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Author: Lauren Rowe

Narrators: Samantha Brentmoor and Austin Stone, with John Lane, Connor Crais, Sean Masters and Tim Paige.

Thanks, @laurenrowebooks and @mustloveaudio for the audiobook.

Kendrick Cook is madly in love. Well, KC has been madly in love since he was 16. The drummer for Fugitive Summer is head over heels in love with… his best friend, Ruby. She’s the keyboardist for FS, a gig he got her when he (as does a boy with a crush) brought her to audition for the band. He’s seen her have a crush on his older brother, date other musicians, but he never made a move. He values their friendship too much (and there was some bro code BS too!). 

Ruby loves KC.  He’s her person. Her ride of die.  She has been suppressing her feelings for him forever, also because she can’t fathom not having her best friend should things go wrong. But all changes with one impulsive kiss has her questioning everything.

But when they are paired as a couple in a music competition show where they are mentors, and she also has to room with him in his apartment because the super in her own building keeps telling her that the problem there hasn’t been solved yet (‘magically’, I might add), they decide to try on a “fling’.

Yeah… we all know where this one-bed mess is going, right?

I adore Lauren Rowe’s books!  This one is a standalone but if you know her, you know that a lot of dear people show up here. We get to see the birth of Fugitive  Summer! We catch up with Laila and Savage. Reed Rivers is there with his Midas touch. C-Bomb and Fish are playing poker. It’s fan heaven! 

To make this all better, the audiobook is narrated duet style by Samantha Brentmoor (as Ruby and all the ladies), Austin Stone (as KC) , with John Lane (in several roles) , Connor (taking over as Savage) , Sean Masters (as C-Bomb) and Tim Paige (as Fish). And to top it all off – we have music! It’s amazing!

I also have to clap hard for the production/engineering here because it is FLAWLESS! You’d think they got all these narrators together in a booth and recorded it all live. Absolutely seamless and immersive.

Kudos to Lauren to use to miscommunication trop so cleverly that you buy it hook, line and sinker. Friends to lovers can be hard to pull off and this one was just chef’s kiss. And all the pining in this “it’s always been you” situation is top notch! No notes!

Content notes: brief mentions off alcohol and substance abuse and rehab, loss of a parent