Focus on Me

In Focus Series #2

By: Megan Erickson

Narrated by: Marc Bachmann

Colin Hartman can now add college to his list of failures. On the coast-to-coast trek home from California, Colin stops at a gas station in the Nevada desert and can't help noticing the guy in tight jeans looking like he just stepped off a catwalk. When he realizes that Catwalk is stranded, Colin offers a ride.

Riley intended only to take a short ride in Colin's Jeep to the Grand Canyon. But one detour leads to another until they finally find themselves tumbling into bed together. However, there are shadows in Riley's eyes that hide a troubled past. And when those shadows threaten to bury the man whom Colin has fallen in love with, he vows to get Riley the help he needs. For once in his life, quitting isn't an option.

©2015 Megan Erickson (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[A] delectable summer read." ( Publishers Weekly)

Focus On Me

Riley!! Oh, how I Loved Riley!!
I really enjoyed this book a lot more than the first one. (the first book I was just sooo annoyed with Justin the whole time lol) This book starts off with Riley and Landry (from Book1) becoming Pen pals and they write each other letters during back and forth during this whole book. The other main character Colin, lost his scholarship to school in CA and is on his way driving home across country. By chance he picks up Riley "Catwalk" at a random gas station in the middle of nowhere who needs a ride. Riley has all sorts of issues which are seen progressing throughout this book. I think the author did a good job with all of the descriptive emotions Riley goes through, and I love how much Colin fully supports him no matter what; and no matter how crazy everything gets. Everyone really needs a Colin in their lives.
Audio - Marc does a good job with the narration. I think I liked this one better than the first one as well. I really liked how Colin's southern accent came out sometimes when Marc was talking. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

Wow an emotional ride

I did not know the topics included in this story when I started to listen so I was taken off a bit when it went down a path that came a little to close to home for me. I shed many tears.... I know exactly how Colin felt, helpless and scared, and I also know how devastating and exhausting the battle of depression is. Megan Erickson did a great job expressing both sides of this. as hard as it was to listen to, it was a beautiful story.

Narrator was a 'NO-GO' for me

Any additional comments?

The story was pleasant enough but the narrator sounded about 3 or 4 decades older than the main characters and that distracted me from the overall story.

Review: Focus on Me, by Megan Erickson

I haven’t read a Megan Erickson book in a while. I may have even taken too long of a break from Erickson’s writing. I say this because after finishing Focus on Me, I realize that I’ve missed her great books.

I read the first book in the In Focus series, Trust the Focus, and loved it. It was one of my first M/M romance books. Focus on Me is the follow-up and didn’t disappoint. It had much of what I enjoyed from the first book, but had an appeal all its own that set it apart.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this book was that I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I didn’t know where the relationship between the characters was headed. I know ultimately in a romance novel things work out. But Erickson doesn’t give up the conclusion that easily. The conflict that real, it was strong, and it was emotional at many points.

Not only was the conflict raw and pulling me along, the characters had so much depth to them. It wasn’t easy to figure them out and they were growing until the very end, and probably beyond. Characters are one of Erickson’s strength and keep me coming back to her books.

A nice surprise was how she tied this book in with the first book. While they both stand alone on their own, they way they connect was a nice touch. I think I see how this one will tie in with book 3, but I’ll have to see if I’m right once I get to that part of my TBR. For now, I’ll have to wait. I just won’t wait as long. Book 4 comes out in a few months!

A heartrending yet ultimately inspiring story

Listening to Megan Erickson's In Focus series is like taking a journey that takes you to places that you've missed and wanted to revisit. Reading the books is a completely different experience compared listening to them, and while my first listening experience with Marc Bachmann was memorable for all the wrong reasons, this second one was, I'm happy to say, relatively better.

Focus on Me is the second In Focus story, and it can be listened to independently of all the others, but the couple from the first book, Justin Akron and Landry Jacobs, do appear here. Book two is about Colin Hartman and Riley Sorenson, the former being a college dropout on his way back to North Carolina and the latter being a known fashion model looking for a change in his life.

Megan Erickson definitely did not disappoint with this follow-up, coming up with a story that had angst but not allowing the characters to wallow for too long in it. Colin and Riley were two guys who seemed to be so different yet were both at a crossroads, unsure of what to do with their lives. I loved re-acquainting myself with them and their story. Definitely one of my all time favorites.

As for Marc Bachmann's narration, I'm happy to say that it was better in this second In Focus story. He had more of understated take on Colin's southern accent and Riley on the audio sounded like I had hoped he would. Overall, Focus on Me gets five stars for Erickson's story and three stars for Bachmann's performance, earning it an average overall rating of four stars. ♥

Tough issues, told with care and raw emotion

I really enjoyed this book, and loved the tie in with Book 1 of the series.

Be prepared for a wild rollercoaster of emotions and feelings because this book will touch parts of your heart in the deepest way.

Angsty goodness

If you want to cry about your heroes, this is a good one. Narration was seamless.

Nice road trip story

Any additional comments?

I was very pleased with the second installment in the focus series. This time I was much more connected with the main characters.
It was interesting how this road trip kind of organically developed rather than being planned.
And I’m not sure if the narrator improved or if I just got used to his style, either way I was pretty satisfied with the narration this time around.

A Sweet Love Story

What a road trip! Colin is running away from a failed college experience and Riley is running away from himself. When these two men run into each other by chance, it’s the twist in fate they need to not only find love, but find themselves as well. The relationship between these two men was beautifully detailed and I loved how supportive they were of each other. This was a sweet story with an edge of angst but a feel-good ending.

Not as good as book 1

Book one was a lovely story, with depth and meaning. This story also had potential but I don't think it explored some of it far enough. The narration was okay, but also got kind of weird, maybe unnecessarily intense when narrating any romantic scenes. Hard to explain it really, maybe a bit too much yelling, slightly intrusive... I skipped some parts.