Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Audiobook Review: ROUGH EDGES by Cardeno C


Rough Edges

Author: Cardeno C.
Publisher: The Romance Authors, LLC
Genre: Gay romance (contemporary)
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Release Date: 02/01/2017
Word Count: 17,127


Blurb

Kyle has an unwelcome crush on his nemesis Brent. Brent has a welcome crush on his friend Kyle. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn’t have to be a line at all.

Born on the wrong side of the tracks to the wrong family, Kyle Potter has spent his life clawing his way toward a better future. When he gets the perfect job at the perfect firm in perfect Los Angeles, Kyle is sure there are only blue skies ahead. And then he meets perfect Brent Haralson.
Born with a silver spoon to a well-established family, Brent Haralson has never been interested in leveraging his connections. Friends, success, and dates come easily to Brent and rejection isn’t something he has to deal with in life. And then he meets perfect Kyle Potter.

Kyle despises his unwelcome crush on his lazy, arrogant nemesis. Brent welcomes his feelings for his stubborn, brilliant friend. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn’t have to be a line at all.

This is a 2nd edition without substantive changes from the 1st edition, which was part of the It Was Always You anthology.


Carra's Review

Rough Edges is part friends-to-lovers and part enemies-to-lovers, only because Brent fits the friend part and Kyle kind of fits the enemies part (in his own mind that is).  I have to admit, Kyle aggravated me quite a bit for much of the story with his attitude toward Brent.  While I could see where he was coming from, I thought Kyle was just a bit brash and snippy when dealing with Brent when the story started out.

Brent on the other hand, he was always sweet, giving and carefree.  He knows he’s had it easy in life, but still wants to help when he can.  The two have an attraction between them which at first is more like mutual physical need, but then slowly grows to become more.  Kyle doesn’t know everything there is to know about Brent, and once he learns more about him, Kyle realizes there’s more to this trust-fund guy than meets the eye.

The story is short, sweet with a nice steamy dash of heat, and I thought is was a good read—even if the ending felt more like a happy-for-now rather than a happy-ever-after.  I hard a hard time settling on a star rating, I keep bouncing between 3.5 and 4, mostly due to Kyle’s attitude during a large chunk of the story.  I’m leaning more toward 4 stars primarily because of just how wonderful Brent really turns out to be.  This story is for readers/listeners 18+ for adult language and M/M sexual content.

The audiobook narration: To me, the narration actually felt more like reading than acting the story.  While emotion does show through in the voices, it wasn’t quite as compelling as I’ve heard with this author’s other stories that have been made into audiobooks (with other narrators).  The pacing and diction was perfect, I just wasn’t as drawn in to the story through the audio…this was particularly true with the intimate scenes where the feeling of the story being read vs. acted was even more evident.  Three stars for the narration.


About the Author


Cardeno C. - CC to friends - is a hopeless romantic who wants to add a lot of happiness and a few "awwws" into a reader's day. Writing is a nice break from real life as a corporate type and volunteer work with gay rights organizations. Cardeno's stories range from sweet to intense, contemporary to paranormal, long to short, but they always include strong relationships and walks into the happily-ever-after sunset.

Heartwarming Stories. Strong Relationships. Forever Love.




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