Title: Bad Company
Series: Bad in Baltimore: Book One
Author: K.A. Mitchell
Narrator: Chet Daniel
Release Date: April 9, 2018
Category: Contemporary
Length: 5 hours, 50 minutes
Some things are sweeter than revenge.
“I need a boyfriend.”
Hearing those words from his very straight, very ex-best friend doesn’t put Nate in a helpful mood. Not only did Kellan Brooks’s father destroy Nate’s family in his quest for power, but Kellan broke Nate’s heart back in high school. Nate thought he could trust his best friend with the revelation that he might be gay, only to find out he was horribly wrong and become the laughingstock of the whole school. Kellan must be truly desperate if he’s turning to Nate now.
Kellan’s through letting his father run his life, and he wants to make the man pay for cutting him off. What better way to stick it to the bigot than to come out as gay himself—especially with the son of the very man his father crushed on his quest for money and power. Kellan can’t blame Nate for wanting nothing to do with him, though. Kellan will have to convince him to play along, but it’s even harder to convince himself that the heat between them is only an act...
~ 5 Stars Overall ~
I really loved the writing and storyline for this book. It was fantastic. Definitely a book I will pull out to re-read and re-listen to over again, which is kind of crazy, liking a book so much you want to re-read it when you don’t even really like the characters themselves. I just wasn’t all that impressed their personalities and how they acted even though they grew on me after time. But that said, this book really worked for me overall.
This was especially fun to listen to in audio. I kept finding myself laughing out loud with some of the ridiculous things these main characters and their friends did. I would highly recommend everyone give this one a chance, and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book of this series.
Kellan is kind of a selfish, self-involved “completely straight” jerk for the beginning portion of the book. I really didn’t like watching him walk over Nate, knowing how Nate felt about him. All just to get revenge on his dad for kicking him out. Kellen’s hare-brained scheme to “be gay” to rile his dad up was a really bad decision at first, but he does actually evolve as a person throughout this book and it was nice to see that happen as time went on.
If Kellan was selfish, then Nate was a little self-righteous. Nate was always right and everything had to be done his way or he wasn’t happy with it. He also didn’t really seem happy with the way his life has turned out at all, so I think the dynamic between the two worked out for the best. They didn’t really like each other all that much, but in the end with the help of their friends they totally made it work. And when they got together it made for some steamy scenes to read and hear about.
Audio - my first, but won’t be the last time listening to this narrator, Chet Daniels. He made this book even more entertaining to listen to than just reading it. He did a great job with the voices for all of the characters in this book and I felt he got all their personalities correct as well. I look forward to other books from him in the future.
*** Audiobook copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
Title: Bad Boyfriend
Series: Bad in Baltimore: Book 2
Author: K.A. Mitchell
Narrator: Chet Daniel
Release Date: July 3, 2018
Category: Contemporary
Length: 6 hours, 34 minutes
Causing trouble has never been more fun.
Eli Wright doesn’t follow anyone’s rules. When he was seventeen, his parents threw him out of the house for being gay. He’s been making his own way for the past five years and he’s not about to change himself for anyone’s expectations. For now, romance can wait. There are plenty of hot guys to keep him entertained until he finds someone special.
Quinn Maloney kept the peace and his closeted boyfriend’s secrets for ten years. One morning he got a hell of a wake-up along with his coffee. Not only did the boyfriend cheat on him, but he’s marrying the girl he knocked up. Inviting Quinn to the baby’s baptism is the last straw. Quinn’s had enough of gritting his teeth to play nice. His former boyfriend is in for a rude awakening, because Quinn’s not going to sit quietly on the sidelines. In fact, he has the perfect scheme, and he just needs to convince the much younger, eyeliner-wearing guy who winks at him in a bar to help him out.
Eli’s deception is a little too good, and soon he has everyone believing they’re madly in love. In fact, he’s almost got Quinn believing it himself….
First Edition published by Samhain Publishers Inc., December 2011.
~ 5 Stars all around, and I would totally give more if I could ~
I loved everything about this audiobook.
The writing, premise and story. The characters and their personalities. The friends and family drama involvement. The narration by Chet Daniel. In my opinion, everything about this book was fun and emotional and really hot to hear about. And I was completely, yet pleasantly surprised by all the kinky scenes as well. This book was just written so well and the best narrator was picked for the audio version too.
Quinn’s ex, Peter, leaves him for a woman, basically out of nowhere after 10 years of being together and living together, and OMG, they're having a baby and getting hitched… WHAT?!?!?! I really felt bad for Quinn through most of the book, until I realized he was basically enabling his ex, by allowing Peter to treat him the way he did. Quinn should have cut ties from the whole lot of them until they realized what they were doing was harmful to Quinn’s feelings. I also didn’t really appreciate how Quinn was portrayed like he was so old. I mean he was only 34-35 and only like 10 years older than Eli, which to me is not a huge difference, but he just seemed so ancient during parts of this book. I do think that led us into the whole daddy kink, though, and that was a great addition to this book. Like, OMG, the first time Eli says, “Spank me, daddy.” I was completely caught in this book hook, line, and sinker; you could not tear me away from this one until I was finished with it. The heat and chemistry we get between these two characters is completely smoking hot, off the charts from basically the moment they meet. And every sexual interaction we got after their first time was ridiculously HOT as well, and I would have been happy with more of that in the book.
We met Eli in the previous book of this series, as the fun friend of Kellan and Nate. Eli has the best personality, he’s snarky and bold and fun, yet he has insecurities that he tries to hide just like everyone else. I loved that he just calls out Quinn for everything that happens and doesn’t let him get away with not facing facts. I think that part of the fun in this book was watching them trying to figure out how they meshed together outside the bedroom and not just in it, because we all know they work perfectly together in it. Neither of them have had “good” previous relationships before so seeing them struggle a bit to make it work together was great. It was insta-lust for sure, but I’m glad they didn’t instantly fall in love with each other, and that it took them time and effort to get to that place in their relationship. I really would have been happy with several hundred more pages of these two.
Audio – holy smokes, Chet Daniels really turns up the heat in his character voices for these two. This is one of those books that is already great to read, but even more fantastic to listen to if the correct narrator is picked to voice it. He had me completely enthralled wanting to not miss a minute of this book and I loved every second of it. He did such a great job I cannot wait to hear anything else he narrates - I will buy them all. And I really, really hope *fingers crossed* he gets to do the rest of this series when they come out in audio too.
*** Audiobook copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
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