Given the Circumstances

By: Brad Vance

Narrated by: Brad Vance

Two promising college athletes meet, each needing something only the other can give him....

When Roger and Brian lock eyes on the first day of school, a friendship is born. Both men are hungry for connection - Brian needs the acceptance, encouragement, and support he never had growing up, and when he finds out his new best friend is gay, it brings his own sexual identity into question. Roger needs a big brother, a best friend, but that will never be enough, especially not when he's this close to big, strong, handsome Brian.

And both men want something more - careers as professional athletes. For Roger, the demands of the closet, the need to reject the love of a man to fulfill his love of the game, will be a crushing burden. For Brian, his downfall will be the substances he uses to get an edge over the competition, and to suppress his gnawing self-doubt and guilt.

One set of desires will bring them together, the other will force them apart....

©2013 Orland Outland (P)2016 Orland Outland

such a great love story

This is such a great book! Excellent writing!
Its such a great love story.
I was not to sure how this book would go. Some books in this nature are just filled with sex, sex and more sex, with no story line. This was not the case at all with this book. Yes, there was some sex, but it was not badly written and focused more on the story line of the book and the two main characters. The struggles they have went though trying to hide the fact they were gay in the main stream life.
It is worth the listen. Though it does revolve a lot around football. I do not know much about the sport, and would kind of get lost now and then, not understanding what they were talking about, but it wasn't often.

I was gratefully provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator for an unbiased review via Audio Boom..

Smooth and easy

After listening to A Little Too Broken I had to listen to this also. I'm so glad to see these books in audio format. This was my second ever audio and second Brad Vance so that shows you how much I enjoyed listening to him. I read this book when it came out and had put it on my reread list. I thought listening to it while doing things around the house would be perfect. It helped me get everything done while staying on task. His voice is smooth, easy, and nice and clear. I would definitely listen to more.

Good Story!!!

Any additional comments?

This is my first book by this author and the story was good but the narration was a little boring. Even though Roger and Brian had difficult challenges to face, I loved the building of their relationship I also loved the moments that they did get together.

This audiobook was provided to me by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchanged for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

Given the Circumstances----Baseball Yes!!

Where does Given the Circumstances rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Although the audiobook does not rate in my top "listen again" audiobooks, the book itself is a reread for me.

What three words best describe Brad Vance’s performance?

Okay, Basic, Lukewarm

While I absolutely LOVED this story, the narration did not do the book justice. The voice was too flat and emotionless at time. Also, the narrator was unable to pull off a youthful voice to carry from college into adulthood. Although the narrator has a very nice voice, I'm just not sure this particular genre was good for him to narrate. I am almost positive I would enjoy the narrator doing a mystery.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The moment when Roger's father realized his son loved another boy and was gay, even before Roger told him, was the most poignant moment in the book for me. All the emotions his father went through as he saw himself when he suffered through the loss of his wife (Roger's mom) was a rollercoaster for me. I could actually feel his emotions.

Any additional comments?

This book rates at the top of my list for sports related gay love stories. I am a huge baseball fan, so this was perfect for me.The writing is strong; I like the author's style. Roger and Brian are the main characters. Roger was raised by a loving father (widowed) who supported Roger in everything he did. His love and faith in Roger never wavered. Brian, on the other hand, had a much harder life growing up with no emotional family support.Although some may disagree, I absolutely love the ending. Life does not always end in what we may originally believe to be our fairytale, but happiness can still be achieved without settling for less. This is how I felt with the HEA for Roger and Brian. It was reality in its finest form.I was given this free audiobook by the author for an honest review.

Not lovin the Narration

I am a huge sports/romance fan, this one looked perfect for me by the description. I can’t tell it it was the story or the narration that just didn’t do it for me. The plot of the book I did enjoy, each of the M/C’s history, their relationship... but somewhere through the book for me something was missing. I can’t put my finger on it but like the reallife-ness felt missing to me, also the second half of the book the timeline was a bit convoluted and where did the prologue fit.

