The Real Baxter cover art

The Real Baxter

The Baxter Chronicles, Book 1

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The Real Baxter

By: Lane Hayes
Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo
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About this listen

The silver-fox and the faux bodyguard....

Sebastian

Who’s the true hero behind the Hollywood heartthrob, crime-fighting, adventure-seeking international man of mystery? Me. I’m the real Baxter.

Well, I wear the suit and let the action play out onscreen. You want to know the secret of my success? Sell the story you want to tell. Even if you have to bend the truth a little.

Okay…a lot.

Trust me, no one will notice. Except Trent, who seems to notice everything. And for some reason, I like that. I like him. I’m just not sure what to do about it.

Trent

Look, I’m not exactly killing it. I’m a typical struggling actor-slash-waiter, hoping for a break. And boom…in walks Sebastian Rourke. He’s a cutthroat, wickedly charming silver fox, a Hollywood legend in the making. No joke. You’ve got to sell a piece of your soul to get in this man’s orbit. Or fake a British accent, then take a job playing bodyguard to fool the press. As one does.

I know I should take advantage of the very strange situation I find myself in, but I’m not sure I’m cut out for it. However, I’m willing to take a chance, ’cause I want the real Seb.

Even though it might cost me everything.

The Real Baxter is a MM age-gap, bisexual romance featuring the man who has everything and the actor who’s willing to show him what’s real.

©2022 Lane Hayes (P)2022 Lane Hayes Romance Heartfelt Celebrity Bodyguard

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I had high hopes for this new series by Lane Hayes. I almost always enjoy her books, and I quickly realized there were significant ties to several other series including the ones with the band Zero. I enjoyed seeing Justin and Gray again, and having Charlie back in my life was fun. I don’t think new readers will be lost, but having those connections enhanced my enjoyment.

I adore Michael Ferraiuolo. Again, he gave so much in his great performance. I know he enhanced my enjoyment of the entire book, and I just love him.

The cover was hot and the premise was cute – so I should have loved this book. I wanted to. Where I got caught up was in the weeds. This could have been a straight-forward love story between a struggling actor and a rich movie producer. There was enough of a power imbalance to drill down into their individual situations.

But then came the contracts. I won’t bore you with details, but there were a lot of them and with them came rules and then the breaking of rules and… By the end I was kind of turned about – and I have some understanding of contracts. Now, some readers will be able to follow no problem. Others will gloss over the details. Maybe I’m the only one who struggled.

Trent and Seb made a compelling couple – with all their baggage. Their families played important parts in their lives and I love the dynamics. A wedding thrown in always helps as well. And Charlie. Dear irritating Charlie.

I will, of course, grab the next book. I can see several potential future heroes and I’ll enjoy those stories to be sure. And I encourage you to try this one – like I said, maybe it was just me.

Interesting new series

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I really enjoyed this book, I liked the characters and the storyline, and though I liked the narrator I didn't really think his characterisations were totally accurate. However, I have put this book in my favourites and I will enjoy listening to it again.

Good book

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Michael Ferraiuolo delivers a strong performance, although his English accent leaves something to be desired (we're talking Dick van Dyke levels a lot of the time), which made chapter 2, where Trent is pretending to be a Brit, quite painful, as did all the erroneous references to places in London and the UK, AND the continual references to a BRITISH accent. Which British accent exactly does the author mean? A Scottish one? A Welsh one? Oh, no, an English accent - it's time American authors started getting this right.

Anyway, I made it past that excruciating chapter, but honestly, things didn't pick up much. The plot is a mess - I had no idea why Trent needed to be a fake bodyguard for Seb, why there needed to be photo ops, and no idea why the final PR/Marketing pitch even existed; it made no sense to this ex-PR person and was clearly thrown in just to create some last minute conflict.

Trent's characterisation is inconsistent. We're told he's a struggling actor trying his hand at stunt work to make money; when big shot movie producer Seb invites him to have a drink, Trent goes all out to impress him (by pretending to be a Brit) hoping to turn this to his advantage to open up some more avenues of opportunity, but then he turns into a nice, sensitive guy who doesn't want to use his connections to get ahead and can suddenly afford to turn down the opportunities he's offered and the money that comes with them, and who, it turns out, was far happier in his previous life as a drama/theatre coach back East and who didn't even want to be in Hollywood in the first place! We learn why he's there when we finally get his 'tragic' backstory, but all that was ten years ago, and instead of going back to doing what he loved, he decided to stay in LA for... no reason that I can recall.

There's not much chemistry between the leads, so the too-frequent sex scenes feel pretty 'meh' - they're mostly just filler.

I've enjoyed books by Lane Hayes before, but this one was a real disappointment.

Very disappointing :(

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