Leaning into Love

Leaning into Stories, Book 1

By: Lane Hayes

Narrated by: Seth Clayton

Eric Schuster is a successful guy. He’s part owner of a highly successful tech firm, he has a supportive family and a great group of close friends. But something is missing. Or maybe he’s reacting to his business partner and ex’s wedding news. He knows his former lover is making a big mistake, but he also knows it’s time to move on. And hopefully avoid falling for another friend.

Zane Richards is an avid sailor and surfer with a laid-back approach to life. He firmly believes there’s a time and place for everything if you’re willing to take a chance. Like letting his best friend know he’s interested in being much more than friends. Eric has always been half in love with Zane, but going from friends to lovers isn’t an easy sell for someone protecting his heart. Eric will have to decide if he’s willing to risk it all by leaning into love.

©2017 Lane Hayes (P)2017 Lane Hayes

Audiobook Review for Leaning Into Love

Eric & Zane have been best friends who are fighting an attraction to one another. Maybe taking a chance will be a good thing. Zane has wanted to take things to another level for a while, and now here is the chance.

As far as short stories go, this one is hawt. The narrator has a good grasp of how to make different tonal nuances for the different voices. I knew he was speaking in whose character right away. And the gravelly tone was really fitting for this book. I am very excited for the next book in the Leaning Into series. I give this audiobook a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!


***This copy was given in exchange for an honest review only.

Swoon worthy romance!

I loved this story even more the second time around! I read this story when it was a part of an anthology and decided to listen to the audio because book 2 will be releasing soon. So glad I did! Between Lane's magical writing, and Seth Clayton's fantastic narration it made me actually wish my commute was longer so I could keep listening. This was all kinds of awesome. 5 Stars!!!

Short, sweet and hot Best-Friends-to-Lovers

This book is special for me, it was my first Lane Hayes' book and I absolutely loved reading it and falling in love with Zane and Eric, so, of course, I jumped at the chance of listening the audiobook, too, and man, you're all for a treat!

Eric is successful in every aspect of his life, except in the romantic sense, but now that his ex-lover is getting married, he realizes he's missing something in his life. He's crushed on his best friend Zane since he met him, but never thought it would amount to much, until one day they crossed the line and now he needs to decide if he's willing to risk their friendship for a chance at more.

Eric and Zane were amazing and I just adored them together. Everything from their banter, their easy camaraderie, how well they knew each other and of course, the dynamite chemistry between them was just perfect. And the hotter than hot sex scenes didn't hurt, either.

The progression from friends to lovers was very realistic, especially considering the length of the book and we were given enough background info to see that the attraction had always been there, even if neither of them had considered acting on it before.

I loved Seth Clayton's narration. He did a great job bringing Eric to life. He was too much fun to listen to. I think he did a good job with Zane, too, somehow managing to bring forth his more laid-back personality into the narration. My only problem with the audiobook was that sometimes Eric and Zane's voices were too similar and I had to rewind the narration a bit to catch who it was that was talking in certain parts (it wasn't a hardship, just inconvenient at times).

Overall, this audiobook was a great companion for my weekend, short, hot and sweet and truly, you can't go wrong with a Lane Hayes book and the audiobook was the perfect way to refresh the story in my mind in preparation for the next book in the series, which will feature Zane and Eric again!!!

Very recommendable!!!

Decent performance; great story

This vocal performance was just ok for me. The performer did use good inflection but his voice wasn't what I pictured for these guys. There is nothing wrong with it, I just didn't care for it (although I'm an EXTREMELY picky audiobook listener).

I love Layne Hayes’ stories…always. I love friends-to-lovers stories. I’m torn on novellas – quick resolution and quick escalation of heat but too fast on the getting to know the characters and over too soon. This is the start of a series which I’m super excited about. We briefly met several characters. Grant and Josh we don’t know much about yet but I’m guessing we’ll see more of them as the series unfolds. Nick is a big player in this book. I don’t like him at all but Zane and Eric seem to love him as a brother. I’m hoping we’ll know why they love him in a future book because right now I just think he’s an a$$hole.

One of my issues with novellas is I don’t feel connected to the characters since there isn’t much time to get to know them. We do get to know Zane and Eric a little bit but I would like a deeper dive with them. They are opposites but balance each other. Zane is larger than life and living life to its fullest. Eric is a shy, nerdy, take the safe road kind of guy. They work well together. Their banter is entertaining. Their chemistry is off the charts. I just want more of them!

We’re left with a couple of big pieces at the end of the story that are not wrapped up so I really, really hope we get a glimpse of those in the next book (or a full book with Zane and Eric).

This will definitely be another must read series from Ms. Hayes!

Short but sweet

I discovered Lane Hayes 2 books ago and after listening to "Leaning into Love" I know my affair with her books (especially this series) will continue. This book -although short and felt incomplete- still made me feel all the thrills and feels of friends becoming lovers thanks to Seth Clayton's performance. The problem with books being short and sweet is that when it's over I am left feeling like I did not get enough and I want more.

4 stars - worthy of a repeat listen

Such a great story and awesome narration!

This author never disappoints and she has a home run with this beautiful story! Treat yourself to a great story and terrific narration!

Sweet! Sexy! Must listen!

