Up North

Compass Stars, Book 1

De: Allison Temple

Narrado por: Toby James

The last thing Jack Spencer wants to be is a fishing guide for rich tourists. But with a sister in need of help and nothing but a rusty fishing boat to his name, he takes a job at the Wild Eagle Lodge, Alaska’s newest luxury resort.

When a scandal rocks his career, movie star Damian Marshall feels like the whole world is watching his every move. That is, until he meets a gruff fishing guide who doesn’t seem to know who he is. Desperate for escape, Damian grabs at the chance for anonymity with both hands.

Away from the pressure of studios and the media, Damian and Jack grow closer. But as sparks fly and scandal follows Damian north, Jack will need to decide if he can love a man he hardly knows, or if this brush with fame is too hot to handle.

Up North is a 77k contemporary MM romance novel. It features a movie star on the run, a fishing guide who has never been anywhere, and bears of all sorts. Happily ever after guaranteed.

©2021 Allison Temple (P)2023 Allison Temple

Love in Alaska!

This was a charming and entertaining listen! Toby did a fantastic narration job of changing up his voice so you could distinguish all of the different characters. His David was perfect, and his narration of David's friend Vin and all of his drama and sarcasm was hilarious! He really brought him so Alive I am hoping that Vin gets a story!!! All of the exaggerated Gossip Headlines David kept reading about what might possibly be going on with Damien (AKA David) were fantastic. The Romance between Jack our local fisherman and David who Jack does not realize is a very popular celebrity is a very subtle slow burn. They balanced each other out even though Jack did not even realize how different David's life was. I could not stop listening because I needed to see how Jack found out who David was and how he would react!!! I will leave that for you to find out for yourselves though! I felt like I actually took a trip to Alaska!

loved it!!

Damian is a movie star and must lay low. He ends up in Alaska. Jack is working fishing guide for tourist. They meet and have a strong, immediate attraction for each other. Damian doesn’t tell Jack who he is. When the media shows up, things kind of end between them. I loved the story. I would definitely recommend. Toby James is somewhat new to me as a narrator. It took me a bit to warm up to him but I ended up really liking his narration.

I fell in love with this story a second time...

I absolutely loved Up North when I read the e-book, so I was eager to get a chance to revisit the wonderful characters and setting with the audiobook release. Unfortunately, I think I let my presumptions get a bit in the way initially.

The problem with listening to books you’ve read and loved is you often have a predetermined voice in your head for each character. That was my case when I began listening to Up North, and when the narrator’s voice didn’t fit what I had envisioned, it took me a little time to settle in with this one.

My love for Jack and Damian won out and set me right. Once again, I felt swept away to Alaska, enjoying thing quiet, easy romance that grows between these men. I love Jack’s grumpy bear routine as much as I enjoy seeing Damian explore what he wants and needs from his career. And of course, I love that the couple’s emotional connection and chemistry is matched by their physical chemistry. Really, there is a lot to love about this sweet story and I so enjoyed getting lost in it again.

Additionally, I found myself appreciating the narrator’s performance more and more as the book progressed and I let my preconceptions go to the wayside. While his voice may not have been as gruff as I originally pictured it, the delivery, tone, and emotion he put into each scene was on point and made for a pleasant listen. I have to admit my first impressions were definitely wrong with this narrator. He did a fantastic job bringing a book I loved reading to life, and I can soundly say I also loved listening to Up North. Undoubtedly I will never second guess listening to this narrator’s work again.

If you like stories with unique settings and an easy but wonderful romance with relatively low angst, I’d definitely recommend Up North.

Labored Listen

I'm not sure if it was the narrator or the story was just slow. Pretty sure it was the narrator. I don't think he did the story justice. His voice didn't match what I perceived the MC's to be and the read was monotone. I bought the book through Kindle about two hours in and thought I'd be better off reading it but then I thought " I'm already this far into it...." yeah...no. It just dragged on and on and on. Which is sad because I really had high hopes. Ms. Temple I'm going to look for another book from you but please take this to heart, a narrator can make or break a good book.
Great narrator's: JF Harding, Troy Duran, Aaron Shedlock , Christian Fox, Teddy Hamilton, Jacob Morgan, Kirt Graves. Any of these gentleman would do your work justice.

Great love story in a great setting

It's not often a book makes me homesick for the state I once called home, but this one did. I loved the gentle Alaskan fisherman who works hard at a job he doesn't really want to help his family. And I loved the conflicted North Dakota boy-cum-Hollywood star who was so thankful to find someone who treated him as a normal person that he pretended to be someone he wasn't anymore. The writing is wonderful, the setting on-point, and the gay best friend is definitely a keeper. The narrator did a fantastic job differentiating the main characters and hit all the emotional notes.

Disclaimer: I received a copy for free and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions are my own.

Narration Gave It a Whole New Layer of Greatness

I read the eBook when it first came out and fell in love with David and Jack. Thanks to Toby James ' narration, I fell in love with them all over again. This is the second time I've listened to him narrate one of Allison Temple's books, and he has done an excellent job with both books. I'm quickly becoming quite the fan. Not only do I hope these two continue to pair up. I hope to hear many more books from this narrator. He makes you feel the emotions with his narration. He easily switches characters, staying in that character until he changes back. I highly recommend giving him a listen. I don't think you will be disappointed.

This story is easy to get lost in. It's both simple and has incredible depth. Temple is outstanding at developing characters and their storylines. I've been reading her work for a while, and I always jump at the chance to read her new books. They flow easily, make me smile, swoon, keep my attention, and root for our heroes to reach their happily ever after. I've had so many book hangovers from reading her stories. You won't go wrong with her books. When you pick one up, you'll know you are going to be wooed and entertained. Happy reading/listening!

Very Enjoyable

Up North is Book 1 in the Compass Stars series. This is a book about Damian, a movie star who heads to Alaska to lay low after a very public fight, and Jack, who finds himself working as a fishing guide for a resort to help support his sister and nephew. Jack has no idea who Damian is, and honestly really doesn't care. He's there to do a job. Damian finds this comforting and even introduces himself as David, his given name and not Damian his stage name. I really enjoyed this book and the casual fishing Damian seemed to want to do every day so he could spend time alone with Jack. I liked Damian and Jack together and thought it was great what Damian decided to do with his career at the end. This is an enjoyable book and I recommend it. 
Narrator Toby James does a fabulous job. I loved his nonchalant voice for Jack.

Making Changes

This story is about all the trouble you can get into when you start a relationship with a famous person and you don’t even know who they are. I like the genuine feeling but you can also see the complications to come. I like that the book had a good solid conclusion that makes sense for their personalities. #CMCon24

Great Setting & Nice Story But Narration Fell Flat

Closeted movie star Damian seeks refuge from the scandal spotlight in an Alaskan resort, where rugged fishing guide Jack catches his eye. Getting to know the man as David, Jack is unaware of his fame, and they strike up a friendship that turns low-heat romantic until the paparazzi come calling and scandal erupts again.

Damian/David and Jack make a nice couple (other than, you know, having a relationship built on deception), and Damian's personal growth journey to ultimately navigate his career and fame on his own terms is notable. I especially enjoyed the wilderness setting, as it factors heavily into the story.

Narrator Toby James has a youthful and pleasant voice, but I found his narration here pretty flat and monotone, without much differentiation between characters voice. To my ears, it sounded more like a straightforward reading of the book than an engaged performance, which was disappointing. I received this free review copy audio book by request and have left this honest review voluntarily.