Intelligence Check

Dungeons and Dating, Book 3

By: Katherine McIntyre

Narrated by: Brennan Rossi

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Mason gives people too many chances, Hunter gives too few, but are they willing to take a chance on each other?

Mason’s always tried to believe the best in people, and for the most part, their sunshine attitude pays off. They love their friends, their family, and they’re determined to win over their broody, gorgeous coworker Hunter—especially when their car in the shop turns into carpooling to work together.

Hunter’s only seen the worst in people, and he doesn’t trust easily—not after growing up with a mom who ditched and an addict dad. However, perky, sweet, hot-as-hell Mason seems to win him over with every goofy comment or adorable smile, and before he can stop himself, he’s falling hard.

The more time Mase and Hunter spend together, the more their attraction flares until they’re both holding the hope for something real. However, when Hunter’s past collides with his present, the secret he's been keeping threatens to destroy everything—the home he established, the friends who’ve become his new family, and any chance of a future with Mason.

Roll the dice on romance at Tabletop Tavern…

©2022 Katherine McIntyre (P)2023 Katherine McIntyre

Emotional & cute!

Mason is such a character! He's full of life and easy going. Even with all the things that he has been dealt in his life. Hunter is the opposite, he's doom and gloom. He tends to stick to himself and the only one that manages to bring him out of shell is Mason. These two have so much trauma from their past it guts me. Seeing these to come together was adorable. Highly recommended!

The only thing that got me a little bit was there seemed to be some audio issues where the narrator seemed like he was far away or something. It's highly possible it's because I was listening while driving though!

Found family forever

This book had a sweet romance that had some obstacles to power through for a happy ending. But the MC’s were reasonably good at communicating so issues didn’t linger for long. But as usual with this series there is so much external drama.

I listened to the audiobook, and I don’t know if there is a way to advise people to go check trigger warnings somewhere, but there was parental neglect last and present. Dangerous and deadly drug use. Overdose death in recent past of family member.

Also, about the audiobook, I think this was my first listen to Brennan Rossi. I think he portrayed the characters well. But there needs to be some considerable editing. It cuts out, drops words, skips, stutters, you hear random clicks. It was very frustrating and made me want to dnf.

Good story

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I really don’t enjoy third act breakups, but in this particular case, I could understand how and why it happened. I enjoyed watching Mason and Hunter become each other’s safe place, as well as Hunter learning that he could rely on his found family. I wish that there would’ve been a more definitive resolution with Hunter‘s dad.

There are some problems with the audio. Particularly the end of chapter 3, and beginning of chapter 4, where it seems to skip forward several seconds, and therefore there is missing content. There is also sometimes a weird quality to the background noise of the narrator speaking. It wasn’t bad, but enough to sometimes draw me out of the story.

Great listen!

Really enjoyed this one from Katherine McIntyre! It was a sweet, grumpy sunshine book that was just a delight to listen to! Enjoyed this new narrator quite a bit!

Great Story!

I love that this story is about 2 lost souls needing love. Mason, who is non- binary, lost their sister to an overdose. Hunter was raised by parents that didn't want him that were also addicted to drugs. Meeting at work, their friendship grows to a safe place before it becomes more.

😍😍😍

Hands down my favorite book of the series! Mason and Hunter were too precious

- coworkers
- friends to lovers
- hurt x comfort

Beautiful

I enjoyed listening to this story so much. I felt like this story was told so beautifully it hits on such a hard subject in life and that author in the narrator did such a beautiful job of telling this story.I absolutely loved the characters in this book. I am ready to start the next one.

A Make Ship Family of Love and Support!

I absolutely love the variety of characters in this Boardgame Cafe series! In this story we have Mason who is gender fluid, and we have Hunter who is a sweet biracial man. These two wounded souls are so drawn to each other but with everything they are each going through they have hard time opening up and expressing it correctly. The love story is beautifully written from both of their POV's. I could vividly picture them, especially Mason's different punky looks. Loved seeing Julien and Cal again! I recommend this sweet story if you love insecure men finding strength in supporting each other. Brennan Rossi was a really good narrator for these two guys. He had his own unique voice which really brought the characters and emotions out.

Loved it

These guys. I loved Mason and Hunter. Between these two and the found family at Tabletop Tavern, you can’t go wrong. They look out for each other. Hunter may have walls of stone but Mason is just the guy to tear them down. And I enjoyed Brennan Rossi’s narration.

Lovely characters....a lot of pining

I do love these characters at Tabletop Tavern. We've met Mason and Hunter through the previous stories as they both work there. It's always awesome seeing a nonbinary character and Mason is a sweetheart. While I think these two are good together, there is a ton of pining and not feeling good enough for the other at the beginning. This series in particular is a lot of slow burn and after a while there are only so many reminders of how unworthy one (mostly Hunter) feels or how they think the other isn't interested (Mason) before it feels a bit repetitive and kind of slowed the story down. There are also a ton of outside factors that keep these two from getting together that sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. This one does touch on a lot of heavy topics with drugs and parental neglect being the largest. I do think that these topics were dealt with well. This time, the outside forces do play off each other well but I think sometimes it lengthened the story just to make it longer. It's kind of a theme for me throughout the series as a whole for me. Tabletop Tavern is definitely a wonderful family filled with all sorts and I love how they come together to support their own. I am interested in the others and will still be checking back for more from this group.

That being said, I haven't fallen in love with any of the narrators yet. I'm not familiar with any of them, but there were noticeable production issues with this one that could've been fixed with another round of editing. While I think Brennan Rossi did a good job of differentiating between Mason and Hunter, all of his female characters sort of blended together. It wasn't a bad performance, but a bit of polishing could've really made it shine.