Two Straights Too Many

Heroes of Port Dale, Book 1

By: Romeo Alexander

Narrated by: Keith Smith

Length: 6 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Elias:

Moving to Daleport City to work at the local fire station was going to be hard. Then I met Cade. Turns out, I’d met my new best friend, and for two years, he’s been by my side through everything. The guys tease us about how close we are, but we’re straight, just good friends. Then Cade and I found ourselves having to pretend to date, pretend to be attracted to one another…And then we stopped pretending.

Cade:

As if having a female stalker and a harpy for a mother wasn’t enough, I’m also in a fake relationship with my best friend? Then we ended up kissing…and more. Elias is straight, I’m straight, and we suddenly want to do not so straight things. That’s pretty much where I am now. So tell me… what am I supposed to do?

Elias and Cade, two straight firefighters and best friends, find themselves in a fake relationship that leads both men into territory they’ve never ventured into before. Can their friendship survive? Will they ever want to go back?

©2020 Books Unite People, LLC (P)2020 Books Unite People, LLC

Cute!

I love this type of story and this one did not disappoint. I would recommend it.

Quite

I always love friends to lovers stories. Hope I get to the next one soon.

Kept me entertained

This is the first story I’ve listened to/read by this author. I really enjoyed these characters. Cade, trying to be his own person and while trying to keep peace in the family, ends up in a situation with his best friend. This has a block tumbling effect on his and Elias’s lives. Elias, the easy going personality, goes along with his best friend and ends up more where he wants to be. While this story follows the general outline for bff standing in as boyfriend, it kept me interested. The setting, the characters and the story flow fit together to make this a fun story for me. I enjoyed the narration by Keith Smith. He brought the story to life. I was given a free copy and this is a voluntary review. I will read more by this author.

Great start to this series

This is book 1 of the Heroes of Port Dale. I really enjoyed this book. The Narration by Keith Smith is smooth and I was able to just sink into this story. I love the internal dialogue of the two MC's. I would happily recommend this series. I am looking forward to book 2.

Pros and Cons

Initially, I admit I was influenced by the reviews and immediately disliked the narrator. When I tried to figure out what I didn’t like I realized that he seemed to drag out the story, I increased the rate and this helped a lot. The “abouts”were pronounced (Canadian?) but what drove me crazy was that many times I heard “Kate” when it was “Cade.” Annoying, but not horrible.

Once I got more comfortable with the narrator I became more aware that the bigger issue for me was the story. The third person narratives made it feel cold. Even though the chapters identified which character was speaking it didn’t help.

The story itself was not bad...maybe even good, but the issues stated above made it challenging to get “lost” in the story which is kind the idea for a romance story. Having said all this I am going to give the next story a chance...hoping that I won’t regret it.

Cute

Too straights too many is a cute gfy romance. Elias and Cade are both straight,, They have a very close friendship. They are both firefighters ,always hang out together but never anything more. There’s some drama with a women named Christine, but it all’s works out in the end. If you’re looking for a fairly quick listen, a gfy romance with all the feels pick up this book

loved it

loved it great book. good story. made me laugh and kept my attention. can't wait to hear all the other books

A wonderful start of another amazing series!

I have a special place in my heart for MCs in uniform and Mr Alexander is an expert on the topic. (*cough* Men of Fort Dale *cough*) This book one in this new series is amazing, some angst and many heartwarming moments, funny banter and situations generate by the BFF-fake boyfriend-to-lovers between Cade and Elias and an interesting plot as a backstory. This book set the bar high for the following books. Now, I usually heard audiobooks as a nice way to re read my favorite authors so the narrator has a difficult job reaching the expectations I have in the way my beloved characters needed to be brought to life. Mr Smith simply put, was totally up to the task with his voice acting and smooth voice that delighted me with his performance. I can’t wait for more on this series and of course more books read by Mr Smith!

Good listen

overall this book had a few stereotypes in it but otherwise enjoyable. I wish there was more to their love story after they come together. listen to this story won't regret it

Straight Bestfriends to Not-So-Straight Lovers

Cade and Elias are best friends. They're already practically in a relationship without even realizing it. I mean they sleep in the same bed most nights and Cade even has his own section of Elias's closet, but they don't see it. If it hadn't have been for the meddling of Cade's nemesis, they may have never been able to see that what they had was more than friendship.

I loved this book. It had all the good feels without any of the heart-wrenching angst. It doesn't hurt that they're both firefighters either. I found myself trying to slow the book down to savor that moment when the two go over that tipping point in their relationship. You know that moment when they finally become conscious of that spark of something more, to the point that they actually act on it.

I wish there had been another chapter or something though. As soon as it really got me roped in, the next chapter was the Epilogue. I would have like to see more of Elias's family and their reactions to his and Cade's bro-mance turned romance. Also, we get to see how Cade's mother dealt with him outing himself, but how did his dad react to the whole situation? Did he agree with his wife?

Anyway, it was a great book and narrated rather well. I am unfamiliar with this narrator, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Overall, I thought he did a pretty good job a portraying the different characters with minor inflections in his voice. I was able to be drawn into the story without focusing the narrator himself. It's definitely worth the listen.