Audio Review: Nothing Serious by Jay Northcote – Narrated by Michael Pauley

Author: Jay Northcote

Narrator:: Michael Pauley

Run Time: 4 Hours, 3 Minutes

At a Glance: My heart was just racing, right along with Mark and Jamie!

Reviewed By: Kathie

Blurb: Mark O’Brien is finally being honest with himself. His relationship with Rachel is over, and he’s moving out of the home they’ve shared for six years. They get along, but he can’t fix a relationship when the person he’s with is the wrong gender.

Jamie Robertson, one of the removal men, is huge and ridiculously gorgeous, and Mark is smitten at first sight. When a cardboard box splits, revealing items of a personal nature that Mark never wanted anybody to see, he’s mortified. But it sparks the start of a beautiful friendship with benefits.

As Jamie initiates Mark into the joys of gay sex, the two men get increasingly close, and “nothing serious” turns into something rather important to both of them. But communication isn’t their strong point. Will either man ever find the courage to be honest about his feelings?

Review: WOW! Just plain and simple WOW! This audio gets right back to the basics of M/M romance: lots of steamy sex between two hot guys. The twist I thought was refreshing was that instead of the older man, Mark, showing the younger man, Jamie, how gay sex works, it’s the other way around. And Jamie does a great job as the teacher.

As I was listening to the audio I was trying to think what it reminded me of. The narrator’s style, that is. Picture this: you are watching a movie, an action movie, you can’t hear the words the actors are saying, but you can hear the music. I compare this to the narration of Nothing Serious. At the beginning of the movie it’s calm and tentative, soothing music, somewhat sad, like when Mark is moving out and ending his relationship with Rachel. As the plot thickens, Jamie has dinner with Mark; the music gets slightly faster, like it’s starting to build up speed but not roaring yet. Then, when Jamie and Mark have sex for the first time, the music’s tempo quickly picks up speed and gets louder and louder. That’s how the narrator, Michael Pauley, sounded during the scenes when Jamie and Mark are in the bedroom. Loud and Fast! Between each encounter Jamie and Mark have, the music calms down and the tempo slows down. Until the next time, and BAM! we’re off to the races again.

Just like an action/adventure movie’s soundtrack sets the pace of the movie, the narrator’s speed and volume set the intensity for this book. Does it work? Yes, it does! My heart was just racing, right along with Mark and Jamie!

Good Job!