Bounce by Noelle August

Title: Bounce (Boomerang #3)

Author: Noelle August

Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: August 25, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Playing the occasional club gig just isn’t cutting it for twenty-two-year-old cellist player Skyler Canby, who’s trying to support herself and her mother back home in Kentucky. Persuaded by her best friend Beth to accompany her on an audition of rate first feature film launched by Blackwood Entertainment she figures why not? Beth’s a shoe-in for the lead, but maybe Skyler’s newly dyed pink hair will help her stand out enough to score a small speaking part.

Never in her wildest dreams does Skyler imagine she’ll land the lead role or that she’ll have her shoes knocked off her feet by the kiss her audition partner, Grey Blackwood, plants on her—a kiss that feels very real an not at all “acted.”

After throwing a party that causes thousands of dollars of damage to his older brother’s home, reckless musician Grey Blackwood gets roped into working off his debt on the set of his CEO brother’s newest project. Grey spends his days fetching coffee and doing odd jobs around the studio, but he lives for nights when he performs with his band. Heinous if he can stay focused, success as a singer is just around the corner. But that’s tough with a distracting pink-haired girl occupying his every waking thought.

Skyler and Grey have every reason to resist each other. But, like a song neither of them can get out of their minds, they have no choice but to go where the music takes them. 

Though I haven’t reviewed the first two books, I have been loving Noelle August’s Boomerang series. I was really excited about the release of Bounce and I can now officially say that out of the three books, it’s officially my favourite.

Skyler loves the cello and performing in clubs, but it’s not easy supporting yourself only on club gigs. Unless she finds a way to make money fast, she’s going to have to move back home to Kentucky even if it’s the last thing she wants to do. When her best friend convinces her to join her at a film audition for Blackwood Entertainment, Skyler figures she has nothing to lose. But she also never thought that she would be cast as the lead or that she would feel an instant connection to Grey Blackwood. Grey has a lot to make up for. After throwing a party and trashing his brother’s home, Grey finds himself working on the set of his brother’s latest project. The one upside to working at the studio is getting to spend more time with Skyler. They both know they should resist the attraction that’s between them, but Grey and Skyler can only deny their feelings for so long.

I love fun and flirty New Adult. Don’t get me wrong, I also love my sexy-times filled NAs, but there are times when all I want is an adorable story that’s fun and flirty. And that’s why I’ve been loving Noelle August’s Boomerang series in the last year. Though I haven’t reviewed the first two books in the series, Boomerang and Rebound, I loved them and they only made me more excited about the final book, Bounce. And let me just say that Bounce is officially my favourite out of all three. With the second book, I had gotten curious about Grey and I wanted to know more about him. There was just something about him that drew me in so I was really excited to finally get to read his story. And his story didn’t disappoint me. Bounce completely drew me in, until a few hours later I realized that I had spent my entire afternoon reading the book. And I didn’t regret that one bit. This story was fun and the romance was everything I had wanted it to be. And that’s because Grey and Skyler became friends before they became anything else and those are my favourite kinds of romance. 

So Grey and Skyler. Can I just say that I loved them and leave it at that? I mean, that’s really all there is to it. I loved them as individuals right from the start, and then I loved the potential for a romantic relationship between them. And when that didn’t really happen, I absolutely loved them as friends. And then I loved them as something more than friends. Can you tell, yet, that I loved them? But for real though, I was curious about Grey based on what I had seen of him in the first two books. And when I started reading Bounce, I was pretty much instantly charmed by him. And even though sometimes there were moments when I sort of wanted to slap some sense into him, I still loved him and was rooting for him all throughout the book. And the same pretty much goes for Skyler. I loved her from the start, and I understood her tendency to want to take care of everyone around her, sometimes at her own expense. And like with Grey, there were certainly some occasions where I wanted to slap some sense into her. But at the end of the day, what they did is what ended up bringing them together and seeing all that happen was my favourite part of this story. So it’s not like I can really complain. 

Noelle August’s Bounce was absolutely fantastic. There was just so much that I loved about this story and nothing I could really say would come close to doing it justice. So just read it, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Title: The Accident Season

Author: Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Publisher: Kathy Dawson Books

Release Date: August 18, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

For fans of We Were Liars and How I Live Now comes a haunting, sexy, magically realistic debut about a family caught between a violent history, a taboo romance, and the mysteries lurking in their own backyard.

Every October, Cara and her family become inexplicably and unavoidably accident-prone. Some years it’s bad, like the season when her father died, and some years it’s just a lot of cuts and scrapes. This accident seasons—when Cara, her ex-stepbrother, Sam, and her best friend, Bea, are 17—is going to be a bad one. But not for the reasons they think.

