My Chaos, His Calm

Men of Fairlake

By: Romeo Alexander

Narrated by: Michael Dean

My world is chaos, and he’s my only peace—but at what cost?

My scars are both visible and hidden. I’m lonely, but I do okay…I think. I’m still a bit of a disaster, but I have a job and a roof over my head, and the medication keeps my demons at bay. What I don’t need is a babysitter, but try telling my overprotective brother that.

When I first saw Luke, I couldn’t stop staring—his beauty and strength captivated me. As I get to know him, I realize he’s the calm to my chaos—the light to my darkness. Of course, he’s straight, so I can’t have him. But all it takes is what I thought was a hot dream, and it appears we’re both open to change. The lines are blurred, and he doesn’t have a problem with that…or me. I don’t deserve him, but he doesn’t see it that way. He’s perfect.

But he doesn’t know what I did. If he knew the ugly truth, I’d lose him. Luke and I can only ever be temporary, so I keep my secrets.

When the past threatens to catch up with me, I have a choice…keep the secret for the sake of me and my brother…or take a chance and tell Luke everything. But damn it, I can’t even get that right.

Is it too much to ask to love and be loved and have a chance at the future I desperately want…with Luke? The past is dead. So why won’t it stay buried?

©2023 Romeo Alexander (P)2023 Books Unite People, LLC

Gradual Building of Love!

I have loved every single romance in this series, and I knew Felix finding love and accepting himself again was going to be beautiful. Luke was absolutely perfect for him because it was such a nice slow and gradual building of their relationship since Luke has always thought he was straight. A bit of a GFY here, and I liked that once they became intimately involved it was only outside drama they had to deal with. I am sad to see this series end, but this was the perfect way to finalize all our men. Michael Dean was perfection in his narration as always! He is so good at bringing out the different personalities and distinguishing traits.

4.5 Stars-Really good book

This was a really good book. I enjoyed Luke and Felix together. These two start as friends but move to lovers as open the developed a deeper connection and chemistry. I really enjoyed this book and this series. While I am sad to see the end of this series, I am looking forward to what Romeo has in store for us next. Michael Dean did a wonderful job bring this book to life and I am looking forward to more work by him.

Another Good Story

I have been enjoying this series since book one. This is another good story. It was entertaining and very interesting to read. The narration by Michael Dean made this an even better experience.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

All the Stars

This is another book which I read a few months ago before the audiobook was available, and I LOVED IT, but the audiobook has definitely put me firmly in the fan category for narrator Michael Dean. A few weeks ago when I finished the audio version of "Cake and Comfort," I was enthralled with his performance, and again, he's delivered such an excellent presentation of these characters; everyone has a distinctive tone and you can easily tell whose is speaking. He brings the characters to life in a way that makes me feel like I'm involved personally in the conversations, and I Love it!

As far as the story itself... Romeo Alexander is just brilliant at breaking your heart and piecing it back together with these tragically flawed and loveable characters, and I'm in awe of his talent as well.

You could conceivably read this separately from the other stories in the series, and still love it just as much, but I definitely recommend that you read Cake & Comfort first because that was such a beautiful book and builds these characters and their backstory and it will make your enjoyment and immersion in this story of Felix and Luke's relationship that much more rich and engaging.

The thing that this author does, which I admire immensely is to write realistic, relatable, and believable struggles and conversations and reasons and healing for mental health issues and trauma responses. The author isn't simply using these things to further the plot or create manufactured drama or force characters into situations to get from point a-to-b in the story; the issues are handled well and with grace and it's refreshing to see that an author is willing to show a realistic portrayal of these issues in a story which complicates the relationships and that just because it's fiction doesn't mean it should always be rainbows and kittens. Nothing about Felix's life is or likely will ever be easy, but he's a character you have to root for. I love the way these characters grew into their friendship and how Luke was so compassionate and supportive and understanding and openminded; and I love how the friendship grew into a realistic relationship with a believable HEA because they were both on the same page and willing to do the work, together. I cannot wait to read all the books by Romeo Alexander; he's a definite automatic read for me from now on.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I have loved all the books in the series 

I have loved all the books in the series this book matches all the others and then it’s just a nice romance. Very little drama. I loved the narration. It was fantastic throughout. Looking forward to other books by this author. I would recommend the whole series. 

