Fast Connection: Cyberlove Series, Book 2

2.5 stars for the narration, but 5 stars for the story.

Let me start with the positive – which is this is a FANTASTIC story!

I devoured this book! It was SO GOOD! So many exclamations!! Seriously, though, Dominic is one of the best character turnarounds from dick to awesome dude that I’ve ever read.

The sex is scorching hot, the characters are awesome, the story is realistic without losing the “romance” story aspect… and I loved it. Absolutely loved it!

But I pretty much hated the narration.

It’s a very hard thing to pull off if there two or more narrators on a story. It’s especially hard when the story is more dialogue driven. I wish in those cases the narrators would each choose a character and keep ONLY to that character voice and POV. The story would be much better served by that approach.

Why? Well, here we have two narrators with wildly different approaches and who each take a POV chapter. So Guy Locke narrates all of Luke’s chapters, and Eric London narrates all of Dominic’s.

So what’s the problem? It means you have 2 HUGELY different character voices FOR THE SAME CHARACTER. A total of four voices for two people. For me, in this case, it was often jarring and a bit off-putting while listening.

Then, again, I had the same issues with Guy Locke’s narration for Strong Signal for Fast Connection. Locke’s narration just does not work for me. His stilted way of speaking, the too slow narration, the over enunciation were just maddening.

There is one positive for Locke, though, as I did like his character voices.

I enjoyed London’s pacing, timing, emotion, and overall performance….but I’ll admit I preferred the character voices from Locke.

I wish I could have melded Locke and London together so I could have the character voices from Locke, but the actual narration from London.

In the end, it wasn’t a horrible listening experience, but it wasn’t a good one for me either. I doubt I’ll listen to the audio again, which is a shame, because the story is terrific and I was hoping to put the series into my re-listen rotation. But I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with just re-reading the book.

I highly recommend the book, but caution for the narration.

We met Dominic in book one. He was the “user” that Garrett hooked up with in the Army who later turned out to be an okay guy. Now he’s out of the Army and at loose ends. He thinks he wants to try being with a guy, but is worried about his family and friends and reputation.

When he meets Luke, who is practically his neighbor, he thinks he’s got it made, but Luke isn’t about to get involved in a relationship, especially with Dominic.
What I loved about this was the humor. Dominic is such a funny and earnest guy. He just lays it all out there. Luke is harder to like and I’ll admit, he didn’t really earn my loyalty til the very end, but he made it!

There’s a lot going on in Dominic’s life and it’s more than just his relationship with Luke. He’s got to figure out what he wants to do now that he’s out of the Army, how to deal with his family, how to deal with his sexuality … He’s got to grow up!

Luke has his own issues, but this isn’t nearly so much about him. (I think it would have been more balanced had we spent more time in his head but…)

The intimate times are HOT – this is where Luke and Dominic connect best.

The secondary characters are great – fully developed and they absolutely add to the richness of this story.

If you enjoyed book one – you’ll love this too. You don’t have to read this in order, but it adds to the flavor.

Highly recommended


Audio

We are given too narrators again – yay! These guys narrated book one, so – again – if you enjoyed book one’s narrations, you’ll likely enjoy this as well. I know I did! I really loved Eric London’s version of both Luke and Dominic – he was definitely my favorite of the two. But Guy Locke does a nice job as well and I enjoyed the alternating style. I think it’d be even better if each narrator could have done all the dialog for each of their characters, but I know that’s a lot harder to do so… In any case, it did help to keep these two guys separated in my mind and I enjoyed both of them very much.

4.5 of 5 stars

Absolutely LOVED it!!!! Dominick was sweet, funny and full of so much energy and ❤️!!! 😘 This was a book I was so sad to see come to an end.

their performance is agonizing. They use the same voices for Dominic and Luke as they did with Kai and Garrett. It was extremely irritating and took away from the story that I couldn't even finish because of their poor choice of voice use. In the first book Dominic had a heavy accent which while a bit strange was different in this he sounds exactly like Kai. I will not be listening to book 3 of they do not change their voices.

The narrators both did a great job. It had very interesting plot points that I haven't heard before and it made for an interesting read. I read it all in one sitting!!

Re-read (first audio listen ) I loved this book the first time & had just as much love listening. I would say FC is my favorite of this series so far. This story has all the perfection I expect from theses two superstars, hysterical subtle banter, on fire chemistry, and real people. For me it's the every day personal problems- money, future, confusion and insecurities and how it's portrayed. For me it says it all when I cant put down a re-read. Thank you MEGTINO :)

My Review:
Overall: 4.75
Performance: 4.5
Story: 5.0

I didn't think that this writing duo would be able to top their first book in this series, but they totally did. I loved this story. OMG! And I wasn't a Dominic fan from the first book...at all, so that makes this even more of a surprise because I adored him in this book.

This book picks up where the first book left off (but don't worry if you haven't read the first book...you certainly don't need to have read it to enjoy this one). Dominic has just left the military and is dealing with his newly discovered bisexuality. After losing his part-time lover Garrett, he's ready to explore things because all he's experienced so far has been mutual blow jobs. And that's where Grindr comes in...and that's how he meets Luke, a bisexual father who hooks up on Friday nights when his teenage twins head to their mom's house. At issue...Luke is a hook up and NOTHING ELSE guy. He doesn't want discussion, do-overs, complications, or really anything that might remotely hint at a relationship.

Dominic is so new to all this, he doesn't even know what he doesn't know. The poor guy has no clue how to deal with guys. He's used to girls who always want more, and doesn't know how to take Luke who so obviously doesn't want anything to do with Dominic after their orgasms. Dominic is outspoken and brash, but he's just so clueless. It was killing me in those first scenes. I wanted Luke to realize how new he was to all of this and help him. It was a visceral need for me as I listened to the audio. I loved that vulnerability.

Then there's Luke. He's so defensive and hard about his hook-ups because of something that happened in the past with a guy that resulted in his kids getting endangered. Now, he has personal rules, so that they are never at risk again. His family absolutely comes first in his world. They are his only priority and you have to admire that. But Dominic isn't a guy who's easy to ignore. Those initial exchanges were so incredibly charming just because Dominic knows he's getting blown off and still works to pursue Luke. He's really into Luke and isn't afraid to show it, no matter how much the continual rejection hurts.

Everything about this book worked. I loved it so much. The relationship and how it develops between the two guys was brilliant. But I loved the additional complications that they each had with their families. I just loved it all. Definitely one of my favorite books I've read this year...and I loved the little glimpses we got to see of Garrett and Kai throughout the story.

I cannot wait for more from this writing duo!!

Super hot and Great sex! Also an evolving relationship in a realistic setting. Enjoyable complex characters.. all good. Seriously though, some great sex! ^_^

this my favorite books by the most amazing writing duo ever! and I'm so glad that I got to experience it in audio. The performances were spectacular, the narration made it super easy to fall into the story

This is a well-paced, believable, realistic, and very hot story.

Santino Hassell's writing style is very contemporary. Seems more rooted in real-life than many other authors of this genre. If I had to pick favorites, it would be Santino, Riley Hart, and Jay Northcote.

I look forward to his next audiobook!