Author: Lane Hayes
Narrator: Michael Ferraiuolo
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Run Time: 9 hours and 2 minutes
Category: Contemporary Romance
At a Glance: I fully recommend this book and the narration. There is a lot to enjoy here. Things that will make you smile and things that will break your heart.
Reviewed By: Mike
Blurb: Workaholic Nate Erickson is a successful real estate developer who thrives on long hours and stress. When a Los Angeles project prompts him to relocate to Santa Monica, he welcomes the change of scenery. Nate has always considered romantic entanglements trouble, but his sexy next-door neighbor isn’t easy to ignore. Which makes no sense, because Nate is straight… or so he’s always thought.
Alex Reyes is a retired professional soccer player turned West Hollywood business owner with an insatiable lust for life. He loves his family, friends, and work. But there’s one life challenge left to accomplish: coming out publically. Respect for traditional Latino values has kept him in the closet, but Alex begins to think he and his new neighbor might help one another combat their fears. As Alex and Nate forge a strong friendship, they soon realize facing their personal demons will take more courage than either man bargained. The reward is immeasurable… if the timing is right.
Review: The Right Time is the third book in this series. You don’t need to have read the others first, but, like all series, you may want to go back and read where these characters and the others in their world come from and how they connect.
The Right Time opens with two old friends having a conversation about where one of them will live in order to be close to a new land development project. Brandon has a solution, a rental apartment, fully furnished, complete with hot landlord. The trouble is Nate is straight. Alex, a retired soccer player is not.
Over a very short time, the two find they have a lot in common. Past relationship wounds, past family entanglements that are not always positive, and a sense of being lonely and ready for the next big adventure. That adventure turns into a flirtation, flirtation into something deeper.
Having read the other books in this series myself, I can honestly say this is the best book in the series so far. The author has really gotten a handle on relationships between two men. This is a romance to be sure, but neither of the men is a total top and neither is a fey little thing in need of rescue. Or, rather, they see in each other that thing that needs to be rescued and are willing to be rescued in return. How they go from straight/bi and a gay man to a couple meant to last is a nice thing to see developing.
Hayes does not skimp on detail, but also does not imply this thing happens in a day or even a week. It takes time. There are stumbles and both men had things in their past that leave them feeling broken and unsure of committing to something bigger than they have ever had before. Nate’s secret explodes when Alex decides to come finally publicly come out. Alex’s traditional Hispanic father nearly derails something beautiful between Alex and Nate.
Love, love of music, and a deep determination to finally make a relationship work all combine to give us a full view of love in bloom, love that has passed, and secrets that once talked about are not a ruin but a boon to the relationship. Loss has a place here but it is not the end.
The narrator of this audiobook does a remarkable job. The characters are fully realized. Female voices do not take on that lisping, grating quality too many male narrators lean on, and the Latino characters are given full voices not just clichéd accents. Voices are sharp and individual and give the listener an easy time telling when one character stops talking and another begins. Mr. Ferraiuolo has a number of narrations to his credit and is someone who should be sought out if you enjoy crisp, clear characters who never fail to engage the listener’s ear. He has a gift for knowing when the pace of his narration needs to be slow and when it needs rapid fire delivery to keep you on the edge of your seat. There are very few flaws in the delivery here, and the one or two that happen are hardly noticeable.
I fully recommend this book and the narration. There is a lot to enjoy here. Things that will make you smile and things that will break your heart. We do get a HEA, but it is a reality based one. You know going past the end of the book there will be disagreements, there will be moments that try them both, but under it all will be a deep kind of love. The Narrator catches all of those things. You will not be sorry you bought this book for the story, you will be even happier with the narration bringing it to life.
You can buy The Right Time here:
[zilla_button url=”https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/the-right-time-by-lane-hayes-4705-b” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Dreamspinner Press [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/The-Right-Time-Audiobook/B01CUK8QGW/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srImg?qid=1465993426&sr=1-1″ style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Audible [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://amzn.to/1PtAieL” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon US [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B01CUK8414?d” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon Int’l [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”https://itunes.apple.com/au/audiobook/right-time-right-wrong-book/id1093240803″ style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] iTunes [/zilla_button]
The Novel Approach Reviews 
Leave a Reply