Top Secret

By: Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Christian Fox

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling authors Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy return with their first Male/Male romance in 3 years.

LobsterShorts, 21. Jock. Secretly a science geek. Hot AF.

LobsterShorts: So. Here goes. For her birthday, my girlfriend wants…a threesome.

SinnerThree: Then you’ve come to the right hookup app.

LobsterShorts: Have you done this sort of thing before? With another guy?

SinnerThree: All the time. I’m an equal opportunity player. You?

LobsterShorts: [crickets!]

SinnerThree, 21. Finance major. Secretly a male dancer. Hot AF.

SinnerThree: Well, I’m down if you are. My life is kind of a mess right now. School, work, family stress. Oh, and I live next door to the most annoying dude in the world. I need the distraction. Are you sure you want this?

LobsterShorts: I might want it a little more than I’m willing to admit.

SinnerThree: Hey, nothing wrong with pushing your boundaries....

LobsterShorts: Tell that to my control-freak father. Anyway. What if this threesome is awkward?

SinnerThree: Then it’s awkward. It’s not like we’ll ever have to see each other again. Right? Just promise you won’t fall in love with me.

LobsterShorts: Now wouldn’t that be life-changing....

Q&A about Top Secret:

Q: Have we met these characters before in another book?
A: No! These guys are brand new, and we can’t wait for you to meet them.

Q: Is this story MM? Or is it a MMF / MFM / menage?
A: This book is MM.

Q: Is this a love triangle story?
A: Not really. You’ll see.

©2019 Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy (P)2019 Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Entertaining

My namesake has a birthday coming up. And for a birthday present she asks her long-term boyfriend Keaton for a threesome to spice up their sex life. So said boyfriend, never backing out from a challenge downloads an app, sets up a profile (LobsterShorts) and start searching for the second guy Annika wished for. Soon SinnerThree has contacted him and it’s not long before the two are messaging one another daily. It starts with SinnerThree wanting to know how far and what Keaton is comfortable with. Exchanging fantasies and desires and wants turns into sharing their daily struggles, family issues and banter in general.

I loved this part, the beginning. I loved the banter and Keaton’s obscure knowledge in mating rituals for sea slugs or masturbating kangaroos that he so happily shared. I felt the draw between the two. Felt Keaton’s curiousness, awareness, and awakening, not to mention the UST was off the charts. When T-day (threesome day) arrived and their identities were revealed that chemistry kind of fizzled out a bit and a new can of worms were opened up. Because these two men has not only met before, they aren’t exactly what you’d call friends.

My feelings towards Luke (SinnerThree) are a bit conflicted. On the one hand I really felt for him and the shitty hand he’d been dealt in life. His struggles to make ends meet, how his family keeps using him and how lonely he really is. On the other hand all that shittiness doesn’t give him an out on how he treated Keaton, constantly pushing him away. I get that he was proud, but it kind of went beyond that and into the ridiculous. At the same time, he was also pursuing him physically – talk about mixed signals.

I also have to say a couple of things about the girlfriend. Yes Keaton and Annika are together for the first part of this book (no we don’t really get any details beyond a close friendship – so don’t worry, there are no girl parts here). Her presence while there doesn’t take over in any way, she’s more like a secondary character adding a bit of depth to the story. Just like the frat brothers and their antics.

Top Secret is narrated by both Teddy Hamilton and Christopher Fox and man that was the best part of this book. They were beyond fabulous and I loved every second of it. Fox and Hamilton have very distinct voices, and it’s easy to tell them apart. However, they worked so smoothly together that the listener didn’t notice the switches. And by that I mean that obviously we hear the new voice, know that we’ve switched POV, but that’s all. The volume, intensity, tone and feel of the book is there in the changes.

They both also captured all of the characters and their feelings just right. I loved that you could feel Keaton’s discovery of himself. That budding curiosity, the nervousness and want was there in every word. The same went for Luke and his feelings towards his family. The hope he didn’t want to feel, the rejection and disappointment of always being used. It was all crystal clear and it felt like you were right there beside them and go through it all when they do. I do hope to listen to many more productions by Hamilton and Fox in the future, because listening to this book was a treat.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

Five Hot Hot Stars!

A fantastic new audiobook by Sarina and Elle and they can really tell a story the best way! Sizzling hot characters brought to life by Teddy Hamilton and Christian Fox! This one is a Must! Loved every minute of it.

Absolutely Loved It!

What a great story. I have enjoyed every book I've listened to by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. I love the narration of Teddy Hamilton and Christian Fox. This was just a well written story set in a college setting but with real life issues of family problems, tearing down walls, accepting love, and of course coming out. The narration pairing was perfect. Deserves more than 5 stars and well worth my credit.

A great book made special by the narrators

'Top Secret' is my new favorite nonparanormal gay romantic novel (because the top spot in gay paranormal still goes to 'Carry On' by Rainbow Rowell), and that's thanks to a top-notch audiobook. Teddy Hamilton and Christian Fox take these well-drawn characters and bring them alive with interesting and considered performances. As a result Keaton and Luke, already layered and well written, became a couple of guys I thoroughly enjoyed spending 9 hours and 25 minutes getting to know.

An addicting read!

I don't usually care for stories that read as emails or texts back and forth. I am grateful that I had an open mind this time, as this hot story blew my socks off. At a peak point in the story, I was blindsided by a twist. Well written! Expertly narrated!

one of the best audios of the year!!!

I love a good audio book, when the narrators fascinate me from the their first chapter.
This audio was just like that, I did read the book before, so I did knew the plot of the story but hearing it ? it was so much better .
Christian Fox did an amazing job as Keaton, he managed to show all the range of emotion I just love the edge in his voice.
Teddy Hamilton !! what can I say about him?? he is without a doubt one of my favorites!! I can listen to him all the time.
love love this audio!!! I would listen to this book over and over again

Really good

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was well written, believable and really well narrated. Well worth my precious credit 👍

YEEEEES!!!!!!!!

Christian Fox and Teddy H. were perfect for their respective characters!!!!!! Omg they both had me melting! The enemies to lovers is played out so well here and the easy banter is entertaining! Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy PLEASE make more M/M books!!!!! They are so much better then the over played M/F. I didn’t think I’d be a fan but it’s so much easier, you really don’t miss the whiny overthinking female lead. And that’s coming from a straight female. Lol
Totally worth a credit! Gonna listen to this gem again and again.

The best love story I’ve had the pleasure of listening to.

Audible smut is a little pastime of mine to make the work hours and drives to and fro seem less long. Those are the only times I’m listening to an audio book of any kind, really. This novel had me staying up late in bed devouring every second of it. The main duo, Luke and Keaton, felt so real. Their dialogue and reactions to things were so incredibly lifelike. I was in love with all the little quirks the narrators put into the voices of the two; with just how alive they made them feel to me. I’ll admit, parts of the story hit a little close to home and that may be why I resonated with this story as much as I did. Loving someone who may be a bit too damaged to love you the same way was handled with a high level of understanding and care here, and nothing about the resolution of the story’s various conflicts felt campy or unrealistic. At any rate, I laughed, loved, was nervous, felt anxious and shared a myriad of other emotions during this all too brief glimpse into this other reality.

tl;dr

Was good two lobster claws up. 🦞

Love

Love love love love keeping on the edge loved the story loved the characters hot hot