I Need You

Riverside Town, Book 1

By: Darla O'Malley

Narrated by: Wyatt Baker

Losing a loved one can change a person, their outlook on life, and their reason for being...

Dane and Noah go through those changes together. Neither of them encouraged or expected what their future would bring, but they don’t regret their new normal.

When Dane’s girlfriend, Maranda, became pregnant during their summer break before starting college, Dane did what he felt any man should do in that situation, he gained a respectable job as a firefighter to provide for his girlfriend and their daughter, Sydney; he became dependable, not needing to rely on his parents or anyone else for help. After disowning his parents for their choice of disowning his gay, older brother, Noah’s life was blissfully simple. He was the manager of a hotel, and engaged to his best friend, Sydney, Dane’s daughter. As long as he had a good book to read, he was happy.

Life for Dane and Noah was set in stone; they knew who they were, who they loved, and where their lives were going. However, when tragedy strikes, their lives are upended and they have no one left...except each other.

Author note: Male/male romance, gay for you, can be listened to as a stand-alone. Contains sexual acts between consenting adults, strong language, light daddy kink, light dubious consent.

©2020 Carla Hamilton (P)2022 Carla Hamilton

Two men suffer devastating losses,

Two men each grieving the loss of family members, one a husband and father, the other a family friend about to become his son-in-law find their relationship of father and son in-law become even stronger with the survivor's guilt and the empathy they each feel for the loss of each other's life long partner and the secret each has kept from the other. The innocentbut unexpectedly strong and deep affections between the two straight men evolve into a heated m/m passionate may-december romance.

i really enjoyed Wyatt's narration of the book aside from hearing paper page turning numerous times in the narration, i look forward to listening to other books narrated by Wyatt. The sound of the page turning got annoying and is why I gave a 4 on performance.

Great premise for a story!!!

This audio book was by a 'new to me' author, Darla O'Malley and a 'new to me' narrator, Wyatt Baker. This book is the start to a new series called Riverside Town.

Dane, fire chief, father of Noah's fiancee, straight.

Noah, hotel manager, engaged to Dane's daughter, straight.

There is a 15 year age gap between these characters, which is one of my personal favorite tropes.

The relationship between these two started out slow and sweet and then bam zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds! Gay to bi in the wink of an eye. I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I liked how quickly things progressed. I know that time was passing because there are mentions of 2 weeks ago, 3 weeks ago, and months ago, but we don't see what was happening during that passage of time between the two characters.

Why the page turning sound, I didn't get that??? I've been a member of Audible since 2007 and this is the first time I've ever heard the page turning.

Hot sexy times, exploration into kink, including some humiliation, d/s, daddy/boy.

Entertaining listen

I Need You deals with 2 MCs finding love after loss. While it could lean heavily into the grief they share it moves past quickly without being flippant. Between the grief and a character who refuses to hear the word no it still manages to be a relatively low angst story. Both men are hiding secrets about their relationships and while we have an on page confession by one of them we don’t have the other and then it’s not mentioned which I found disappointing. Mild daddy/boy dynamic and s3x scenes that begin while one MC is sleeping at first. The narrator performs well and makes the steamy scenes even steamier. I found this audiobook very enjoyable. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

Worth the effort!

So I have to say that my first reaction when I realised what the original relationship was between these to MC-s was a big, fat Whuut?
But after I got past that I enjoyed myself a lot. Dane and Noah are both lovable and likeable, and their growing emotions and absolute obliviousness are touching and hillarious. The bad guy was a bit one dimensional, but the way Noah bumbles around him made me guffaw several times. A fun ride, looking forward to the next book from Darla O'Malley!

Great story

I really enjoyed this story so much how they helped and leaned on each other through their grief and their slowly developing relationship and respect for each other I really enjoyed them exploring their selves and each other and the work drama was also very interesting

enjoyable

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this audiobook provided by Gay Romance Reviews.

