A Hundred Thousand Words

By: Nyrae Dawn

Narrated by: Sean Crisden

Tobias Jackson grew up in Coburn, a town where the gay population equaled exactly one: him. Add that to the fact that his dream guy was his best friend's jerky older brother, Levi Baxter, and it made hooking up virtually impossible.

Now home from college for winter break, Toby is a different person. He left Coburn for San Francisco, where he wasn't the lone gay guy and the only black kid in town. And yeah, he took advantage of what the city had to offer.

Apparently Toby isn't the only one who's changed. Levi's not acting like the self-centered guy with all the answers that Toby remembers from growing up. Oh, and Levi's realized that he's bisexual, which makes things a lot more interesting.

Heading back to college, Toby doesn't expect to meet up with Levi again, despite him being in med school not far away. A surprise visit from Levi blows that assumption out of the water. As they spend more time together, Toby sees Levi as more than just the fantasy; he's complicated, unsure, and real. But if Toby can't get out of the past and find the words he keeps locked inside himself, he'll lose his chance at Levi for good.

©2015 Nyrae Dawn (P)2016 Tantor

Everything gelled so well in this novel!

What I enjoyed most about this novel…
Steamy / Easy-to-read / Tragic / Entertaining / Complex characters / Page-turner / Romantic / Realistic / Funny / HEA / Fantastic audiobook narration

❤

My Top Favorite Moment is from Audiobook chapter 39:
Tobias: “I was a dick.”
Xavier: “Dicks can be fun.” 😉

❤

Cover design: there are multiple covers floating around for this novel. My favorite is the one with the up-close headshot of cover model (aka Tobias) with his arms behind his head.

❤

Main characters:
Tobias and Levi

Supporting characters:
Chris – Levi’s younger brother and Tobias’s best friend
Tobias’s dad
Chris and Levi’s parents
Xavier – Tobias’s college roommate

❤

Ratings:
Overall ★★★★★ Everything gelled so well in this novel unlike my reading experience for Charade, the only other novel of Nyrae Dawn’s that I’ve read so far.

Performances ★★★★★ Voice actor Sean Crisden knocked the ball out of the park with his narration. He did so well making all of the characters distinct vocally.

Story ★★★★★ I got a lot of uninterrupted listening time with Tobias Jackson while doing two loads of laundry at the laundry mat early last week. I felt fully invested intellectually and emotionally as Tobias had to figure out how to connect better to his seemingly depressed father in addition to his deepening attraction to his best friend’s jerky older brother Levi Baxter. Having a secret relationship proved to be difficult for them both as time went on, but initially their secrecy felt necessary. Although Tobias began to know Levi in a new light and consequently learned Levi’s perspective on past shared events with Chris, he knew his best friend wasn’t quite ready to do the same. Chris had always been jealous of his older brother Levi and still had such a contentious dynamic with him.

As Levi and Tobias grew closer, Tobias became a supportive rock regarding Levi’s medical school crisis while Levi helped Tobias to open up emotionally and stop guarding his heart, a protective habit he’d developed when his mom abandoned him and his father when he was a young child. A serious event forces Tobias and Levi to come clean to Chris. That didn’t go over well, of course, but the fallout had a positive impact. It forced Tobias to fight to keep and establish a new and healthier relationship dynamic with all 3 important men in his life.

Loved Tobias and Levi

I adored this one. I am becoming more and more of a fan of Sean Crisden, although sometimes his voice is hit or miss for me. But man if I didn't love Levi and Tobi. They both had their own struggles in life and not letting their issues get in the way of their relationship. Most of the time they didn't know what they were, but it was clear they had a physical attraction. I liked that Levi was able to open up to Tobias about school and the pressure put on his by his father. It made Tobias want to give Levi more, he just didn't know how to get past his abandonment issues. I'm happy they were able to move past the things getting between then and just be happy.

Beautiful and Sensual

I felt this story was beautiful, sensitive and sensual and I would recommend it as a definite read.
But as did not dwell on Toby' s trauma but showed how it coloured his entire life, the way his mind worked. As a reader you could tell that his thinking was skewed, but you sympathized with him and with the other characters around him. The characters were never just black or white, and you got a chance to understand where everyone's "truth" was and that made it easier to connect with the characters.
Sean Cristen's narration was beautiful. Even though there were some parts where the character's voice sort of meshed together and it was hard to tell who was speaking, I still loved it. Your voice matched the tempo of the story and was soothing. Can you narrate a bunch of stories that we can fall asleep to? I hear there is a podcast like that, I would be one of your fans! I am one of your fans!

Loved it!!!

Why did the story have to end? Why is there not a full series of books on their love. OMG I can't wait to read again.

Loved it

I really loved this book! It was such a great coming of age, NA, the flaws of the MC were so believable and realistic that it easy to relate to him and feel his struggles and heartache. It was beautifully written and I couldn’t stop listening once I started. The narrator did a great job with these guys and it was good to hear him after it’s been so long

Wow wonderful story and great narration!

First book I’ve read by this author and it was great. Amazing story that makes you think about what’s important in life and love. There’s a little angst but it’s worth it and you won’t be disappointed in the ending and epilogue !!!

A great story!

I was so glad to read a book where the main character was a POC and Queer. Thank you for this story!

Wow, A Hundred Thousand Words

I can't find the words to do this book justice. I love 💘this book. The depth of the characters really got to me. Toby in love with Levi even though he felt like he was a jerk to them growing up ,only to realize that's not the way he'd meant it to be. How all the things in his life had affected him and he was more like his father than he realized. How Levi was so patient and waited for him to realize and understand exactly what was between them. This is a book I will listen to over and over again. Sean Crisden is one of my favorite narrators and he really did an awesome job with this book and capturing the characters feelings . Nyrae Dawn is a fabulous author.

I wish the story didn’t end

Great narration.

This story was so heartfelt. Dealing with the pressure of living up to someone else’s expectations of you while trying to navigate a relationship with your brothers best friend...all the feels.

Liked the story very much and LOVED narrator

The story is very good. Not surprising but still moving. It kind of reminds me of Bear otter and the kid (in the general story-Line not the writting) and since that story is one of my all time favorits in gay romance, i liked this one too. There is no humor in this one though, but you get to know the characters Well and feel for Them when they are in pain and cheers for Them when they are happy. I really love the narrators voice - so pleasent to listen to and he is good at making the stories Seem Real to the listener. He makes the story better. So worth a listen if you dont Want many surprising twists in the story but just Want to listen to a sweet story told by a great voice.