A Guy Walks Into My Bar

I tend to be super late to parties for hyped books just because ... I'm a curmudgeon. There. I said it. But I've read some of [a:Lauren Blakely 6860216 Lauren Blakely https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1553099513p2/6860216.jpg]'s M/F contemporaries and I've been okay with them so I decided to try this despite signs that it would probably not be for me. The signs were right.Firs off I did the AB, which thankfully is on Audible Escape. I know lately a lot of listeners are keen on multicast and duet narrations but they just make me think of radio soaps of yore. The duet is fine?, I guess, but not something I need or want. Frankly one good, appropriate for the story, narrator is all I want. For me an AB isn't a performed play or movie script. It's a novel narrated with intention but not necessarily “acted out”. I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself clearly but there it is. All of this is to say that while [a:Shane West 3389261 Shane West https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] and [a:Joe Arden 8285266 Joe Arden https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] are perfectly fine as Dean and Fitz the rest seemed like tinsel, bells, and whistles. IMO they added nothing to the story. THE STORY: my fears were realized. Not in a good way. Dean & Fitz meet at the aforementioned bar and all the MF cliches that make my skin burn were present. They're swept away by lust at first sight but of course both MC have some trite reason why he's not looking for love, absolutely cannot do relationships etc., while at the same time can't keep away from the other MC. They're 31 & 28? but to me read like they were 18. Besides the physical attraction I wasn't able to determine what else brought them together, which is fine, relationships are built on less ... I guess.Dean is prickly like a cactus and seemed to be F in an M/F where Fitz is always apologizing for some wrong doing, bending to Dean wishes or otherwise making up to him. The sex was fine. The usual mind-blowing, never-before experienced Os etc. and maybe you could say there was too much but I'll give it a pass since his kicks off as a vacation affair and those are all about the smex. So ... sure. Why not? My other issue is that this book/story seems to have been concocted without even a reference to OWN VOICES and more like from market research. The target audience surely isn't a gay one. The characters are gay but we only know it because the author told us so. They could be anyone. As for the rest, the AB at least, seemed to never end. Once the I-LOVE-YOUs were exchanged (super fast) they were repeated to the point of barf, there were was a wedding epilogue, a “some years later” epilogue, story about Dean's friends Maeve & Sam and their little love story, an interview with the main narrators, bloopers, and more! It was eternal. Or maybe it just felt that way because I don't think I'll remember the name of these two by tomorrow. For me this story was just surface and it's a pity because as I generally like this author. As usual YMMV