Where do I start? I’m very familiar with Garrett Leigh’s work as an M/M romance author. I was surprised when I saw Forgiven available on NetGalley and realized that it was an M/F story. I didn’t hesitate to request a review copy, though, because I do read some M/F romance and it’s Garrett Leigh! Then I received a blog tour invite from Carina Press and couldn’t wait to help promote this book. I was also fortunate to receive an advanced copy of the audiobook performed by the talented Dan Calley and new-to-me Zara Hampton-Brown. So, this review will cover both versions.

Second chance stories are tied with friends-to-lovers as my favorite romance trope. Forgiven is a full on second chance romance with a bit of a friends-to-lovers vibe and I loved it. This book doesn’t pull any punches. It’s gritty, it’s hot AF sexy (hate sex is HOT), it’s suspenseful and it’s romantic.

Mia and Luke have a lot of history but they haven’t seen or spoken to each other in 10 years. Their parting was abrupt and painful for both of them. Now they’re back living in the same small town so meeting was inevitable.

The audiobook was fantastic. I’m very familiar with Dan Calley’s audiobook performances but this was my first by Zara Hampton-Brown. I’m very picky about female narrators, mostly because, in my experience, very few of them can do a decent male voice. Zara did a great job with the chapters that she performed and the male voices she used were unique from each other. I would not hesitate to listen to more books with her as the voice actor.

I loved everything about this story and it kept me up reading way into the not-so-wee hours of the morning (like 5 a.m. and I hadn’t been to bed yet). Forgiven is part of a duet (two connected books) and it’s not difficult to guess who the second book (an M/M romance) will feature. Forgiven definitely can be read as a standalone story – there is no cliffhanger – but I can’t wait to start reading my review copy of Unforgotten.

Reviews for Garrett Leigh

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Mia Amour. Her name had haunted me so much my bunkmate had once found me sleep-scrawling it on our cabin wall. He thought it had meant something—that I was writing a message from another dimension in a language he didn’t understand—but the reality had been far more simple: even on the other side of the world, I couldn’t get her out of my head.

Somehow, though, over time, I’d forgotten what her eyes did to me. How they could root me to the spot with a single glance and empty my mind of anything but her. Mia. I counted my heartbeats as they thundered in my ears. One, two, three, four. And then she tore her stormy blue gaze away from mine and walked out of the chip shop.

I reached for the empty space she left behind, and my faculties slowly returned to me as her footsteps echoed in my shell-shocked brain. As drawn to her as I’d always been, I drifted after her, but when I got outside, she was gone.

A thousand emotions warred in my gut, but the age-old frustration was so familiar I felt sick. Fucking Mia Amour. Deep down, I’d always hated her as much as I’d loved her, because there was no one else on earth who could make my heart pound like she did, my palms sweat, and my fingers tremble.

Cursing, I hauled myself back into the van. Gus followed a moment later, an open bag of chips in each hand. “Where’d you get to? It was your turn to buy tea.”

I tossed him a crumpled-up fiver. “Why didn’t you tell me your sister was in town?”

“Oh fuck.” Gus held out a bag of chips, then set it on the dashboard when I made no move to claim it. “Are we really doing this?”

I gave him a flat look.

He sighed. “Fuck’s sake. Why would I tell you? You two aren’t exactly friends, and you haven’t been a cou¬ple since I was fourteen and nicking Mayfair Lights from her school bag.”

Shit, had it been that long? Why was it that just a glimpse of her face could set me back a decade? The weight in my chest increased and I started the van, gunning the rickety diesel engine with a roar. “Either way, a fucking heads-up would’ve been nice.”

“But why, though?” Gus pointed a chip at me. “You want her number so you can catch up on old times?”

I wondered if he’d actually give it to me. Then pictured myself calling Mia and her reaction to hearing my voice for the first time in ten long years.

A legit shudder passed through me. I was done torturing myself for putting my family first, for giving up my entire life to keep a roof over my mum’s head, but that didn’t make the obvious anger in Mia’s eyes easier to bear. Her temper had fascinated seventeen-year-old me—sometimes I’d wound her up on purpose, just to revel in her flushed skin and sharp tongue—but I didn’t have the stones to take it now. My Mia angst tolerance was at an all-time complacent low.

“Luke?”

I spared Gus another glare. “What?”

“Can I eat your chips?”

Forgiven Series

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