Cara is about to learn that not all the scars left by the accident season are physical: There’s a long-hidden family secret underneath the bumps and bruises. This is the year Cara will finally fall desperately in love, when she’ll start discovering the painful truth about the adults in her life, and when she’ll uncover the dark origins of the accident season—whether she’s ready or not.

For most of 2015, I’ve been reading primarily contemporary books. But there are always a couple books that stand out to me in other genres and I’m curious about reading them. I had heard so many great things about Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s The Accident Season and those great things, and more, proved absolutely true.

To the outside world, Cara and her family just look like they’re extremely clumsy, especially when October rolls around. But they know better. For reasons they can’t explain, every October, Cara and her family become extremely accident-prone. Some years it’s not too bad, a few scrapes and bruises, maybe a broken bone. But there are other years when it’s especially bad, like the year her father died. This year, it’s hoping up to be especially bad. But it’s also the year that they may finally get some answers, about the accident season and about their family’s story. But Cara might not be ready for it all.

So here’s something you might have noticed if you’ve been following my reviews for some time. When I first started blogging, I read just about any genre of YA. But over the last couple of years, I’ve started reading mostly contemporary, forgetting that there are other genres out there. That doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention to other genres, because I totally am. And when a book catches my attention, I am more than willing to hit pause on all the contemporary and pick up another book. After hearing so much about Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s The Accident Season, I just knew that I had to read it. And here’s the thing, for the majority of the book, it almost felt like I was reading a contemporary story. Sure there was clearly something a little out of the norm happening, what with all the seemingly unexplainable accidents and the fact that Cara and her friends were the only ones who seemed to even know of Elsie’s existence. But there always seemed to be a logical explanation for what was happening. Until there wasn’t and then things took a little magical turn. Or so I thought. Even now, after having finished reading The Accident Season, I’m still not sure if there was something magical happening. But that only made the story that much more interesting and intriguing. And I loved it.

Here’s the thing about the characters in The Accident Season: because of the nature of the story, there were times when I questioned whether or not they were real. It made for an interesting reading experience because of the fact that I was always doubting what I was being told about the people in the story. It’s not so much that Cara was an unreliable narrator, because she wasn’t, but because she sometimes was starting to doubt some people’s existence. Like I said, it was interesting. But the good kind of interesting, the kind that makes you want to read more. Beyond Cara, the other characters in The Accident Season were interesting to read about. And I will admit that the whole time I was reading, I was hoping for some romance between Cara and Sam. And I sort of got my wish, but I also didn’t. This is what happens when I read too much contemporary romance, I start hoping for romance in everything I read. But in the grand scheme of things the lack of romance, didn’t take away from my enjoyment of The Accident Season. At all.

Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s The Accident Season was so different from everything I’e been reading lately and I loved reading it. It was mysterious, it was creepy and at times it even messed with my head a little. It was absolutely worth the read.

Series Review - The Ivy Years by Sarina Bowen

Every so often, I go through a period where I read a series in a really short amount of time. That's what happened with Sarina' Bowen's Ivy Years series: I read the four full-length books that are out in the span of a week.

THE SERIES

This series revolves around the Harkness College men's hockey team, its players, and the people linked to the team. Thought there were some things in the books that weren't always my favourite, I still got completely sucked into the books and loved reading every single one of the books and I can't wait for more books in this series.

Title: The Year We Fell Down (The Ivy Years #1)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Release Date: March 20, 2014

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

The sport she loves is out of reach. The boy she loves has someone else. What now?

She expected to start Harkness College as a varsity ice hockey player. But a serious accident means that Corey Callahan will start school in a wheelchair instead.

Across the hall, in the other handicapped-accessible dorm room, lives the too-delicious-to-be-real Adam Hartley, another would-be hockey star with his leg broken in two places. He’s way out of Corey’s league.

And he’s taken.

Nevertheless an unlikely alliance blooms between Corey and Hartley in the “gimp ghetto” of McHerrin Hall. Over tequila, perilously balanced dining hall trays, and video games, the two cope with disappointments that nobody else understands.

They’re just friends, of course, until one night when things fall apart. Or fall together. All Corey knows is that she’s falling. Hard.