Mostly the issue was the narration, I think the author was he narrator? Not sure, but I did not enjoy it, at times I could not tell who’s POV I was listening to, the emotions were flat and sound effects just read over and childish. He actually detracted from the Roger character for me.

Given the Circumstances by Brad Vance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, It's an excellent story of love and sacrifice.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Roger was my favorite character. His integrity and character were above reproach.

Which character – as performed by Brad Vance – was your favorite?

Jacob was my favorite per the performance by Brad Vance.

Any additional comments?

From the beginning of this story I was captivated with the two leads, Roger and Brian. I loved every word of their very real story. It’s well-written, characters are fully developed, real and likeable, the story has a great flow, LOVE Brian and Roger… the sexual scenes are realistic, very sensual and OMG steamy! I also enjoyed the sports aspect (you can tell the author did his homework), but what I liked best is the love story (I’m a girl, what can I say) and Roger and Brian’s romance is one of the best I’ve read in awhile. As I said I was totally hooked right from the beginning. Parts of this story are sad and heartbreaking to read, but much of it, much of them together is just so sigh worthy! I can tell you I hated when it was over and I had to move on. I wanted more!! Brad Vance is a new author to me (and frankly I'm fairly new to M/M romance), but he can consider me a sold-out fan. GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES was an amazing read and he is a talented writer! In the audiobook version, the author is also the narrator which works well since he knows better than anyone the emotions the characters are feeling and perfect times for emphasis.

Great sports story

I've really enjoyed this book (Two hot jocks??? Hard not to!!). Good story and good characters.

It was cool to have the author narrate the book, but at times it was hard to follow as there were not a lot of voice changes and i was not sure who was talking.

Enjoyable sports romance

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Roger is the quarterback star of both his high school and college football teams. He is the all american clean cut hero. A straight A student, a hard worker, a brilliant team player and pure as the driven snow. Only because he is gay though, and as he realize early on, gay and pro football do not match. So Roger has decided to put his life on hold until after his career is over. Then he meets Bryan.

Bryan is in many ways Rogers opposite, even if he too is a star jock. Instead of hard work though, he has come by his stardom through talent and taking the easy way out whenever he can get away it. Bryan is not a bad guy, it's just that no one has ever expected anything of him. His dysfunctional family have only ever expected him to fail. But in the few instances when someone actually have expectations, he mostly lives up to them.

A combination of luck, talent, hard work and grid (and in Bryan's case illegal substances) leads both our MC's to the top of their game and into the pro's. But whatever fleeting happiness the two could have behind closed doors in college, is over when they both sign.

The guys are great together, however, I would have liked Bryan to have known some more angsting about his starting a relationship with Roger. He had been staunchly het up until after all.
I am European, and a complete noob when it comes to both football and baseball. So, I will admit that a lot of the game descriptions went over my head, but the excitement did translate.

Brad Vance narrates this himself, whether or not that was a good choice I am not sure. I didn't really like his narration of Roger. But his enthusiasm for his own story obviously shines through, which was nice and my attention never waned during the book.

Recommended for fans of sports romance. Please be aware however, that this is a realistic story about two young men going pro, which means that they actually do not see each other for big chunks of the book, and it also means that there is some cheating involved, so if that is a deal breaker to you, stay away.

Good Coming of Age Love Story

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, in exchange for an honest review.

I like that Brad Vance chose to narrate his own story. I know it may have been a bit monotonous at times but I've heard worse performances from paid narrators that made me not want to finish listening to other books.

The story was exactly the way I thought it would go. I was hoping for a happily ever after between Roger and Brian with all of the trials, tribulations, laughter, tears, insecurities, etc. I was so glad it finally came.

This book was AWESOME

I wasn't ten pages into this story when I knew I would love it, and I did. I enjoyed it so much, and the fact the narrator was also the author made it so much more enjoyable because he knew exactly when to pause, when to show anger, etc. I highly recommend this book, it is great.