Kismet

By: Ashley James

Narrated by: Oliver Highpoint, Silas Hart

Cash DeMarco

Five years ago, I gave my heart and soul to my professor. He made me fall for him, only to destroy me with his silence. I've never been the same. I finally have the chance to leave this town, start over, and try to move on with my life. But what happens when fate insists the chapter of your life that haunts you isn't over?

Stone Philips

He was the temptation I shouldn't have indulged in. The secret that ruined everything. He was the beginning to my end, and when I left, I left as the shell of the man I once was. Just like with the angriest of storms, when he walks back into my life, destruction and chaos are never far behind. The universe has a funny way of bringing everything full circle, opening old wounds, and forcing you to face your destiny.

Kismet is a full-length, stand-alone MM romance novel about missed opportunity, right person/wrong time, heartbreak, and second chances.

©2022 Ashley James (P)2023 Pink Flamingo Productions

Stone and Cash

𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙚'𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙃𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢, 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙪𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.

Kɪsᴍᴇᴛ | Ashley James
4 Maple Leafs | 5 Flames

An emotionally and painfully sweet and spicy rollercoaster ride about two people destined to find their way back to each other.

Stone and Cash have an instant attraction to each other and a connection so strong that causes them to struggle to stay away from each other, no matter how forbidden it is to be together.

Stone and Cash have a great connection that can be felt right from the beginning and their banter had me giggling. The chemistry between them is off the charts and had me fanning myself. They have a rough and hard-fought battle to reach their happily ever after.

I enjoyed this story as a whole but would have probably enjoyed it more if it was broken into a duet or condensed a little as I found there were a few spots where the book dragged a little.

Audio → Silas Hart and Oliver Highpoint did an amazing job bringing Stone, Cash and their story to life and made it hard to pause the book.

Get ready for…

MM | Age Gap | Right Person/Wrong Time | Second Chance | Forbidden | Bisexual Rep | First-Person (Dual)

Be mindful that this book contains triggers that may affect your reading enjoyment, all triggers can be found on the author's website.

Such a good story!

5/5 ⭐️
3/5 🌶️
5/5 🎧

This was my first Ashley James book and I DEVOURED it. This is an MM forbidden age gap romance.

Stone is this broody smexy professor and I absolutely loved his character. He is in a loveless marriage and we see him struggle to get out of it. I didn’t love the mild cheating, but also understood it as the story went on as well. As long as the main characters don’t cheat on each other it’s not a trigger for me 😅 when we find out what happened my heart broke for him. I can completely relate to not being yourself and needing to escape even for a few months. I was rooting for him the second half of the book.

Cash is just the sweetest guy. I fell in love with his character from the beginning. I love how carefree and genuine he is. When Stone hurt him it broke my heart. I loved that he didn’t forgive Stone easily. I also felt like he was very understanding once he found out what happened and I loved that part of the story. Their love truly was one for the ages and the heartbreak and everything leading to the HEA were perfect.

The audio was top notch. I legitimately loved Silas Hart and Oliver Highpoint and I felt like they portrayed these characters really well!

Heartbreaking and exhilarating

Cash and Stone’s whirlwind love affair was ill-timed and devastating for them both. Riding along for the journey as they struggle to heal and trust again left me heart-sore and begging for relief for these two men. Cannot recommend highly enough as long as the content warnings don’t hold you back.

Wonderful Story & Narration🎧Gripping & Heartfelt!

Ashley James blows me away with another wonderful romance novel, a second chance romance like no other. The story drew me in immediately, not only grabbing my attention and captivating it the entire time, but it tugged on my heartstrings, too. I adored the two lead characters, college student Cash DeMarco and Professor Stone Philips. Cash had seen Professor Stone around and he developed a crush on him, but knew he had never stood a chance since he was married. What he does not know is Stone feels that same attraction and when Cash becomes his T.A., the chemistry between them is stronger than ever, and they can only deny each other for so long before giving in. They were planning for more, but the only thing that happened was Stone breaking Cash’s heart. The story jumps to when Cash finishes grad school to become an English professor and took a teaching position in Texas college. To his surprise, Stone is the dean of that college and Cash is not happy to see him again. Stone has a lot to say to Cash, but Cash is not interested, nor does he trust him, afraid if he lets him back in he will only break his heart. I loved how everything played out in this book, the story has a perfect balance of drama, angst, heartfelt emotions, and steamy romance. The writing, plotting and world building are fantastic, as are the character growth and development. Ashley James, thank you for another fabulous story and emotional rollercoaster ride. 

🎧📚🎧And for the fantastic narration, Ashely James cast the perfect narrators to bring her characters and story to life. Oliver Highpoint and Silas Hart did an excellent job portraying the characters, giving each a voice that was fitting, sounding believable and just as I imagined the characters to sound. They set the perfect tone for the story, captured all the characters’ emotions’ and projected them into their performance, having you feel them all. These wonderfully talented voice artists are entertaining storytellers and they make this fabulous story even more enjoyable. Thank you for another fantastic listen.

