Audiobook Review: Relevant Heart by Janice Jarrell, performed by Walker Williams

Relevant Heart By Janice Jarrell, Performed By Walker Williams

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Established relationships, Ireland, Two couples as best friends

Released: Audio: Jan 26, 2024; eBook: Dec 6, 2023

Publisher: Self-Published

Series: Fearless Heart, Book 3

Length: 8 hrs, 25 mins / 75,835 words

Synopsis

Colin is excited to be prosecuting his first murder case. But his ability to remain detached is challenged as the circumstances surrounding the crime awaken his deep inner fear of losing someone he loves; a fear nearly realized when—only two short months ago—Joshua was kidnapped and violently assaulted.

While Colin and his team gather evidence, he and Joshua endeavor to create a program that will establish a bridge between veterans suffering a mental health crisis and local police. But this effort drains Joshua’s already fragile health to a dangerous level, leaving Colin frantic with worry and frustration.

Meanwhile, Nate has a play opening off-Broadway and must live in New York City for six to eight weeks. It is clear from the onset that the director has the hots for Nate—or at least for his talent as a playwright—a fact which has David pacing the floor in anxiety. He is happy for Nate and proud of his husband but worried about the director’s attention and unhappy about Nate’s long absence.

By the time Nate celebrates his opening night, all four friends are exhausted both emotionally and physically and ready for the healing trip to Ireland they’ve been planning for months.

Colin’s breathtaking ancestral home provides many magical moments, but an unexpected and terrifying incident leaves them shaken and questioning the faith in each other that has always been their foundation. Will these shattering circumstances strengthen their bonds or break their hearts and tear their relationships apart?

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

I love these two couples!

When I originally read this book with my eyes back in early December 2023, I said the only thing that could make me like (I should have said love!) this book more would be for Walker Williams to perform the audiobook – and now he has! Walker Williams’ distinctly different voices for each of the characters makes it so easy to tell who is speaking. He is Colin and Josh, and Nate and David to me; I can’t imagine any other voice actor performing Janice’s stories about these men. I was hooked on his performance from the very first book I listened to (Love’s Magic). There isn’t anything more that I can say that I didn’t already say in my original review which is shown below:

While most of Janice Jarrell’s books have concentrated on Colin and Josh, David and Nate are also significant characters in most of her books. I’m so happy that we get to spend some quality time with Nate and David in Relevant Heart.

The story starts off with Nate having the honor of one of his plays being produced in New York; something that turns out to be a blessing and a curse. He hates being separated from his husband, David, and their friends Colin and Josh for over six weeks.

After Nate’s play ends, he’s in need of some serious down-time and Josh could use some as well because he’s still recovering from a serious concussion he suffered a few months ago. A vacation for the two couples seems like the perfect solution so the four friends decide to take a trip to Ireland to visit with Colin’s family

I loved all of this story but Janice Jarrell’s writing really excelled once the gang got to Ireland. I don’t know if she’s ever been to the places she writes about – and I have no way of knowing how accurate her descriptions are – but the way she described the country and all of the places that her boys visited really makes me want to visit there one day for myself. The emotion she puts into her characters – especially when it comes to their visits with Colin’s family – really radiated off of the pages.

Story: ♥♥♥♥♥

Narration: ♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Spicy

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About Author My name is Janice Jarrell. I am a retired grandmother who lives in Seattle, WA. I have two children and three grandsons. I’ve been writing gay romance since I was twelve years old, only back then it wasn’t called ‘gay romance’. In fact, it had no name at all. It was the fifty’s, and it was worth your life to admit to being gay, let alone confess to being a girl who constantly fantasized about relationships between gay men. Hell, I didn’t even know what a homosexual was. I lived on a farm out in the sticks in a tiny Michigan village and I’d never, to my knowledge, even heard the word. I just knew I loved the thought of boy-on-boy romance. I just knew that there was something hot going on between Tom Corbett and his Space Cadets and all those guys on ‘Combat’.

I wrote slash fanfiction for 30 years, writing over 337 stories, some as short as 100 words (a drabble), some as long as a series which was over 119,012 words. I enjoy writing my stories. I enjoyed the feedback I received from my readers. It was a creative release I’d been searching for my entire life and I blessed the Internet for leading me to this artistic oasis for my spirit.

Love’s Magic was my very first step into writing my own characters. I will always be grateful to the slash fanfiction community for nurturing the budding author until she was ready to blossom into a fully realized novelist. It’s been an amazing thing to watch the gay community’s growth over these past twenty years. My own journey has echoed theirs in many ways, and I’m grateful to all those gay activists who fought to give the gay community the rights and privileges they always deserved. Love’s Trials, Love’s Glory, and Love’s Lawyer were the second and third, and forth books in the series and all four books are available in audio format on Audible.

I’m also grateful to the gay romance community, readers, authors, publishers and promoters, who are making these, my retirement years, the most creative ones of my life. When I’m not writing, I’m traveling, walking, hiking, knitting, crocheting, and weaving.
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