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Vespertine

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Vespertine

By: Leta Blake, Indra Vaughn
Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo
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Summary

Can a priest and a rock star obey love's call?

Seventeen years ago, Jasper Hendricks and Nicholas Blumfeld's childhood friendship turned into a secret, blissful love affair. They spent several idyllic months together until Jasper's calling to the Catholic priesthood became impossible to ignore. Left floundering, Nicky followed his own trajectory into rock stardom, but he never stopped looking back.

Today, Jasper pushes boundaries as an out, gay priest, working hard to help vulnerable LGBTQ youth. He's determined to bring change to the church and the world. Respected, admired, and settled in his skin, Jasper has long ignored his loneliness.

As Nico Blue, guitarist and songwriter for the band Vespertine, Nicky owns the hearts of millions. He and his bandmates have toured the world, lighting their fans on fire with their music. Numbed by drugs and fueled by simmering anger, Nicky feels completely alone. When Vespertine is forced to get sober, Nicky returns home to where it all started.

Jasper and Nicky's careers have ruled their lives since they parted as teens. When they come face to face again, they must choose between the past's lingering ghosts or the promise of a new future.

©2015 Leta Blake (P)2019 Leta Blake Literature & Fiction Romance Heartfelt
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Vespertine was the very first book I ever read read by Leta Blake, and despite her Heat of Love series being some of my favourite books and audiobooks, Vespertine has always been number 1 contemporary book of all time and have longed for it to be made into an audiobook.
At last here it is, and it didn’t disappoint! Made all the more emotional and enjoyable by the narration of Michael Ferraiuolo.
The characters are well developed with Jasper (Jazz), a catholic priest and co-ordinator of a halfway house for LGBTQ youth and his boyhood friend Nicky (Nico Blue), a famous songwriter/guitarist from the rock band Vespertine, who has come home to recover from years of self destructive sex and drug addiction.
Not being religious myself I found the authors handled Jasper’s faith in a ‘reader friendly’ way, as it was never preaching and he respected those that didn’t hold his belief such as Nicky.
There are difficult subjects handled and addressed such as drug addiction, they are handled with sensitivity and the relationship between Jazz and Nicky was a beautiful loving relationship between two human beings in love and not just developed to titillate.
I can’t recommend this highly enough.

Vespertine - Leta Blake at her best!

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Listener received this title free

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4.25 stars
🔥🔥🔥🔥 Heat Rating: 4
🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 Narration: 4.5

An intense second chance romance against unusual odds!

What a rollercoaster of a read! So raw, real and conflicting. I felt for both Jasper and Nicky and their individual POVs but my heart went out to Nicky and his struggles with drugs and alcohol. Leta & Indra don’t shy away from the harsh realities of substance abuse and their honesty shines through these characters and only endeared me more to Nicky and his “real-life” struggles.

I felt the sparks and innocence between Jasper and Nicky as kids and followed their different parts and hurt into adulthood. They each chose their path and while they went in different directions their souls were always linked. Coming back together was something sweet, challenging and heartwarming as much as it was heartbreaking.

While I liked the honesty of Jasper’s story and what is involved in the Catholic Priesthood, there were parts of the story that had that “preachiness” that was hard to read sometimes. This did, however, reflect the truth of Jasper’s situation as a celibate gay priest. I did find it hard (as I do with the Catholic religion in general) to link a God of Love with a God who condemns who you love but that’s the way with a lot of religions.

All in all, this was a powerfully raw read, of epic second chances and finding a new path for your heart, love, and passion along the way! Just Beautiful!

Thanks for reading!

Just Beautiful!

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Listener received this title free

This book is a bit of a saga but well worth the time. The two are the most unlikely pair but boy do they work. They start off as best friends then venture onto very different paths in life until life brings them together again. The political was very difficult one to handle but it was done very well and respectfully.

Michael's narration was amazing and fantastic! I honestly couldn't imagine this book with out his performance!