But will Hartley set aside his trophy girl to love someone as broken as Corey? If he won’t, she will need to find the courage to make a life for herself at Harkness—one which does not revolve around the sport she can no longer play, or the brown-eyed boy who’s afraid to love her back.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Corey was supposed to play hockey in college but an accident during a game puts her in a wheel chair and ends her hockey career. When she gets to Harkness College, her dorm room is across the hall from Adam Hartley's. Hartley, the star of the men's hockey team, is out for the season with a fractured leg. There's an instant connection between Corey and Hartley, but there's one problem: Hartley's already taken.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the story in The Year We Fell Down because of the fact that Harley is supposed to be with someone else for a good chunk of the book. I'm not opposed to cheating in books if it's done right, in fact I've written a whole post on the subject. But I was afraid of what it would mean for Corey in this particular case. So I started reading, a little apprehensively, and I immediately fell in love with the friendship that Corey and Hartley had going. It was really fun to read the back and forth between them. But then the story took an interesting turn and I wasn't sure how to feel. I loved Hartley and Corey but I wasn't sure what to feel about what one of them does. There was some seriously questionable behaviour and I didn't know how it was going to play out in the rest of the story. By the end of the book, things had been worked out and I was happy with the way it all went down. Out of the whole series (or at least what's out so far), The Year We Fell Down wasn't my favourite, but it was still a story I really enjoyed reading and one that convinced me to check out the rest of the Ivy Years series.

Title: The Year We Hid Away (The Ivy Years #2)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Release Date: June 1, 2014

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

She’s hiding something big. He’s hiding someone small.

Scarlet Crowley’s life was torn apart the day her father was arrested for unspeakable crimes. Now the shock has worn off, but not the horror.

It’s a safe bet that Scarlet is the only first year at Harkness College who had to sneak past TV news trucks parked on her front lawn just to leave town. But college will be Scarlet’s fresh start. Clutching a shiny new study ID—with a newly minted name on it—she leaves it all behind. Even if it means lying to the boy she’s falling for.

Bridger McCalley is a varsity hockey star known for being a player both on and off the ice. But a sobering family crisis takes that all away. Protecting his sister means a precarious living arrangement and constant deception. The only bright spot in his week is the few stolen hours he spends with Scarlet. 

The two form a tentative relationship based not eh understanding that somethings must always be held back. But when grim developments threaten them both, going it along just won’t work anymore. And if they can’t learn to trust one another now, the families who let them down will take everything they’ve struggled to keep. 

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

College is going to be Scarlet's fresh start. She's changed her name to escape her family drama and she's hoping to fly under the radar when she gets to Harkness. Bridger was a star on the men's hockey team until last year. But now his family has to come first. That means protecting his little sister and hoping no one finds out she's been staying in his dorm room. Scarlet and Bridger tentatively start a relationship, but with the state of each of their lives, everything could quickly and easily fall apart.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I was really curious about The Year We Hid Away. I'd gotten to know Bridger briefly in the first book and wanted to find out more about him. And I wanted to know more about Scarlet based on the synopsis. There ended up being a lot more to the story than I thought there was going to be: Scarlet had to deal with the fact that her famous father was arrested on child molestation charges, while Bridger had to care for his little sister because their junkie mother was putting her in danger. It was really interesting to read these two people's stories individually, but also seeing them come together and support the other with what they were going through. In light of everything they were going through, I was really rooting for Scarlet and Bridger, individually and as a couple. Also, it should be said that Bridger's little sister was adorable and there were plenty of times when she totally stole the show for me. I loved The Year We Hid Away. There were many moments when this story broke my heart but in the end, I loved the way this story all came together. 

Title: The Understatement of the Year (The Ivy Years #3)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Release Date: October 15, 2014

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

What happened in high school stayed in high school. Until now.

Five years ago, imchael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he’s made an art of hiding his sexuality from everyone. Including himself.

So it’s a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenceless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team’s new left wing could destroy Graham’s life as he knows it.

John Rikker is stuck being the new guy. Again. And it’s worse than usual, because the media has latched onto the story of the only “out” player in Division One hockey. As the satellite trucks line the sidewalk outside the rink, his new teammates are not amused. 

And one player in particular looks sick every time he enters the room.

Richer didn’t exactly expect a warm welcome from Graham. But the guy won’t even meet his eyes. From the looks of it, he’s former…best friend / boyfriend / whatever isn’t doing so well. He drinks too much and can’t focus during practice.

Either the two loneliest guys on the team will self destruct from all the new pressures in their lives, or they can navigate the pain to find a way back to one another. To say that it won’t be easy is the Understatement of the Year.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Graham and Rikker were more than friends in high school. But one horrible day changed all of that. Fast forward five years and Rikker is transferring to Harkness College and will be playing on the same hokey team as Graham. Rikker knows who he is and knows what he wants. Graham has been repressing who he is for so long that he doesn't know who he is anymore. Rikker and Graham are set to either self-destruct or finally find their way to another once and for all.