Luke and Felix's Story . . .

Felix and his older brother, Grant, have lived a life most of us would not be able to get through or even think about without a shudder. Felix heads for the local bar. He knows he should not mix alcohol with his meds, but he is restless. No matter how many people he has around him, he is still alone. He is finally understanding that it’s not the quantity of people that matters, but the quality. His best times were living in a small town with a few nosey neighbors who took the time to wave at him, ask for help with a garden, or simply acknowledge they were neighbors. So he likes it here. But he is still lonely.

When Felix meets Luke, he sees how attractive he is, but is aware that Luke is off-limits since he is straight. That doesn’t become an issue, though, because the two of them enjoy each other’s company and their friendship is easy-going. Luke has a calming influence on Felix and makes him comfortable. But when they enjoy the hot tub, and Luke’s drinking too much gets a conversation started, their friendship will definitely turn into something more. And things just might work out… at least until Felix’s sordid past catches up to him. Someone’s cruelty could hurt more than just Felix. Will they be able to get past this? Or will relationships suffer a quick end?

This author is amazing in giving us deep stories where the reader will experience many profound emotions. Readers will feel what the characters have gone through. Seeing happiness and love being offered can make all the difference for Felix. Has he found it with Luke? Will it be taken away? Are Felix and Grant at last ready to share their truth with those who love and care for them so they can put their lives together and begin to heal? The narrator for the audiobook version is Michael Dean. He does a great job with the voices to personalize the story and make it easy for the listener to get an accurate impression of what each character is like. It helps to set the mood, familiarizes the reader with the characters, and is a pleasant way to “read” and enjoy the book.

Missing parts

We never found out what happened to Celia ???? Was something edited out. ? Good love story though.

Entertaining and emotional - lacks a bit of detail

I got an audio ARC for this book, and I had a good time listening to it. I immediately took a liking to Felix. He’s an interesting and endearing MC. I feel like this was very close to being super freaking great. It’s still good, but there’s quite a bit of stuff and several situations where I wanted *more*. More details about Felix’s past, his medical/mental health problems, more about the story ‘villain’ and how that entire situation was resolved, etc. It was a bit like having your back scratched, but the scratcher kept missing the itchy spot. Still feels good, but leaves you frustrated.

Most of all that might just be a me-thing as well, because I really adore deep dives into characters with mental health disorders. I was also a little disappointed by the lack of any conversation about safe sex. They don’t use a condom ever, and when Felix realizes (mid-coitus), he doesn’t tell Luke, and it’s never brought up in the book other than Felix’s internal monologue when he notices. That sort of thing kinda fits with Felix’s personality, but didn’t seem like something Luke would do without discussing it.

I realize this ended up sounding very negative. It’s difficult to discuss those things without it sounding 100% bad, but I really did enjoy large parts of the book. I’m sad to see the author has used AI to make character art (on the book’s Amazon page).

I Enjoyed It

I read this book last month and loved it so much. It was my favorite book in the series and I was excited to listen to it in audiobook. Especially after having recently listened to Cake and Comfort. Michael Dean did another wonderful job bringing these characters to life and was a great fit to the story.

Overall: 4.5 stars
Performance: 4 stars
Story: 5 stars

* * Original ebook review 11/12/23: * *

“Okay, I get it, you lamented my straightness.”
“Mourned it, set up an altar, lit some candles, threw on a veil, and threw myself to the ground for six hours as I wept openly.”

I absolutely loved this book. I adored both Felix and Luke. I like the way their relationship progressed and it felt very real and relatable. I loved the banter between them, and they made me smile more than once. Their chemistry was scorching hot! And I loved the way they supported and communicated with each other.

“You’re hellbent on this whole helping each other with our mental screwed-upness, aren’t you?”

A beautiful read. I'm a little sad this series is over, but I liked how it ended and I think this was my favorite book in the series. 5 stars.

Felix and Luke

This audible has me enjoying this book again. It was well read. Felix and Luke were introduced in the previous book in the series which featured Felix's younger brother Grant and Luke's best friend/boss Sylas. This is another bi-awakening in the series which fitting as it started with one and now it will end with another but with some differences. This author really knows how to portray characters authentically and make them really relatable. This was really sweet and charming.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.