The Layover cover art

The Layover

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £6.99

Buy Now for £6.99

About this listen

Eight years ago, Ondro Smrek fled Slovakia and the bigotry that drove his first lover to take his own life. The demons proved impossible to outrun, though, and now, desperate for somewhere to belong, Ondro is returning to start over. During a layover in Basel, Switzerland, he meets Jamie, an American living in Scotland who is as brilliant as he is beautiful.

Jaded Ondro never would have guessed he could fall in love during a brief layover — until now. When he is put in a position to offer Jamie comfort without hope of recompense, Ondro doesn’t hesitate. Soon, he catches a glimpse of the home he longs for. But with their separation looming, confessing his feelings would only lead to pain and humiliation. Life has taught Ondro not to hope, but then, he never believed in love at first sight either....

©2017 Roe Horvat (P)2021 Roe Horvat Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance
All stars
Most relevant
This is an interesting story, a brief encounter, but it really needs the proper dialects to give it substance and yes, sensuality, romance and sex appeal. The main narrator is meant to be Eastern European, of Slavic descent, and this is referenced repeatedly early on - I couldn’t stop thinking how sexy this would be in that dialect. For a story that is very much about language, nationality and origins, nailing the dialects would seem to be key to this production’s success. It would also be nice if the narrators could at least pronounce “Edinburgh” properly since one of them is meant to be teaching in a university there - you wouldn’t last one day in the city pronouncing it with a hard “g” (like “iceberg”). For such a short audiobook, it would’ve been nice if they’d gotten these details right, as it would’ve been worth seeking out and returning to for a multi-lingual character speaking in an Eastern European dialect, it would’ve really brought the character to life. The story is all right without that, it just lacks the authenticity that the author is obviously striving for. Needed a better producer.

Needs Proper Dialects

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.