WHAT I THOUGHT

The Understatement of the Year is my favourite of the Ivy Years books that have been published so far. There is nothing I didn't love about this story. I loved that Graham and Rikker had so much history before this story even started. It made for some really interesting and entertaining interactions between them. And I of course loved Rikker and Graham themselves and I wanted for them to be together once and for all so badly. Basically, The Understatement of the Year gave me SO MANY FEELS and continued my streak of good luck when it comes to absolutely fantastic m/m reads this year. I just want to yell about my love for this book from the rooftops and tell everyone I know to read it because it is an absolutely amazing and beautiful stories that will give you ALL THE FEELS.

Title: The Shameless Hour (The Ivy Years #4)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Release Date: April 12, 2015

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

The girl who’s had everyone meets the boy who has no one.

For Bella, the sweet-talking, free-loving, hip-checking student manager of the Harkness men’s hockey team, sex is a second language. She’s used to being fluent where others stutter, and the things people say behind her back don’t (often) bother her. So she can’t understand why her smoking hot downstairs neighbor has so much trouble staying friends after they spontaneous night together. She knows better than to worry about it, but there’s something in those espresso eyes that makes her second guess herself.

Rate is appalled with himself for losing his virginity in a drunken hookup. His strict Catholic upbringing always emphasized loving thy neighbor—but not with a bottle of wine and a box of condoms. The result is an Ivy League bout of awkwardness. But when Bellea is levelled by a little bad luck and a downright sinister fraternity stunt, it’s Rafe who is there to pick up the pieces.

Bella doesn’t want Rafe’s help, and she’s through with men. Good bad the undeniable spark that crackles between the two of them just can’t be extinguished.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Bella loves hockey players and isn't shy about it. She doesn't care about what people say about her behind her back, and sometimes even to her face. She's never had trouble with boys before, so she can't quite understand what went wrong after the night she spent with Rafe. Rafe doesn't do hook ups and he can't believe what happened with him and Bella. When Bella is the victim of a fraternity prank, Rafe is determined to help her, even if Bella isn't interested in his help.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I loved The Shameless Hour, especially because of the way Sarina Bowen handled the topic of slut shaming through Bella and what happened to her. I already knew Bella from the previous books in the series and already kind of loved her before I even started reading The Shameless Hour. So what happens to her in this book broke my heart and I was so angry on her behalf. What happened to her was horrible and I loved that is wasn't handled lightly or brushed away in the story. And I loved Rafe for how he was with Bella. I was immediately charmed by Rafe and my love for him just grew with every page of this story that I read. He was the best kind of guy you could ask for. And I also want to mention Lianne because she was fantastic and I can't wait to read her story. The Shameless Hour was a fantastic story and one that handles the issue of slut shaming right. And when it comes down to it, we need more books that do that.

VERDICT ON THE SERIES?

I am so totally loving Sarina Bowen's Ivy Years series. I love the sports romance just as much as I love the various topics and issues that have been handled in each of the books. I've loved each of the books I've read so far and I can't wait to read more. The Fifteenth Minute just can't come soon enough!

Before We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino

Title: Before We Were Strangers

Author: Renée Carlino

Publisher: Atria Books

Release Date: August 18, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in new York City.

To the Green-Eyed Lovebird:

We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House.

You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more.

We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other.

Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding…

I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. It died to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello.

After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half?

M

Despite owning two of her books and having heard nothing but good things about them, I hadn’t yet read any of Renée Caroline’s books. But I was curious about Before We Were Strangers and its premise. And this book did not disappoint in the least.

Fifteen years ago, Matt and Grace met, became friends and fell in love. For a year, they were inseparable, spending every minute they could together. Playing music, taking pictures, and enjoying life in New York City. But after a year, it all fell apart and Matt and Grace lost touch. But a chance sighting on a subway platform brings back feelings both of them had long thought had been buried. A lot can happen in fifteen years, and this could be Matt and Grace’s second chance at love.