True Leta Blake magic

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Listener received this title free

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the writing and dialogue is outstanding, Leta Blake is a talented author and has a way with words. She created storylines and characters that are interesting and realistic, they were easy to relate to too. The characters were complex and there was amazing character development and the author did a great job bringing you inside their heads to see what they were thinking, feeling and going thru. It was an emotional journey, heartfelt at times, heartbreaking at other times. Nicky and Jasper were childhood friends, their friendship grew and they fell in love. Nicky felt betrayed when Jasper left him to become a Priest. Nicky becomes a successful rockstar, he is not happy with his life and is on a path of self destruction, doing drugs and living a wild life. It gets so bad he and his bandmates are sent to rehab, Nicky detoxes and goes home to his adoptive parents to recuperate and stay well. Nicky has a lot of issues and he is finally recognizing and dealing with them. Jasper is the local Priest and Nicky goes to him to make amends which does not go exactly as planned. I admired Jasper’s dedication to his faith and his church, as well as his dedication to the LGBTQ youth even with the church not seeing eye to eye with what he was doing for them. There are some great secondary characters in this book too. I loved how everything plays out in this book, it is well plotted and is captivating from start to end. There is never a dull moment, there is plenty of drama, angst, emotions and a second chance to live and love again, themselves and each other. Leta Blake, thank you for this fantastic story and emotional rollercoaster ride.

Michael Ferraiuolo is a terrific narrator and voice artist. He brought these characters to life, giving each their own voice and personality. You could hear how much heart he puts into this as he projects the characters emotions into his performance. He is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for this great listen🎧

Wonderful Story & Listen🎧 Captivating & Heartfelt!

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Listener received this title free

This audio book clocks out at just over 14 hours. I’ve listened to longer, but there’s always a commitment with books that are more than seven or eight hours. I’m glad I made the commitment.

I always have mixed feelings when listening to books where one of the central themes is religion. Sometimes it’s background noise and other times it is front and center. Seeing that Jasper is a Catholic priest, I’m going to say front and center with this one. I’m not Catholic. In fact most days I’m an atheist, but that doesn’t mean I’m not fascinated by people who believe. And strongly, in the case of Jasper. He was willing to walk away from Nicky when they were teenagers because of his ‘calling’ to God. There were other factors as well, to be sure, but he believed himself compelled.

Nicky went in another direction. Although raised Jewish, he had little interest in God but music was his religion. He went through some really tough times before hooking up with a couple of musicians and forming the band Vespertine. He’s the guitarist and songwriter. He pours out the love Jasper spurned into chart-topping songs. Somewhere along the way it became less about the music and more about the lifestyle – parties, drugs, and endless concert tours.

He flames out and heads back to his home to recuperate and deal with his addiction. His parents are there to support him – as they always have. The relationship has been strained at times and it was clear Nicky didn’t always appreciate what he had. After drug rehab, he’s more grateful. Of course it was inevitable he would run into Jasper – they live in the same small town only now Nicky’s a recovering drug addict and Jasper is the local priest who runs a shelter for LGBTQ youth. Kids who’ve been rejected by their own families. Kids who have no one.

Some of the secondary characters in this story broke my heart – Lizzie in particular. It’s tragic what these kids have endured. They rely on Jasper and when they meet Nicky, they become enamored. A real rock star in their midst.

Nicky and Jasper eventually lay everything on the line and are becoming reacquainted when Nicky is recalled to LA to fulfill a music contract. It’s clear he’s not real ready to deal with that kind of environment and things disintegrate. In fact they go to shit. In the end, though, Nicky has to decide if his career is worth all the stress.

And Jasper has to decide if his faith is enough to keep him away from the temptation that is Nicky.

I liked this book. There was a raw honesty to it that I enjoyed. It did take me a while to get into the story, but one I was there, I was hooked. And I felt the despair of the dark moment.

Michael Ferraiuolo narrated this book brilliantly. He’s a pleasure to listen to and I felt he did a great job on this one. Overall, I’m glad I made the investment in listening to this book.

Long but good

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