Audiobook Review: Hard Wood by Lauren Blakely
- KA
- Oct 19, 2017
- 7 min read
I've been waiting for this one and I was so excited when I found out it was going to be available on audio an entire week before the official book release. My husband is also very grateful since he didn't have to share our wedding anniversary with SebYo - by share, he means, being ignored LOL.
From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Full Package and Big Rock comes a hot and hilarious new standalone romantic comedy.
Women often say a good man is hard to find. And a hard man is even better. That’s why I’m quite a catch— good, hard, loaded, and wait for it…I’m ready to settle down too. But the woman I want to pitch my tent with lives clear across the country. Neither of us wants to get lost in those woods. All I have to do is resist her for the week she's in town. I try. I swear I try. But yeah, that doesn't work out. And after one fantastic night with my good friend Mia, I’m ready to give her years of nights under the stars. What's a few thousand miles when love's involved? But there’s a hitch in my plans — she just hired my adventure tour company. If there’s one thing I’m committed to, it’s running a squeaky clean business. Number one on my list of iron-clad rules? Don’t screw your customers. But what's a guy to do when she's so hard to resist? How hard can it be to keep our hands off each other for a quick group tour down the hills and over the trails? I’m about to find out, and I have a feeling I’m going to need a new badge of honor because things are about to get very hard in the woods.
PURCHASE LINKS
Written By: Lauren Blakely
Narrated by: Sebastian York
Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
Unabridged
Release date: 10-16-17
Language: English
Publisher: Lauren Blakely Books
When it Whispersyncs I believe it'll be - $7.49/ £3.49 (but don't quote me)
REVIEW
Rating:
Story - 5 stars
Performance - 5 stars
Overall - 5 stars
Patrick has had the hots for Mia since the first time he met her. He knows nothing can happen, she’s his friend’s little sister and she lives on the other side of the country, but how he’d like something to happen. The chemistry is there, he feels it, she feels it, even his cat knows it - yes, his cat! And no that is not a euphemism. When things finally start to happen for him and his happily ever after is a possibility, a spanner is thrown in the works as Mia hires his company, which has a strict no-fraternization policy, Patrick knows this because he created it. Now he has to spend a week in the wilderness and resist the temptation to touch the one woman he can’t seem to cope without.
Lauren Blakely has created a series that is a must listen…the books are great to read, but these audiobooks are something special. Sebastian York really brings the writing to life and gives these characters that breath of air that makes them so memorable. When I first heard this series was going to be from the male POV I was on the fence, but I should have known better than to doubt LB, Lauren really knows how to get into the mind of the male character and not only make them believable but worthy of the attention. These books are funny, emotional, and charming. Each book just gets better, when you think Lauren can’t top the last book she comes out swinging with a ‘You wanna bet?’ I have to be honest, I didn’t think anyone was going to be able to top Max, he was just everything. And then Patrick decided to just ruin everything by coming into my life with his perfection and changing it all about. Not that I’m complaining. Thank you, Lauren, for capturing my heart with these guys, and keeping me entertained for hours. Also, thank you for the effort you put into your audiobooks, they’re not an afterthought for you and it shows, as a listener that makes me happy and proud to say I’m a Lauren Blakely convert.
I’ve been on a romantic comedy kick just lately, especially with this series and I was so overjoyed that another book was being released. When I was asked to categorize this book, I had great difficulty. It’s really a mixture; best friend’s little sister/ friends to lovers and even an ‘office’ romance I guess, but is it? That seems too simple a title, and for me, that underplays the relationship between these characters. It’s a story of love. Simple as that. You will meet these characters and you’ll instantly like them, shortly after you will be in love with them and the world they live in. As soon as I hit play on this book I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stop listening until I had devoured every last second, and that’s exactly what happened. I loved the wilderness aspect of this story, I’m not a camper…at all, but even I was thinking it could be cool to head out to the woods. (Don’t worry, the feeling passed) That’s what these books do, they immerse you in them so fully that you feel like you are there, experiencing things with them. I loved that the epilogues tied everything up with a pretty bow and left me with a happy feeling of being complete.
Lauren Blakely writes the best characters. I loved Patrick. He’s my favourite. He was such a sweetheart, I liked him when he was introduced in Joy Ride and was super excited to see him get a book. His friendship and banter with Max was fun and showed a different side to him, as opposed to the sexy sweetheart he is with Mia. His relationship with Zeus, his cat, was just the most adorable thing ever. I loved that he knew how he felt about Mia and wasn’t scared of it, he wasn’t scared to admit it – just about whether she was at the same place as he was, I thought that was really refreshing. Mia is awesome. I think I identified with Mia the most, out of all of the female characters in this series. She’s short, yes this is a thing, do you know how many female characters are considered short but really, they’re not? (Sorry, I digress) She has two brothers that she adores. She’s independent, knows her own mind and gets things done. What’s not to like? Her interactions with Patrick were sweet and you could sense the chemistry from the get-go. I’ve always been drawn to strong female characters and I think she embodies that. Zeus, come on, he had to get a mention. He was freaking adorable. I feel like he needs his own twitter account so he can keep us informed of his progress.
It was nice to have a little mention of the characters from the other books in the series and how their happily ever afters are progressing. With that being said, this book is a complete standalone, you don’t need to read/ listen to the others for the little mentions to make sense. Personally, I think you should, because they’re awesome but it’s definitely not required.
The relationship between Patrick and Mia is such a sweet one. I loved that they started as friends with chemistry and that grew to something more and something neither of them could fight, nor wanted to. The fact that they were both on the same page about the relationship and how they felt but they didn’t tell the other - both drove me insane and kept me listening and wanting to know where the story was going to go. Thankfully, they didn’t keep me waiting too long, their attraction and love were just too strong to draw it out. The banter between the two of them was spot on and so full of sexual tension and innuendos that it made the sex scenes just perfect for this couple, not overdone or unnecessary, they felt very organic to Patrick and Mia and a part of their story.
When I was getting ready to listen to Hard Wood I thought about the review and wondered how I was going to manage to say something that I haven’t already said about Sebastian York and figured it would be a struggle. Then I listened to it, oh man! It’s typical Sebastian York goodness, with an extra flair I wasn’t expecting. At the beginning and end of the book, there are some cool nature sound effects that I thought was a great addition to the overall feel of the book. Sebastian really has been the best choice for this series, but with that being said, I feel he really embodies Patrick, his performance is commanding yet sweet. He nails the sexiness like, well, come on, if you’ve heard any book narrated by Sebastian, you know the man can make a sex scene sexier and he delivers in that aspect here too, but it’s the emotional scenes where he really excels. Did I mention this book has chapters from the cat, yes you read that right, Sebastian York narrated a cat and even meows, I don’t remember the last time I laughed that much or that loud. It was pure comedic genius on both Lauren Blakely’s part and on the delivery from Sebastian. Just when I think he can’t surprise me anymore, this just came out of left field and I loved it. Side-note: The book also contains a sample chapter from Most Valuable Playboy, narrated by Zachary Webber. If you’ve been on the fence about MVP this is the perfect opportunity to hear ZW’s awesomeness and get a taste for the story.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A #1 New York Times Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that's hot, sweet and sexy. She lives in California with her family and has plotted entire novels while walking her dogs. With fourteen New York Times bestsellers, her titles have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Lists more than eighty times, and she's sold more than 2 million books.
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