Before We Were Strangers is the first of Renée Carlino’s books that I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last. When I first heard about the premise for this one, I was very curious about what the story would end up being. I wanted to know more about this story about two people who reconnect after fifteen years thanks to a missed connection post. And I love a good second chance romance story. Basically, it was like Before We Were Strangers was calling out my name and I had no choice but to read it. And this story, guys. I loved the way it was told, how I got to see Matt and Grace falling in love at 22 just like I got to see them reconnecting when they were 36. And I honestly didn’t think this story would affect me as much as it did. I expected romance, and lots of it, considering what the story is. And I saw revelations coming long before they were revealed, but they still hit me right where it hurts. There were tears involved. Lots of them. And by the time I finished reading Before We Were Strangers, I was basically a puddle of feelings and tears. 

Because of the way the story was told, it was like I got two couples for the price of one: Matt and Grace as college seniors, and Matt and Grace as 36-year-olds. And actually, it’s almost like I got to see three versions of them, because the story went from the present to the past and back to the present. Does what I’m saying even make sense? Hopefully it does. This is all to say that I loved seeing who these two people were as young adults who were trying to find their way in the world. And how, finding each other again once they were older, was almost like they were brought back to life, like they were finally living the life they had hoped to be living. Basically, there wasn’t a single moment  in Before We Were Strangers when I wasn’t rooting for Matt and Grace, whether that was in the late 90s or in the present day. I wanted these two people to be together and I loved seeing them together. And they were absolutely responsible for a lot of the crying I did while reading.

Renée Carlino’s Before We Were Strangers was a beautiful story of second chance romance. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and most of all I loved every single page I read. And those other Renée Carlino books sitting on shelves? They are absolutely getting read.

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

Title: Six Impossible Things

Author: Fiona Wood

Publisher: Poppy

Release Date: August 11, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

1. Kiss Estelle.

2. Get a job.

3. Cheer my mother up.

4. Try not to be a complete nerd/loser.

5. Talk to my father when he calls.

6. Figure out how to be good.

Nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a whole heap of problems, including a reversal of family fortune, moving, new-school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and a massive crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he’s narrowed it down to just six impossible things…

In this charming story of one guy’s efforts to get it together when his life is falling apart, award-winning author Fiona Wood introduces an irresistible voice and a delightfully awkward character who is impossible to forget.

Last year, I read Fiona Wood’s Wildlife which kind of flew under the radar. It was a quiet story that I enjoyed reading and left me looking forward to reading more from this author. And along came Six Impossible Things. Much like with Fiona Wood’s other book, it was a quiet story and it was one I enjoyed reading.

Dan Cereill’s life is falling apart. His father lost the family fortune and announced he was gay, his mother is trying to make a living as a wedding cake baker and failing, and he has to start at a new school where he doesn’t know anyone…other than the girl living next door who he has a crush on despite having never talked to her. There’s a lot happening all at once, but there are six things in particular Dan thinks he can handle, no matter how impossible they might seem. And if he can do those six things then maybe he can start putting his life back together.

So here’s an interesting bit of information for those of you who are curious: though it was published after Wildlife in North America, Six Impossible Things was actually Fiona Wood’s debut novel and it features some of the main characters from Wildlife before the events that happen in Wildlife. Did that make sense? All that to say that reading Six Impossible Things AFTER Wildlife made for an interesting reading experience. Nothing was really spoiled, thought that might have more to do with me sucking at remembering details sometimes, but there were moments when I was like “Right! This is such and such from Wildlife” and then just keep on reading. If anything, it might have even made my Six Impossible Things reading experience more interesting. Beyond that, Six Impossible Things is very much a quiet story. There isn’t much that happens in terms of action and it’s instead about the journey Dan goes through as an individual between the start and end of the book. It’s about the small moments that, when they’re all put together, help you move on when you feel like everything around you is falling apart. And all things considering, Dan does a pretty good job figuring it out.

When I started reading Six Impossible Things I wasn’t entirely sure about how I was going to feel about Dan. And that’s because of his age. I sometimes get nervous when reading younger YA. I’m never sure how certain topics are going to be tackled or if the story will feel realistic for the age of the character. But I didn’t have to worry about anything in this particular case. Dan felt like an almost-fifteen-year-old and the story felt right for him. Dan had a unique voice, and told his story in a way that was entirely his own. And he made me smile, just as much as sometimes he was totally pulling on my heartstrings. And joining Dan was a great cast of supporting characters, from his mother trying to make a living baking wedding cakes but turns all potential clients off of marriage to Estelle, the girl next door he’s crushing on and may have possibly accidentally stalked. So yeah, there were definitely some interesting situations in this book, but they were a lot of fun.

I really enjoyed Fiona Wood’s Six Impossible Things. Much like her with Wildlife, it feels like it has so far flown under the radar. If you’re looking for a quieter YA with a grate male narrator, this is the book for you.