In the Eye of the Beholder

By: Dianna Roman

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Daniel Ellis trusts no one and trusts love even less.

His longstanding commitment to self-reliance backfires when a series of events finds an unlikely savior offering him assistance at every turn. How can the aggravating widower who's sat at the end of his bar the past few years be his knight in shining armor?

Reluctantly taking a job as Eric Jordan's assistant becomes more than just a means to a safe haven. Working for his aloof bar patron broadens Daniel's perspectives, threatening to tear down every wall he's built around his heart as he begins to learn more about a man he's always purposely ignored. All Daniel wanted was to hide from the trouble that was following him, not have the rest of his world turned upside down by the wealthy older man who ended up being nothing he expected and everything he didn't realize he might need.

In the Eye of the Beholder is an emotional slow burn, age gap, hurt/comfort journey of two broken hearts who find that the road to healing might require joining forces.

©2023 Dianna Roman (P)2024 Podium Audio

I liked it!

Was curious what Daniel’s story was. Super excited when I saw this book was released. A bit long but the story kept me engaged. I also really enjoyed the narrator. Worth the cost.

Great story

If you liked book one, this is even better. well written Dianna Roman always writes an entertaining story. Nice to see characters from book one also in this book. Greg Boudreaux did an awesome job bringing these characters and the story to life. He always gives a great performance. This is a story I will go back to several more times to do a relisten.👏🔥❤

What a great story!

The first part of the book was pretty slow. At times I had to really concentrate on which character was speaking. But the story picked up and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the characters and things that happened. I love the supporting characters in this book - they’re so good (even the dogs are funny). The HEA was hard fought. It was well worth the credit.

Daniel story

This is my favorite Dianna Roman and I was not let down on the narration. its a beautiful story of finding what you deserve and the person who loved you along the way. Its a slow burn age gap throat is just beautiful.

Hits Home

At first I thought things were a bit slow. The more I got to understand Daniel, the more it all made sense. Myself coming from a loveless family and trying to find something 'out there' where maybe I could find some happiness, hit home. A great story of finding just that. Love and happiness in an unlikely way. Gives me faith it can still happen. Thanks Dianna

It’s ok

Could’ve got into more with his story. Wish this was a continuation of the first couple’s story. It’s ok

what a performance

the range on this guy is incredible. two distinct voices for both characters, even his Riley voice was different enough. but god I was cracking up hearing him twinkify Harper.

2.5 exhausted ⭐️'s

I actively disliked and felt highly annoyed by Daniel throughout the whole book. He is wildly immature and insecure until 95% and then a switch flips and suddenly he's not. What just happened?
The endless internal monologues were exhausting and repetitive. This could be 40% shorter and would still been annoying.


🎧 the narration was not a great match for the characters.

Mediocre writing, flat characters, hollow chemistry

I loved the first book, but really struggled to make it through this one.

Pros:
It is a sweet story, with semi-interesting plot lines in the first half. And I love a hurt/comfort, age gap, daddy-kink book (note: the older character has very daddy energy, but they don’t use the term “daddy”).

Cons:
It was poorly written in several ways. It’s extremely heavy on the telling with very little showing. The dialogue is often either flat and unengaging or so cheesy it made me gag. About 85% of the book consists of painfully long, melodramatic, repetitive, superfluous inner monologues. It leans on the miscommunication trope over and over, but the miscommunications don’t even make much sense. Which leads me to the most problematic element, from my perspective…

The chemistry felt like it was fabricated from nothing. We are told that Eric is obsessed with Daniel, but the obsession feels completely unfounded. I have absolutely no idea what he sees in him. It’s like Eric is this brilliant, observant, compassionate, mature man who is convinced that one of the most unlikeable, immature, petulant characters I’ve ever read is the most amazing person in the world. I get that sometimes we’re rough around the edges due to our trauma, but the author doesn’t show us Daniel’s bright light underneath that Eric keeps droning on about melodramatically in his interminable, cringe-worthy self deprecating soliloquies. The romantic tension felt hollow and artificial.

The book as a whole felt like a very large slipshod, overly-sweetened cake made with cheap, stale ingredients.

The narration was often irritatingly overdramatic, but I think that was likely more due to the quality of the writing. And I 100% agree with the other reviewers who complained about the nasally, whiny voice he used for Harper (didn’t match the character and was nothing at all like the voice he used for him in the first book). That said, some of his other voices for side characters were delightful.

Eh

The story predictable but entertaining. The thing that irritated most was Harper's voice. Yes, I understand it's not Harper's story. But, his character is a survivor that never once sounded whiny. In the first book, his voice was deeper. But this book, he was nasally and annoying. *shrug* Anyway, it's a light and entertaining read.