Story: 3.5⭐️
Audio: 3.75⭐️

“I Need You” is a solid hurt comfort story that starts strong but wavers some when the plot moves away from the MCs’ grief. When the story opens, you meet Noah and Dane and get a glimpse of Dane’s family unit and how well Noah fits. O’Malley does a good job establishing Dane and Noah’s dynamic and friendship as well as a sense of who the guys are relatively quickly before a tragic car accident kills Maranda and Sydney. It’s very believable how much the two rely on each other to get through planning the funeral and then grieving. Losing a loved one is such a personal thing so them clinging to each other and relating to each other’s needs and feelings in a way no one else can creates an even deeper, more intimate bond.

O’Malley does a good job not rushing them through their grief, especially as neither man has been attracted to another man before; they live together for almost a year, learning a new normal and experiencing an easy comfort and familiarity with one another they never managed with another partner. The early stages of attraction is believably awkward and confusing, and while they fly into intimacy at Mach 9, it works (mostly).

Contrary to what I expected, Dane and Noah being in a relationship is the weaker part of the book. Even shrugging off things like a bum hole virgin taking a pants anaconda like a seasoned pro, the care O’Malley took in developing the relationship in the early part of the book is less once they are an established couple and there are some plot and character beats that aren’t as well structured as they could be. The kink D/s dynamic sometimes take leaps (off page I guess) without discussion or knowledge. Sometimes the characterization of Noah feels contrived to serve the plot. For instance having Noah be so innocent/oblivious that he thinks the guy who just asked him out (and who Noah knows is a manipulator and is creepy AF in their interactions) wouldn’t hit on him if they went out to being so naughty/worldly he’ll screw Dane with an EVOO bottle while at Noah’s job 3 weeks later is jarring. There are also character interactions and situations that would have done with more context or resolution or are just plain head scratching; starting a new chapter for something to never be mentioned again is also distracting. For example, there is an emotional issue Dane has about Maranda's death that seems really important at first but is never brought up again that feels calculated to make it ok for him to move on with Noah.

Also, I will be SO glad to never see/hear “I’m clean” outside of bathing situations. This book was pubbed in 2020; do better.

Wyatt Baker does a good job, although to me this isn’t one of his strongest performances. For the most part his delivery and voices are solid. I just found his voice for Noah after he and Dane start a relationship to be a bit inconsistent. I get he’s giving Noah a “sexy/dommy” voice but to me, it's sometimes so different, Noah sounds like a different (slightly annoying) character.


Wyatt also chooses to use a page turn sound effect that wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t sound like something being dragged over gravel before turning a page. However, I think fans of hurt-comfort and Wyatt Baker will enjoy “I Need You”.

Love is Found Where It's Least Expected

The blurb sounded interesting to me, and I am a fan of Wyatt Baker's narrating, so I decided to give it a chance. It did not disappoint! I enjoyed this new to me author's story. Dane and Noah never expected to fall for each other after losing both of their loved ones one night. I loved how their different type of friendship evolved over time into something more. The narrator did an awesome job narrating. All of the characters had a distinct voice. I can't wait to the next one in the series!

Needing something new

To me, the first half was the stronger part of the story with Dane and Noah shoring up and emotionally supporting the other through the rough patches of grief. From there it veered onto a completely different course involving sudden attraction, near immediate acceptance, kink, and a host of unrealistic actions. It wasn’t bad, but I wanted back into the original story with these men. Wyatt Baker did an okay job with narration though the occasional loud page turning effect was distracting.

I Liked It

I enjoyed listening to I Need You, it was a sweet story with likable characters and few hot & steamy moments. I like stories with character development being a big driving force moving the plot. This book had plenty of development for both Dane and Noah, overcoming the pain and hurt as well as realizing their attraction in a kind of friends to lovers trope. Narrator did a good job with voices and story telling, I like his work and was a bit surprised to hear page turning noise, it was distracting at first, but as the story went on, I was so engrossed in it that I hardly noticed. Overall this was a good listening experience.

Emotional story about love and becoming whole

The story is an emotional one. Two men who've known each other for years come to rely on each other in a different way after a horrible tragedy affects them both, I loved the emotions that this story brought forward in both of the main characters. They were upset, confused, but needed to draw on the strength of the other to feel complete. It truly was an awakening for both of them and it was beautiful.

I listened to the book on audible, The narrator Wyatt Baker did a good job emoting the characters. I loved the possessiveness and love that each character had. The story was heartfelt and steamy.