Author: Cate Ashwood
Narrator: Michael Pauley
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Run Time: 6 hours and 28 minutes
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: The audio for this book is really well done. Buy it, read it, enjoy it.
Reviewed By: Mike
Blurb: Nightmares and panic attacks following a horrific tragedy leave Professor Elliot Lawrence a prisoner in his own home. After months of relying on his sister as his only connection to the outside world, Elliot is desperate for a sliver of independence. But leaving the safety of his home isn’t an option, not yet, and he reaches out in the most innocuous way he can think of: grocery delivery.
Colton Kelly, retired porn star and recent college grad, is struggling at two minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. During one of his grocery deliveries, he meets Elliot. Although the attraction between them is instant, they must first traverse the long road of putting Elliot back together. When disaster strikes yet again, this time in Colt’s life, Elliot’s not sure he’s strong enough to be the man Colt needs him to be.
Review: This is book two in the Newport Boys series. You do not have to have read book one to enjoy this book. Some characters from book one appear in bits and pieces, but they are not integral to this story.
Elliot is a recluse suffering from PTSD brought on by an incident that happened while he was giving a college lecture. He has condensed his entire world to the inside of his home, and no further.
Colton is a recent grad student with a teaching certificate and a past as a porn star holding him back. Working a few jobs to make ends meet, Colton delivers groceries to the housebound Elliot. The two share a connection that crashes into a brick wall when Elliot has a panic attack in front of Colton. Even though he chases Colton away, Colton can’t stay gone. Eventually, Colton and Elliot develop a rapport, and Elliot starts to come out of his shell and his house with the aid of Colton’s dog, Snickers.
As Elliot becomes more comfortable with having a new person in his space, and a new fur ball to play with, it helps keep Elliot from concentrating on the thing that put him in this position. Something his housecall making analyst disapproves of.
The relationship between Elliot and Colton develops at a very natural pace. You are made aware of the time it takes for both of them to find their feet together. Colton finds love, Elliot finds his way outside, and the shrink is exposed for who he truly is. That’s really the only part that doesn’t seem real. The reaction and recovery time is too rushed and feels unresolved. But the love match is very solid and real.
The audio for this book is really well done. It makes you appreciate the words more because the talent behind them is well suited to the material. I really enjoy the characters and how they are presented. Pauley is a really good voice talent and doesn’t take the easy or cliché way out of the voice work. I love that the emotions seem real and not forced and that emphasis is put on the emotion of the words as well as their meaning. The minor characters are treated with the same care as the mains, and that adds a depth to the book that lesser talents would have missed.
This book is a standalone story in the truest sense of the word. Buy it, read it, enjoy it. There may be things you wished the author had given more detail to, but they are small enough to be able to ignore and not ruin the enjoyment of the story. As someone who did not read book one, I think I’d like to go back and read the it so I can compare them both.
You can buy Resurrecting Elliot here:
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