Audio Review: Love Happens Anyway by RJ Scott, Narrated by Sean Crisden

07 December of 2018 by ButtonsMom2003

Reviewer's Rating: 5

5.0Overall score

Sean Crisden and RJ Scott make magic again.

Love Happens Anyway By RJ Scott, Narrated By Sean Crisden

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM, Holiday

Audio Released: November 15, 2018

Print Released: December 2, 2017

Publisher: Love Lane Books Ltd.

Synopsis

Hiring a boyfriend for Christmas; what could possibly go wrong?

Derek is facing yet another Christmas where his life feels out of control. He has a new career that doesn’t feel like his, and parents who would just love to see him settled down. All he needs is a temporary buffer for the parties he has to attend, and for his parents to leave him alone. Enter, Luke.

Luke is twenty-thousand dollars short for the renovations on Halligans; his family’s bar in New York’s Financial District. A favor for a buddy has him agreeing to play the part of boyfriend to a guy with more money than sense.

But when the spirit of Christmas works its magic on the two men, and they begin to fall for each other, Derek runs scared, and Luke needs space.

It doesn’t matter what obstacles you throw in the way of love, or how much you run in the other direction, because, when you’re least expecting it, whether you want it or not, love happens anyway.

Word Count: 42,500

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

Sean and RJ make magic again.

I enjoyed this story a lot when I read it last year but now that I’ve listened to Sean Crisden’s performance of the audiobook I love it even more. He’s bumped it up to 5 stars all around for me. I think I must like listening to first-person POV better than just reading it. Below is my original review from December 2017.

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Love Happens Anyway is a sweet story of a man, Derek, who feels pressure from his parents to find the right guy and a man, Luke, who’s had to change his life to fit his new circumstances.

The story is told in first person POV, alternating chapters between Derek and Luke. I believe that this is the only first person POV story that I’ve read by RJ Scott. I have to admit that first person POV isn’t my favorite but I’ve come to realize that the author has a lot to do with my enjoyment of this POV. RJ Scott is on my list of favorite authors and she did a great job telling this story.

I love fake boyfriend (or girlfriend) stories, add in the fact that this is a Christmas story and that makes it all that much better. The fact that Derek is paying for Luke’s services as a boyfriend complicates their growing relationship. Once they finally start talking to each other things start to work out.

I usually judge books by how much they engage my emotions. I admit that it took a bit longer for that to happen with this story (Derek was kind of a jerk in the beginning) but once I became fully invested in Derek and Luke’s situation the tears came. That’s a perfect indication of how much a story touches my heart. There were wonderful and respectful mentions of nine-eleven in the story. Luke’s father and uncle were heroes and casualties of that terrible day.

I have to mention how much I love the cover for this book and the great way it ties into the story. I’m also quite fond of the name that RJ has given to one of the kittens. ?

RJ Scott always delivers an HEA for her characters and I loved the epilogue that gives an insight into how Derek and Luke are doing a year down the road.

Story: ♥♥♥♥♥

Narration: ♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

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About Author

RJ Scott

USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott writes stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, a happily ever after.

RJ Scott is the author of over one hundred romance books, writing emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

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