Between Loathing and Love

Title: Between Loathing and Love
Author: Andrew Grey and Tristan James (Narrator)
Publisher: Dreampsinner Press LLC
Release Date: August 19th 2016
Genre(s): M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Theatrical agent Payton Gowan meets with former classmate—and prospective client—Beckett Huntington with every intention of brushing him off. Beckett not only made high school a living hell for Payton, but he was also responsible for dashing Payton’s dreams of becoming a Broadway star.

Aspiring actor Beckett Huntington arrives in New York City on a wing and a prayer, struggling to land his first gig. He knows scoring Payton Gowan as an agent would be a great way to get his foot in the door, but with their history, getting the chance is going to be a tough sell.

Against Payton’s better judgment, he agrees to give Beckett a chance, only to discover—to his amazement—that Beckett actually does have talent.

Payton signs Beckett but can’t trust him—until Payton’s best friend, Val, is attacked. When Beckett is there for him, Payton begins to see another side to his former bully. Amidst attempts by a jealous agent to sabotage Beckett’s career and tear apart their blossoming love, Payton and Beckett must learn to let go of the past if they have any chance at playing out a future together.

This story has an almost fairytale feel to it. The characters all have exceptional opportunities and situations pop up immediately, mostly everything goes their way, and there’s very little conflict.

I enjoyed most of the story, with the exception a bit of unnecessary drama (to me) in the third quarter, which, admittedly, is more of a personal peeve.

Spoiler: The dreaded unnecessary breakup. Ugh. Made absolutely no sense except to create drama, and there were two other situations (Val’s almost date rape and the psycho co-worker) that would have been much better to add drama to the story.

There are also two storylines, one involving a date gone bad with Payton’s best friend, Val, and another involving Payton’s co-worker that I felt kind of got dropped and felt unresolved. I would really have liked better resolutions for both situations.

In the end though, and aided by the exceptional narration by Tristan James, this is a sweet tale with some very nice heat and sexy times, easy flow, and likable characters (especially Pay’s best friend, Val, who I hope will get his own story please!).

Tristan James has that uncanny knack to really bring the words in the story to life. He infuses his work with emotion, his character voices are entertaining, and his pacing is good. All in all this was a really pleasant way to spend six hours.