay man in a time when many young gay men don't really appreciate the constrictions of a mental closet."

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who's looking for a good sweet M/M romance and Michael Stellman does a great job of rendering it as an audio-book. The narrator opts to just skillfully read the written material and doesn't try to "perform" it which eliminates my usual criticism about men trying to fake women's voices.

I do have two negative observations about the story but they are both relatively minor. First, "Where are the fathers in Ms. Easton's world? Neither main character had one." The book is written by a woman and both main characters are at least in touch with their feminine sides a bit. The story may have gained some additional depth if at least one typical heterosexual male attitude was present. Second, "Titles are NOT this authors forte. At first look "The Mating of Michael" sounded like bad shifter fiction and the story itself it included a science fiction work "Sentimental Cyanide" in which the title didn't seem to match its subject all that well either."

*** Note: I received a copy of this audiobook for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest and impartial review ***

Very beautful, one of my favorite M/M stories

Eli Easton is one of my favorite authors and The Mating of Michael is one of my favorite books, so when the book came out in audio I was very interested in trying it. This alone is a little unusual for me. I tend to not listen to the audio of books that I've read before because I never want the audiobook to change my opinion of a book that I've previously loved. However, I've listened to many narrations by Michael Stellman, and so I was wiling to give it a shot.

First of all, let me say that this story is impossibly beautiful. Interestingly enough, it didn't make me cry or feel as turned on as I felt when I was reading the paperback version. I'm not sure if it is because I already knew what was going to happen, but I think my feelings were a little more... muted this time around. The story still sang to me, however, and I fell in love with Michael and James all over again.

Michael is tender, sensual, giving, and loving, and James is acerbic, slow to trust, and dying for someone to love him for who he is. They moved slowly as a couple, developing their relationship over time. I love how this story just perfected the hurt-comfort theme, and made Michael and James's romance feel absolutely epic.

In terms of the narration, I think Michael Stellman did a very nice job. I always sort of feel the same way about this narrator: he has a sexy, young voice that works well for M/M, but he is also totally incapable of creating different voices for different characters, which usually is one of my biggest pet peeves. Michael Stellman gets a pass from me on the vocal range because he just has such a freaking sultry voice, but I wish he was able to stretch a bit more. Still a very wonderful job, and with great understanding of the characters.

If you are looking to try this book out in audio, don't hesitate. It was a great listening experience that will touch the most jaded of M/M readers.

**Copy provided in exchange for an honest review**