As You Are

By: Ethan Day

Narrated by: Jason Frazier

Operation Danny....

That's all bartender and recent college graduate, Julian Hallowell has had on his mind for the past year. Julian may have no idea what he wants to do with his life, but he definitely knows he's in love with the boy next door: the one in the next room to be exact, his roommate, Danny Wallace.

Danny owns a used textbook store just off campus, and while Julian has done his level best to make Danny fall for him, all his hard work appears to have been in vain. Danny doesn't seem to view Julian as anything other than that--a roommate and friend. So when new guy in town Andy Baker asks him out on a date, Julian can't think of a good reason to say no.

Julian has already instituted a Reverse Operation Danny plan, which he's positive will purge all thoughts of love and lust for his roomie out of his head. He's ready to move on and start looking for his next Mr. Right, and Andy just might fit the bill.

©2009 Ethan Day (P)2015 Ethan Day

Fun light listen...

I had to give this audio book another chance since the first listen had me not finishing it.

Jason made it well worth the second try. He is excellent. Funny and witty.

Julian strikes me as naive but all wits and sass. I love his best friend too and his mom, I adore her. He's been in love with his roommate Danny for a while now and all but gave up on hope. Hilarity ensues between those two.

I was happy when they finally got together but I feel like there should have been more.

Had me laughing the whole way through!

This book was everything I hoped it would be! Ethan Day did a fabulous job capturing an aspect of gay life through Julian's perspective. Gabby was an absolute hoot and represented the type of friends I love having in my life. The relationship Julian and Danny have is one that I loved seeing mature and every scene had me on pins and needles to find out what would happen next. This book is funny and endearing and written to perfection!

Jason Frazier is an absolute delight to listen to! Having listened to several of his narrations, his performance was nothing less than what I expected! He always finds a way to make the stories come to life; his talent of taking an character who is written as chewing gum or eating food and speaking the narration as though he is chewing gum or eating is beyond amazing. I always look forward to listening to his narrations and cannot wait to listen to the next.

Narrator ruined it

The story is cute and all, but needed a different narrator. All the reviews mentioned how great Jason Frazier is, but his voice got on my nerves. I stopped listening halfway through not knowing if I wanted to listen to the rest. I finished the book just because I wanted to see how the story ended.

Loved it!

I cannot say how much Jason brought this story to life. He is the first narrator to actually make me hear, see, and feel the difference in characters. Bravo! Can't wait to listen to more stories from him!

FABULOUS!!

Would you listen to As You Are again? Why?

I would!! This will be my go to when I need a smile or laugh. :)

What was one of the most memorable moments of As You Are?

There are so many good scenes...There is a football game that is pee-your-pants funny, an Anne of Green Gables moment that made me fall in love with this author, and a hysterical dinner party scene - all performed to perfection by Frazier.

Have you listened to any of Jason Frazier’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I listened to Blame it on the Mistletoe, which was also fantastic. But, this one was even better.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed MANY times, and teared up a couple.

Any additional comments?

In a word – FABULOUS. Jason Frazier’s performance of Ethan Day’s As You Are will blow you away. And make no mistake that it is a performance. There is no droning or awkward narration here. Jason’s performance is a tour de force, including at least eight different voices, and covering the entire spectrum of emotions.

We can’t give ALL of the credit to Frazier, though; he had some pretty fantastic material to work with after all. As You Are is hilarious. I can’t tell you how many times I laughed out loud, or simply realized I had a goofy grin on my face while listening. I’m sure my fellow commuters had a chuckle at my expense on more than one occasion as I made my way to and from work. It’s not just a funny book, however. There are also many poignant and touching moments to go along with the biting social commentary and awesome pop culture references.

A huge part of what makes this book so good are the characters themselves. They must have been so much fun to perform. I couldn’t possibly adore Julian more, and while, of course, he and Danny are front and center, I also got a huge kick out of Julian’s best friend Gabby, as well as Julian’s mother, Delilah Hallowell. I love, love, loved me some Delilah.

There are so many memorable moments in this audio it’s difficult to highlight just a few – and I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will tell you there is a football game in the park that is pee-your-pants funny, and if you weren’t completely in love with Julian before his ‘sobbing while watching Anne of Green Gables’ moment, you will be afterward. There is also a hysterical dinner party scene, as well as some absolutely blush-worthy sexytimes. I’m not kidding when I tell you I had to fan myself while listening to parts of this book. Jason Frazier’s voice is like butter, people! Butter!

