Fool for Love

Lost in New York

By: Felice Stevens

Narrated by: Kale Williams

Can there be a second chance for a first love?

When Presley Dawson falls in love with a married man, he knows it’s wrong but can’t help himself. For the first time, he’s wanted and desired and not so lonely. When his lover returns to his husband, Presley doesn’t worry. He always comes back — until he doesn’t.

Years later, Presley is stuck in neutral and lonelier than ever. He can’t forget his past and doesn’t know how to reach for his future. When his best friend suggests a support group to work through his grief, Presley agrees but without much hope; nothing has helped before. At the first meeting, he’s instantly attracted to Nate and struggles not to fall so far, so fast. He won’t be fooled again.

Nate Sherman is only attending a support group to get his family off his back. True, he hasn’t slept through the night in over three years, but he has reasons. Discovering your father — the man you love and idolize — is a liar and a cheater will do that. And dying in his girlfriend’s bed? No wonder Nate has trust issues.

Meeting Presley changes everything. Nate sees Presley’s sweet nature and good heart and when he sets boundaries for their relationship, Nate surprises himself by willingly going along. With Presley by his side, Nate is able to sleep again and find the trust that he’s lost in himself and other people. He can even fall in love.

But Presley is keeping a secret and if he tells Nate, it could be the end of everything between them. He knows it’s wrong to start another relationship based on a lie. But it isn’t a lie if you don’t say anything. Is it?

©2020 Felice Stevens (P)2020 Felice Stevens

Great Redemption Story

Presley Dawson really screwed up in a way that can make a character hard to like. (Especially in this case, where his actions caused deep pain for the very likable Arden from “Running From my Heart”.) Presley needed redemption and Felice gave it to him beautifully in “Fool for Love”. I went from cursing him in “Running From my Heart” to wanting to hug him and tell him everything would be ok. I also felt a lot of sympathy for Nate, even when I wanted to shake him for his self-righteousness.

Felice Stevens is so good at making you feel for her characters. Both Nate and Presley are flawed and a bit lost. Felice put them through challenges that led to some great character development and growth, testing them in ways that humbled Nate and paved the way for Presley to become more confident and value his self-worth. I loved Prestley’s best friend Frisco and can’t wait to see how Felice handles him when it’s his turn.

Fool for Love is a great start to the Lost in New York series. It’s a wonderful story about two men trying to move forward in spite of the emotional baggage that weighs them down and keeps them from being truly happy. Although this is the first in a series, it is a standalone, with no cliffhanger and a HEA.

I was excited when I saw Kale Williams is the narrator of this book. He does a wonderful job, putting his heart into each role and acting out the scenes perfectly. He draws you right into this audiobook with his storytelling, reading with expression and giving each character a voice.

Love it

I love Pres and Nate wonderful story, fill of pain, acceptance and second chances. Presley a sweet guy who can’t help himself to fall for the wrong guy and this bad experience left him feel vulnerable but despite of this He is desperate to feel love and form a connection with someone who can help him feel loved and safe, I happy to see Him find Nate and who is also experiencing his own pain and left him angry and resentful but meeting Pres give him a sense of peace and starts living again, but are a little broken but each other start mending each other, we have a little angst but at the end their love brought them together, I highly recommended this book! Kale Williams narration is perfect, I love how he can bring this characters to life!

Disappointing

I somehow made it to the end of this book - it was not my favorite.

For one, it definitely felt like m/m written by a woman. I know lots of m/m is, but sometimes the dialogue and interactions sound like how women imagine romantic relationships and then just plug in men as the two main characters, rather than being genuinely relationships between two MEN.

There wasn't much of a story arc either. The ending was predictable and bland. Dialogue felt repetitive. I felt myself zoning out during the dirty scenes, which is never a good sign.

Also, a small detail, but there were some story incongruities - for example, at one point it's remarked that Nate eats simply to survive while declining dessert at a restaurant, and then later Presley laughs at how much Nate loves sweet stuff. These kinds of things added up to create characters I didn't fully believe or understand.

Kale Williams is generally great, but he just didn't have wonderful material to work with here.

Loved It!

I enjoyed Presley and Nate’s story. I think Felice Stevens wrote well rounded characters that you could relate to and fell in love with. From the beginning you fell right into the story and felt for the characters. You end up rooting for them and wanting to see them come out on the other side of their struggles. These men became like long lost friends that you want the best for. I think Felice Stevens definitely pulled off another deeply moving love story.

Kale Williams was amazing as the narrator. I enjoyed the change in tone, inflection, modulation and cadence for each character. I was never confused as to which character was talking at anytime. You felt the emotions that each character experienced. It was definitely well done.

I would recommend this book, this author and this narrator.

Great start to new series

Mr. Williams did an amazing job at bringing Nate & Prez to life. This story is one of redemption, learning to trust and realize it's ok to love again.
The sign of a great narrator is the ability to pull you more into the story, to be in the head of the reader when they do a reread. Many times I'll be in the minute of one of those moments and my brain just remembers the narration, the feels coming from the voice in my ear.
Well done Kale and I can't wait to hear what you do with Ezra & Monroe

Wonderful

Beautiful story well written and beautifully narrated by Kale. Really loving this Felice and Kale team. It is so important for authors to work with narrators who understand and appreciate their work. Otherwise, a good story can get buried. Great job team.

Real Love

It was interesting to see how the past for both of the these men both brought them together but left so many obstacles to overcome. There have their grief as well. Nate's feelings were real and really were about more than one thing in relationship to his father. It was great to see these two find the way to work through their feelings.
I listened to audio version and really enjoyed it very much.

Great Listen

I enjoyed this story very much. I liked both Nate and Presley and enjoyed their meet cute as well as following their relationship develop. For me character development is one of the most important things in books I read. In Fool For Love author did an amazing job with both characters but especially Nate, his growth was impressive from the way he lived for years prior to meeting Presley and how his feelings changed him. Narrator did an awesome job and made this good story a perfect listening experience. I am looking forward to listening to the rest of the books in Lost in New York series and any other work by this author/narrator team.

Fool for Love

Felice Stevens has an uncanny way of making her characters come to life in words. The struggle it took for these two broken men to become whole again. The anguish each man went through to find their truths. So beautifully represented in this story.
With that being said, I could have used a little more passion in the voice of the narrator. There were times I found myself drifting off and had to go back to re-listen to parts.
Overall I loved the story. Thank you, again, Felice Stevens for another book well done!

A raw, relatable second chance romance!

This was a sweet second chance romance. Nate and Presley both have trust issues and emotional baggage.
Seeing them work through their inner turmoil and issues was refreshing.
The characters felt real and relatable and the writing was engaging.
I enjoyed how the author developed the relationship between Nate and Presley. It was a slow build which I quite enjoyed.
Kale William's audio delivery was smooth and he gave the characters their own voices which made it enjoyable to listen to.