While this is a short read/listen, compared to her previous series that I’ve listened to, it holds all the same elements I’ve come to expect from Lane Hayes. It has friendship, romance, human actions and emotions, and personal growth. The characters are likable, and are the kind you’d have in real life. Despite it’s length, the story wasn’t rushed, and it didn’t negatively affect any character development. I highly recommend this book. Seth Clayton was introduced to me, through Lane Hayes’ books, and he does a fantastic job bring her characters to life.

Short and sweet.

Lane Hayes sure managed to pack a lot of story into this novella. I loved the characters. I enjoyed Seth Clayton’s voice; he did a great job performing this book.

4.5 stars- Low angst, friends to lovers story

Miss Hayes has recently become a sort of kryptonite for me. Her books and couples make me ridiculously happy, so I have been spacing them out and slowly working through her back catalog since first finding her this spring. When I saw she was releasing a second part to Leaning into Love- a book I had yet to read, I moved that title to the top of my to-read list. When I later saw she was releasing an audiobook version narrated by Seth Clayton, who did a fabulous job on her “A Kind of” series, I couldn’t resist. And yes, it was just as great as I expected it to be and left me with a big smile on my face.

Leaning into Love was originally part of an anthology and therefore is shorter in length. Though the brevity means the romance moves along rather quickly, this isn’t an incomplete story in the least. Eric and Zane are longtime friends who are also opposites in many ways. While there has always been a simmering attraction between the two, it takes an ex’s engagement announcement to spur them into acting on that chemistry. It is easy to feel the sparks between these two even in their casual conversations. I liked how those long-standing feelings are established throughout the first part of the story, making the deeper connection Eric and Zane feel by the end more genuine and believable. The dialogue and writing flows seamlessly, adding depth to the romance and enhancing the characters’ personalities. The pacing is brisk but not rushed, and the scenes or emotions never feel glazed over. The reader is also introduced to the couple’s circle of friends, creating a perfect introduction to a series. While the ending felt complete enough to leave me satisfied, it is more of a happy for now conclusion and leaves ample opportunity for the author to further Zane and Eric’s story.

Mr. Clayton once again delivers a fantastic performance. His pacing, diction, and emotive narration bring the characters and story to life, making it easy to follow along and get lost in their story. His style really shines during the moments of extended dialogue, especially with the fun back and forth between Zane and Eric. I’d definitely recommend catching up with Eric and Zane before the second part of their story releases next month. This is one of those times that putting off reading a book on my list paid off, because I really enjoyed the audiobook of Leaning into Love. If you’re an audiobook fan and have been meaning to try this series or this author, you can’t go wrong with this one.

*Reviewed for Alpha Book Club*

5 stars = I freaking LOVED this book!!!

I received a free copy of this audiobook to listen to and review for Wicked Reads.

I have to confess that I’ve already listened to this audiobook half a dozen times since I received the review copy for it on Saturday. The fact that it’s just under three hours made it possible to do so, but the combination of Hayes’s wordsmithing and Clayton’s narration is what had me queuing it up repeatedly. Clayton does a wonderful job of bringing the characters in Leaning into Love to life. While I admit that on the first listen through, I did get confused as to who was who among the secondary characters a couple of times, but it had nothing to do with the narration as Clayton did an excellent job at creating a different voice for each of the characters. It had more to do with me failing to make the correct relationship connections in my head between the various characters – something that happens from time to time when I listen to audiobooks because I’m more of a visual learner than an auditory one. And in case you were wondering, it was Josh who I kept getting confused about the first time through; but upon the second listening, I had Josh’s place among the circle of friends figured out.

Clayton’s wonderful performance allowed me to fall into Eric and Zane’s story easily and I found myself fully invested in whether or not two men who had known one another for years, probably crushed on one another secretly for just as long, could take that step out of the friend-zone and into a romantic relationship. Their history and shared circle of friends made their desire to do so believable and made Eric’s fear of messing up a cherished friendship even more believable. It also prevented the story from having an insta-love feel to it and I had a front-row seat to the show as Eric became aware that Zane was interested in more, giving Eric the chance to finally acknowledge that he wanted more from Zane too. That it occurs alongside Eric having to deal with his ex-lover and still business partner’s machinations to orchestrate an unnecessary business merger of sorts gives the story a bit of an edge as I found myself wanting to slap the holy heck out of Nick on Eric’s behalf… several times… a good throttling would have worked as well. Honestly, who needs enemies when you have a friend like Nick? But it is Nick’s drama that bleeds into Eric and Zane’s budding relationship and threatens to destroy the bond the men are building. Fortunately for Eric, Zane has the patience of a saint, the persistence of a man in love, and a decade’s worth of knowledge about how Eric ticks, giving him the understanding and fortitude he needed to make Eric see that they were right for one another.

I absolutely loved the audiobook of Leaning into Love. Because the novella was originally published in a multi-author anthology, we don’t get to see the full development of Eric and Zane’s relationship. Instead, Hayes gives us a look at how two friends begin the journey to move from friends to lovers to (hopefully) partners. I enjoyed that the epilogue gives us a look at where Eric and Zane are a few months later and where their relationship is headed. But it was the bonus chapter that had me in stitches, howling with laughter and enjoying the chance to see a bit of the story from Zane’s point of view. I sincerely hope that plans are in the works for an audiobook edition of Leaning into the Fall and that Hayes will once again get Clayton to bring her characters and their story to life.