I highly recommend this one. As a general rule, I’m not a big fan of audiobooks, but Jason Frazier has converted me. Full stop. I fear he has ruined me for other narrators, though, so he had better keep getting gigs! ;)

I just love Jason Frazier!

Jason is one of the most talented vocal performers I've heard and I absolutely love his narration of this book...especially Julian's mother! That is amazing! I love that all the characters are completely distinct...it sounds like several people performing instead of just 1!

This story has several laugh out loud moments and good lord I just wanted to give Julian a big hug. Danny was a sh!t most of the time but had a few 'aw' moments. I would have liked their story together to be longer...it felt as though I waited forever and then it was just done.

Loved Julian's parents to death! They were awesome!

Overall a great listen and cute story!

Too short but sweet

One of the few romance novels that had me laughing so hard I had to pause. It is a great story and the performance was awesome Jason is the best. Overall it was a great book wish it was longer

Absolutely Amazing!

This was the first book that I’ve listened to by Ethan Day. The personalities of the characters had me hooked right from the start. Julian, the hopeless gay romantic, lusts over his roommate throughout the entire story. Danny, the gay player with an infatuation with twinks, seems incapable of having a relationship. The story just seemed to flow seamlessly from start to finish. And the narration, although a little on the faster side, was perfect for the characters. I look forward to reading / listening to more from this author in the future.

Short, sweet and funny with excellent narrator.

What does Jason Frazier bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

My biggest problem with Jason Frazier is...

As soon as I finish anything Jason narrates, the first thing I want to do is listen to the audiobook again. Which, as you can imagine, is completely counterproductive to clearing the pending items in my Audible library. I've actually lost count of how many times I've re-listened to Blame It On The Mistletoe which became my default comfort listen after I got it a few months ago. Jason's been one of my Top Three narrators since then, and I got "As You Are" primarily because he's the narrator (I didn't even read the blurb!)

The thing I love most about when Jason Frazier narrates is that it always feels like he transforms into the characters in the story rather than just narrating events happening to them. It's almost like you're in the same room as these characters. And to date, I've yet to listen to another male narrator in the MM genre who does such a convincing female voice as Jason. Seriously, just an amazing job overall.

The story was actually more of a 3.5 but I rounded it up to 4 stars because there were a lot of places that genuinely had me laughing out loud. Julian's almost like what I imagine you'd get if you mashed Carrie Bradshaw and Charlotte York together, then turned them into a hyper gay man. His thoughts were all over the place and sometimes you'd be yanked from the present to one of his rants or into a flashback. Yes, he likes to go on tangents, which I'm finding to be somewhat of a theme with this author's work (Boone from Sno Ho had a similar affliction). If that kind of thing annoys you, then proceed with caution. I've only read two other books by Ethan Day prior to this which left me with a sort of lukewarm feeling, and admittedly I only bought this audiobook because Jason Frazier is on my auto-buy list, but I'm glad I did anyway. I liked both Julian and Danny and wish there'd been more of an epilogue of sorts because the story ended somewhat abruptly right after they declared their feelings for each other. Still, the resolution was nice and sweet so wasn't too disappointed that there wasn't more. People who like the friends-to-lovers and everyone-knows-they're-in-love-but-them tropes will likely enjoy this. I know I did.

1 of Ethan Day's Best, Jason Frazier is Wonderful

Sweet, sexy, sassy, and just a touch of angst, damn I miss Ethan Day. Glad to revisit this lovely story beautifully narrated by Jason Frazier. (Truly, there's no one else I want performing Ethan Day's novels.)

A classic friends-to-lovers, As You Are is told from Julian's pov. Surrounded by a cast of characters that I count on in an Ethan Day novel: brash and confident bestie, quirky but loving mother, and super hot (slightly dense) slutty love interest... this one's a winner.

It's also incredibly fun to think about how much has changed in the years since Ethan Day wrote this one - smoking before the Clean Indoor Air Act, VCR's, and meeting your loved one at the gate in the airport - just to name a few.

Jason Frazier truly gets what Ethan Day was all about, and I love what he adds here. Julian's irreverence, humor, and heartbreak comes across so authentic in the audio version of As You Are. If you haven't had the opportunity to fall in love with this story, go with the audiobook, you'll be glad you did.