great!

I absolutely loved this book! I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but this second book was even better! The characters were relatable and I found myself rooting for them. The passion was great and the story in general was very enjoyable. I laughed, I got angry, and I got titillated. It had every thing a romance needs.

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AMAZING

Both books thus far have been amazing. I searched for any moment in my day to continue listening. The Mother in this book is awesome!

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Very engrossing story and well narrated

What made the experience of listening to Smitten the most enjoyable?

I really enjoyed the narration and for a story with a lot of what could be considered cliche plot points they are carried off really well and smoothed into the story so you don't really notice it until the end but you're satisfied so why focus on it!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really did love Dan. He's naive but earnest and lovable.

Have you listened to any of Chris Patton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No this series was my introduction to Chris' line of work. I was rather impressed

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I enjoyed this book and the others in the series!

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I love her books

I will admit I was concerned but she did the damn thing . . kage serious was amazing. I bought every book . i hope she had more like that.

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GFY Theme

Julian Wakefield is smitten with Dan Fisher who is an SSU gay boy, problem is Julian is straight and Dan is dating his sister. Dan is only dating julian's sister to do her a favor since her boyfriend cut out on her just before an important coming out dance. One thing leads to another and Julian and Dan end up having sex with Julian feeling guilty and terrible for doing that to his sister. It turns out however that Julian's sister really had this plan in mind anyway to put the two guys together. There ends up being a lot of drama around this issue because Julian who is straight is also supposed to one day take over his father's company which he has no interest in doing. Dan is introduced to us in the first SSU book as a somewhat free and easy want to be dancer. The two must overcome the typical coming out issues in the context of high society because Julian's family is really rich. Both characters are very likable and the main social issue that the author deals with here is alcoholism. Julian likes to drink just a little bit too much which also interferes with his relationship to Dan. Not much time is devoted to this issue however, I feel there should've been a little more of Dan and Julian working on this problem together instead of Julian dealing with it on his own. The other heavy issue that comes up in the book is the suicide of a friend which kind of happens in the middle of everything else going on. I felt this issue would have been a little more difficult to deal with in reality then it was in the book but still it added some angst to the mix. Four stars out of five, The narrator also did a good job however his voice for the two main characters was pretty similar and sometimes made for confusion as to which one was speaking. The point of view switches back-and-forth between the two main characters which is a common technique used by this author.

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Supercool story

I loved it. As I said in a previous review, Maria Black do know how to get accross the meaning of the title. When Dan sees his picture in Julian's laptop with the inscription "Smitten"...I said, just fantastic!!!!

Easily the best of a magnificent four part series!

I haven't the words to say what a phenomenal team Maris Black and Chris Patton are! First off, the way that Chris Patton narrates is unprecedented. This man has talent that can not be rivaled! I especially love the way that he brought to life the different characters. Julian is by far my favorite, there's something about the way that he can be so cocky yet underneath is a tortured soul that is so sexy! And the way that Maris Black writes honestly takes my breath away!! Now, I'm not an oversensitive guy, but her writing really brings something special out in me. I laughed, I cried. Was upset and at the same time, smiling. I listen on my phone with headphones in. My friends hear me laughing or see me smiling and ask me what is going on. I just shake my head, hold up my phone and point at my headphones. It's a good feeling when a writer can bring that attribute out in her work! I loved this series and want to sincerely thank Maris and Chris for bringing the men of SSU into my life!

Great dynamics

well written,story it moved along smoothly held narrator brought out the pathos of the story.Excellent

Loving the Series!

Love the author I love the narrator and I have to say a great job was done on the writing and the coming along of the whole series. Thank you so much for the whole crew and for the author.

Great narration, okay story

So we start at SSU with Dan, a friend of the wrestlers we met in book 1, but we quickly leave the state and head to North Carolina where Dan acts as the straight boyfriend to snooty Avery Wakefield for her cotillion. While there Dan meets her “straight” brother Julian and the two find themselves embroiled in a hot romance that was a bit expected when the dust settles.
It seems a simple enough plot and it was, but there is a hell of a lot of other stuff thrown in to make this simple story more (unnecessarily?) complex.
First, Julian is hiding his sexuality but it doesn’t take much for him to abandon that secret because of his obvious infatuation of Dan.
Second, there is a plot line involving a gay friend who ends up committing suicide and that impacts the group for a minute or two –but I’m not sure it was necessary or really handled all that well.
Third, Julian has a problem with alcohol and his new relationship forces him to come to grips with this in a way that was handled very poorly by Julian and mostly unbelievably by Dan.
Finally, there’s a Big Misunderstanding when Julian disappears that made me absolutely crazy in it’s ridiculousness. Avery wasn’t even freaked when her brother just disappears giving his lover his car and an expensive bracelet. Hello? Someone close to them just killed themselves, shouldn’t that act as a wake-up-call that the closeted Julian might be in danger?
So though I appreciated the attempt at making this story a bit more deep and complex than the previous two stories I have to say it didn’t work for me. I’m still a huge fan of Maris Black and am excited to move on to book 3, but this one left me feeling a little confused and unhappy.

Audio
Chris Patton rocks this narration! His southern accents are to die for and I loved listening to his interpretation of this story. It’s definitely worth a listen especially if you’ve been a fan of the series and of this narrator.

With that all being said, I give this 3 of 5 stars for the narration and the mostly good if somewhat hard to swallow story-line.

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