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Sweet Thing

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Sweet Thing

By: Isobel Starling
Narrated by: Gary Furlong
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About this listen

French male model Simeon Duchamp has a lot of explaining to do.
Two years after a breakdown Simeon is off drugs and booze and wants to stay that way.
On his road to reclaiming his life and modeling career, Sim first needs to apologize to the man he hurt the most—his ex-best friend and object of his unrequited affection, Pieter Bayer. Pieter now has a long-term partner, artist Emily Raven, with whom he shares a baby son. Sim is amazed when Pieter accepts his apology, and invites him into his family.

Closeness to Pieter sees Simeon's longing for his friend is rekindled. But then, when Simeon meets an attractive older man, Bastian Roth at an Art Exhibition, he realizes that there is a soul more broken than his, and Simeon feels compelled to help. Simeon's connection with the troubled Bastian Roth turns his world upside down. He has to decide whether to allow himself to fall for the man who wants him or pine for the man he can never have.

©2017, 2025 Isobel Starling (P)2025 Isobel Starling/ Decent Fellows Press Literature & Fiction Romance

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Two broken characters finding themselves and each other.

Another fantastic story by Isobel Starling, with complex characters, and an eventful plot. Despite Sim's flaws, it's easy to love him, and I was shouting at him at times to do the right thing. I'm hopeful for a sequel!

The narration was perfect, with Gary creating mesmerising accents (he can talk French to me any day of the week).

Heartbreak and Love

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First book by this author and I love it. Found out this is book 2 and I'm gonna need to read the first one. I enjoyed every moment of this story. From slutty manwhore to a sweet thing. From heartbroken with grief and loss to a sweet thing. Oh the feels. At first Simeon didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities, but after getting to know him you have to admire his strength. Bastian and Simeon's first encounter was the worst and I couldn't see how they would move on. They worked it out slowly though and the relationship blossom into something beautiful. Gary Furlong narration was beyond perfect. He changes accents and character voices seamlessly. I'm in awe of his performance . I was given this audiobook by the Author in exchange for an honest review.

This romance is a Sweet Thing

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Listener received this title free

I love Isabel Starling's writing! But this book ..this book tops them all - heart wrenching yet beautiful storyline, wonderful writing, perfect narration.

There was heartache and joy, but above all there was passion and hope. The story of Sim and Bast was perfect. We were not spared their grief-stricken pasts nor their tears, but we were also swept along as they finally found a once in a lifetime love.

This book was perfect

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Simeon and Bastian are two lost broken souls and Isobel Starling has crafted a wonderful journey where they found love and acceptance. By the end of their journey the cracks have healed but they are still there beneath the surface. Simeon loves his best friend Pieter. But Simeon doesn’t understand why the love he feels is not returned. He then does something stupid and jeopardises that very friendship. What I liked about this story is the the positive rebuilding of relationships and in doing so Simeon is able to understand there are different kinds of love. He is then able to help Bastian heal. The road for them is not smooth and this, along with the very hot scenes, kept me riveted. The scenes were so hot I found myself double checking that no one else around me could hear them! And such a perfect ending, left me feeling uplifted.

Gary Furlong is such a talented narrator. His characterisation of Simeon, Pieter, Bastian and Emily was excellent. His use of language and accents (French & German) fleshed out these characters and brought a new dimension to the story.

I was given a audiobook copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Perfectly Sweet and Sexy

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To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect from this story and I was not sure what it was about but as I had listened to the Shatterproof Bond set I knew I couldn’t go wrong.
I loved this super story about Simeon and Bastian. The relationship starts out badly with both having issues and you want to be involved and right there with them as they work out their problems and miscommunications. Can’t give too much away so take a chance and listen to this.. I adored the accents Gary gave to all of the characters, superb choice of Narrator..

Excellent

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I love redeeming characters and Sim is definitely redeemable. After leaving the clinic he sets out to make amends for all his wrong doings and along the way he meets the man who will complete his life. True love doesn't run smooth for Sim though and there are a few bumps in his road of recovery. It's such a beautiful story. The narrator is absolutely perfect. If you love English/French accents then omg you'll love this story. It's one of those books you don't forget.

Absolutely stunning

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When I see a new release by Isobel Starling with narration by Gary Furlong it's a must buy.

SWEET THING is not your run-of-the-mill tale. It deals with hard subjects like unrequited love, betrayal, loss, addiction and second chances at life and love. The writing is realistic and well observed. It is at times very funny and sweet, and at other times devastatingly gorgeous and heartbreaking.

Simeon and Bastian are beautifully broken and their journey to love is not an easy one, but my goodness its a rewarding listen.

Gary Furlong never ceases to surprise with his range of accents- in this he is English, French and German for multiple characters. Each character is well-defined and individual. He even speaks effortlessly in French and German (which is suuuuper hot!)

The story twists and tangles your emotions in the best ways and the ending is just perfect.
Another masterpeice. Highly recommended.

Starling and Furlong- an amazing team

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Listener received this title free

Although this isn’t the best Isabella Starling book that I have read it is still a fantastic book. The characters were interesting and well developed and it was an interesting journey seeing how the main characters were growing in order to gain a functioning and satisfactory relationship

Enjoyable

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This is the first book I have read that is set in a different country to America or the UK, that isn’t just mc’s visiting. I loved that I didn’t know the area and wow do I now want to go travelling!!!

Bastian and sim are two broken men who find that love can work when you get to know each other and work at the relationship. I loved this story, it had me laughing, crying and shouting no no don’t do it a few times!! Word of warning don’t listen in the car because you get weird looks when you get to your destination and can’t leave the car because you are so engrossed in the story!!!! I liked both mc’s equally and was cheering for them both, this is a slow burn story where they get to know each other and build trust before they get intimate. There were few sex scenes which were relevant to the story and flowed through the story line.

Although I found Gary’s narration hard to get used to for the first 10 minutes, I think it was because of the heavy accent, but I quickly got used to it and feel it would have been strange without it and the story would not have been so deep had he not used the accents. I loved the voices he used for each character.

Really enjoyable story that I will be listening to again and again. Will also be checking out other books by the author and narrator.

Emotional slow burn romance

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Listener received this title free

The story is always 4 or 5 stars, because if I wouldn't like the story as ebook, I wouldn't listen to the audiobook.

The performance from the narrator is also very important for me. I can't listen to a lot, because my English as a non-native-speaker isn't so perfect to follow a whole story over hours, when the narrator speaks too fast or too sloppy. Normally I have to SEE the person, who is talking to me in English. It took me a little bit, to come into the narrator, but at the end, it worked. I only have to take a few breaks between. I'm just not yet finish with the book, but I listen enough to give a review.

PLEASE READ MY RATING SYSTEM!!!

To my ratings:

5* - very very good
it's like an A+

4* - very good and will be often re-listening
it's like an A

3* - it's more then a one-time-listening, but not more then twice a year.
it's like a B

as good as the ebook

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