Making it Happen: Audiobook Review & Giveaway: CHANGING LINES by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey, narrated by Sean Crisden (Harrisburg Railers #1)

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Audiobook Review & Giveaway: CHANGING LINES by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey, narrated by Sean Crisden (Harrisburg Railers #1)

Buy Links:

Audible US | Audible UK

Length: 5hrs 10mins

Narrated By: Sean Crisden

Cover Design: Meredith Russell

Blurb

Can Tennant show Jared that age is just a number and that love is all that matters?

The Rowe brothers are famous hockey hotshots, but as the youngest of the trio, Tennant has always had to play against his brothers’ reputations. To get out of their shadows, and against their advice, he accepts a trade to the Harrisburg Railers, where he runs into Jared Madsen. Mads is an old family friend and his brother’s one-time teammate. Mads is Tennant’s new coach. And Mads is the sexiest thing on which he’s ever laid eyes.

Jared Madsen’s hockey career was cut short by a fault in his heart, but coaching keeps him close to the game. When Ten is traded to the team, his carefully organized world is thrown into chaos. Nine years his junior and his best friend’s brother, he knows Ten is strictly off-limits, but as soon as he sees Ten’s moves, on and off the ice, he knows his heart could get him into trouble again.

Carra's Review

I’m already a huge fan of RJ Scott’s books, but this is my first time being exposed to VL Locey. Changing Lines has a few different elements that I love—age gap, coming out, brother’s best friend, and hockey romance…all rolled up into one. For the age gap, the difference is only nine years, but that’s enough to show a distinct difference in the two main characters. As to the coming out, there’s not just coming out to family, but also to a professional sports team—something that can cause a huge stir-up even in today’s world. Honestly, given the multitude of topics featured in the story, I found it to be relatively angst-free which I thought was a bit surprising.

Tennant Rowe is an adult, though still young—and his age does show with his Pokemon playing and his more impatient attitude towards his relationship with Mads. He’s supremely talented out on the ice, and is very sure of himself…not cocky, but definitely quite confident. Jared Madsen is no longer playing hockey—though not by choice thanks to his heart—instead he’s coaching the same team that Ten ends up on, although not coaching Ten directly. Mads clearly shows his maturity in relation to both the game as well as his and Ten’s relationship. He’s a good balance to Ten, and keeps things from going too fast.

When it comes to their relationship, I found that there wasn’t a lot of on-page development—it was more implied and glossed over in favor of the scenes of Ten coming out to his different family members. I would have liked to have seen more of their evolving relationship and how Ten’s coming out affects his team, though I’m wondering if it may be touched on in future books in the series even if his and Mads’ relationship is not the focus of those books.

With the very low angst level and the overly easy way Ten and Mads’ relationship seemed to blossom, Changing Lines originally fell between a 3.5 and 4 star rating for me—until I listened to the audiobook, which fully cemented the story as 4 stars. It has piqued my interest for the rest of the series, so I’ll definitely be hanging around to see where these authors take me. If you’re a fan of hockey romance you’ll find this to be a good story to add to your collection, just don’t expect a lot of drama while you read it. This story is for readers 18+ for adult language and sexual content.

The narration: Have you ever read a book and given it one rating, then listened to the audiobook of it and it elevated the story to the point where you upped your rating? I’ve had that happen a few times, because let’s face it—a great narrator takes a story and makes it MORE. This is what I found happening with Sean Crisden’s narration of Changing Lines. His smooth voice, consistent character voices, and the intonations and emotions he put behind those voices made me enjoy this story more in audio format than I did when reading the e-book. I felt that his interpretation of the story through the narration made it come across as more balanced overall, drawing my attention more to the relationship development in this format. 5 stars for the narration, and it pulled my overall story rating up to a solid 4 stars.

About the Authors

RJ’s goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.

RJ is the author of the over one hundred novels and discovered romance in books at a very young age. She realized that if there wasn’t romance on the page, she could create it in her head, and is a lifelong writer.

She lives and works out of her home in the beautiful English countryside, spends her spare time reading, watching films, and enjoying time with her family.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit and has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

She’s always thrilled to hear from readers, bloggers and other writers. Please contact via the following links below:

Email RJ

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, Dr. Who, Torchwood, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, two Jersey steers and a flock of assorted domestic fowl.

When not writing lusty tales, she can be found enjoying her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.