These two broke my heart!

•professor/student
•age gap
•forbidden
•second chance
•spicy 🥵

Second chances are one of my absolute least favorite tropes to read but there’s always something so bittersweet when things work out a second time around. These two made the tears worth it lol.

I loved these narrators together! They definitely are the reason I had so many tears. Felt that I was there witnessing everything they were going through together.

Yeesh. I have such mixed emotions about this book

There’s no way to write this review without some spoilers, so be warned. They aren’t detailed spoilers, but don’t read this if you want to be one hundred percent surprised by the story.

The narration was excellent. I was loving the story. It was angsty and smoking hot and had me on the edge of my seat until the Big Reveal, and I was…appalled..at what Stone did. His actions were written as things that were acceptable under the circumstances and forgivable, but I disagree. What he did was so spineless and self-absorbed, he’s damn lucky to have Cash, because he doesn’t deserve him.

The fact that Stone just melted into a non-functioning puddle of jello due to some misguided guilt was an insult to people who live with things like that every day. It wasn’t a “mistake,” it wasn’t a “bad decision,” it’s a pretty substantial character flaw, and it nearly destroyed Cash. Character is already formed by the time someone reaches thirty, so my warning to Cash would be that if Stone abandoned you once, he’ll do it again if circumstances dictate. It’s in his character.

The reason I’m giving four stars instead of five is that it turns out I have no respect for Stone at all after finishing this, in spite of how well-written it was.

Kismet

Kismet is a m/m story about Cash and Stone and is told from both of their points of view.

This book starts out when Cash is Stone's student, and they start to have feelings for each other. Stone is in a loveless marriage and starts to fall for Cash. He isn't like anyone he's been with before.

Something happens and tears them apart. Now years later they are back in the same place and feelings start to develop, but one doesn’t know if he can forgive the other for leaving him.

Can they get past everything that broke them apart? Can they get their happy ending? I enjoyed this book, and it had some funny banter moments, and some spicy moments too!

Kismet

This book is such an amazing MM romance. This book starts off with Cash who is a college English major. Stone is Cash’s English. Cash and his friends go to a club and see a gorgeous man on the dance floor. That man was Stone. Cash and Stone definitely experienced ups and downs throughout their relationship. In the end they found Kismet in each. Oliver Highpoint and Silas Hart did a fantastic job narrating this book,

My heartstrings hurt in this one!

Wow this was my first book that I have listened to by this author and after the emotions and steam in this one, it will definitely not be the last! I did grab some of her other audiobooks that were on sale in the recent Audible Black Friday sale 😊

We start out with our Professor falling for his TA (so adorable!!). I loved Cash from the get-go. He was serious about school but also had fun as college guys do. He couldnt stop crushing on his hot older professor (I would be in the same boat as him, Prof Stone was just yuuuummy). And Stone couldnt stop his attraction to Cash after the one night. Their chemistry was amazing from the beginning but because I knew they had a break-up that must have been bad I was anxious when it would happen. I do appreciate it wasnt a 3rd Quarter break-up (it was more like end of the 1st Quarter). I wasnt sure how Stone could make up for what he did and why he did it.

We get to see the attraction continue despite it being 5 years since they’ve seen each other. This 2nd chance, almost fate, romance was gripping. I loved the academy aspect too, it felt right with the pace and the storyline. Once Stone reveals what happened you ache for him even more. I loved seeing throughout the whole book that Cash helped Stone figure out what came next because he didnt have a lot of experience with men or anyone outside his wife since they were high school sweethearts. I did love Stone’s Dom side. I just had wanted the author to go a little further. There were glimpses of things but wasnt a full commitment it felt like for a more Dom relationship. I am not saying going full D/S but Stone showed tendencies and Cash showed sub tendencies. I think I was missing a little of that. I mean the author even teed up a sex club with Stone’s BIL’s MC club haha.

I also enjoyed the side characters and am eager to see if any have their own stories (Stone’s sister is hilarious, as well as Cash’s female bestie). There was a mix of M/M relationships and M/F with his friends and Stone’s family. I am also interested to see if anyone joins this MC (like Cash’s PHD friend who visits haha). I am glad I was able to listen to this book, added another author on my approved list ❤️

Narration was great by these too. I liked that they were very different tone and tenor wise. Stone was the lower and more gravelly voice, it suited him so well. Cash was good too, sounding younger and more enthusiastic/energetic/spunky haha. I do wish sometimes Cash sounded like a frat guy but he really wasnt. Again not a lot to critique. I would listen to both of them again easily! One I have before, the other I think is new to me so I will be checking him out more. 4.5 stars on the narration for me.

🎧 Audiobook Obsession Reviewer - Flock Team 🎧

Unexpectedly great!

Really enjoyed the plot to this book. It was a bit slow moving but excellent content.