Running from My Heart

Rock Bottom, Book 3

By: Felice Stevens

Narrated by: Michael Pauley

"Holding onto the past can hurt more than letting it go".

People say six years is long enough to mourn the death of his husband but for Ross Miller, the pain is as fresh as if it happened yesterday. He’s left his glittering Hollywood life behind, yet guilt still dogs his steps, no matter how far he runs. Trapped by his past and needing to escape his well-meaning friends, he rents a cabin in the secluded Adirondack mountains. A reclusive man moves in next door and piques Ross’s interest, but his persistent attempts at friendship are rebuffed. That doesn’t stop him because the one rule Ross Miller has always lived by is to never take no for an answer.

Novelist Arden Wainwright has given up. He can’t pretend a happiness he knows he’ll never find again. Solitary days turn into years, and he remains frozen, unable to take a breath. At his wit’s end, he retreats to the mountains, but it does little to stir his creativity. He continues to hide from life and avoids his overly nosy neighbor, who insists on planting himself at Arden’s doorstep at every turn. Making friends is the last thing Arden wants, but annoying or not, he can’t get the damn man out of his mind.

Finding peace in their isolated surroundings, the two lonely men forge an unlikely friendship where they realize they’re more alike than different and better together than apart. With Ross’s help, Arden begins to rebuild the shattered pieces of his life, while Arden gives Ross the strength to face his fears and find his way home. When love comes calling you can choose to hide from hurt, loss, and pain, but if you take a chance and open the door, you might discover that running from your heart is the last thing you'll want to do.

This audiobook can be listened to as a stand alone but you may remember Ross, Foster's best friend from Broken Silence, book one of the Rock Bottom series.

©2019 Felice Stevens (P)2019 Felice Stevens

Heart Healing

This one blew me away!!! 🤗 The slow burn between Ross and Arden was so believable and oh so sweet. I have to say Ross was one of my favorite characters. He was so full of humor, sass and snarkiness too bad it was all a front he was hiding behind which Arden figured out pretty fast. Arden didn't hide behind his pain he left it out there and just hide behind closed doors but Ross also had his number and he made himself so persistent in pursuing Arden's friendship he had no choice but to take notice of Ross and except his friendship . 😂
They slowly healed their broken hearts 💔 with shared heartache and loss and helped each other move forward.
Having Foster and Justin come into the book was a sweet perk!!! I listened to this on audio and the narrator Michael Pauley did a phenomenal job as well!!👍
I'm looking forward to more and I even felt a little bad for the art dealer and maybe would like to see him and Dom's (Ross's deceased husband) agent get a story.. hint hint 😚

Great story and narration

This book is now my favorite Felice book ever and I have read every single one (even listened too). For me, she will have a hard time topping them.

This book surly pulled at all of my heart strings. These two men were so lost, lonely, and drowning and nothing could help them until a meeting in a grocery store. LOL.

Ross surly knows how to push himself onto Arden to try to crack that hard shell. Arden definitely wanted to be left alone to continue to drown.

What they didn’t realize is how special friendship and learning how to live again can be.

This book was very touching and yet very painful at parts for the things the guys went through in past and present and learning how it’s ok to move on and live again

“People talk about their lovers beings an anchor, but anchors weigh you down. You kept me afloat. You’re my life preserver. You lifted me up and kept me from sinking back into the darkness. You not only saved my life and showed me how to live it, you gave me something worth living for.”

Michael did an awesome job with the narration. Each character had a distinct voice and brought such emotion to the characters. I will definitely be listening to more of the books he narrates

Heartbreakingly Wonderful...

I absolutely loved Ross and Arden’s story. So much so, I knew I had to have this audio as well. This is hands down my favorite narration that Michael Pauley has done to date. As my favorite narrator, I have over 100 of his titles, and none have grabbed or moved me the way this one did. This was next-level Michael Pauley narration. I could honestly feel Arden’s pain coming through the narration, reaching for the tissues and having to pause my listen to re-group. The wonderful words written by Felice Stevens drove this this narration, but Michael Pauley really grasped the spirit of the words on this one. There was so much feeling in their journey. I loved that Ross didn’t give up on being friendly with Arden, even when Arden didn’t seem to want to be bothered. Ross helped Arden see there was still light in the world, and he didn’t need to hide anymore. In turn, when Ross hit his rock bottom, Arden was right there to prop him up and help him find his way. If you’re looking for an emotionally wonderful read that will break your heart, but gently put you back together, this is the story for you. It’s a story of heart break, and finding love again when one thought it could never be found once more. I know this is a story that will stay with me for a long time and I hope we get a glimpse of these two brave men again.

Heartbreakingly Beautiful

Story: 5 Stars
Audio: 5 Stars

Narrator: Mr. Michael Pauley
The narration is highly charged! This is a very deep emotional story and Mr Pauley's character interpretation was electric. I felt hearing Dominic speak added more layers to his written version. The opening scene is a bitter fight between one of the central married couples and sets the pace for this brilliant performance. I love this book to pieces and I promise Mr. Pauley will bring them into life! Ross, Arden, Ezra and all the wonderful characters were distinct and worked beautifully. If you enjoyed the book, treat yourself to this perfect audio!
Storyline:
An all-encompassing tear jerker, that is melancholy at times and very sentimental. It was wondrous to find a cautious joy start to emerge from the pages as the story progresses.
Ross Miller, a talented producer, is still mourning the accidental death of his beloved husband six years ago. He carries a huge guilt that is greatly misplaced. Arden Wainwright, a successful novelist, has no reason to enjoy life anymore after the death of his husband and young son. His sorrow has gutted him, causing his will to live to be almost nonexistent and even though it has been five years, Arden feels the loss as if it happened yesterday.
Both men can’t get past the cavernous empty void that fills them and seek solitude in the Adirondack Mountains. Fate seems either cruel or ironic as they happen to be temporary neighbors in this rustic hideaway which secludes them from real life. They choose to hold a bleak form of reality where their constant mourning of the most important people in their lives prevents them from moving on. Arden has almost completely retreated from everyone and has not had a physical relationship since his husband passed. Ross has hidden his true self from the world and he deals with his overwhelming pain with meaningless sex.
At first, Arden appears as if he is never going to get past his devastation until you slowly see him emerge from his self-imposed coma as he forces himself to feel again. Ross, who appears to have moved on using a cheerful facade as a disguise, is still in the same miserable place he was in when his husband Dom died. Arden seems to be the stronger willed of the two when at first appearance you would have guessed the opposite.
As you delve deeper into the story, you realize the men have a lot more in common than their losses. As their friendship grows, both Ross and Arden begin to take small steps towards living in a world without feeling the regret of surviving without their loved ones. Between betrayal and misconceptions that appear from their past, the two have to deal with a huge emotional fallout. Can these endearing men move beyond their past and truly start to live a life with a future?
This book was a wonderful addition to the series and their problems and grief felt so genuine and not manufactured. It was so nice to catch up with Foster and Justin from the first book. While this can be read as a stand-alone I would suggest you read Broken Silence to get a deeper feel for Ross. Thank you, Felice, for this deeply moving novel.

Beautiful, I bawled my eyes out 😭

5 Blue Roses
4 Blue Flames
Narrator Michael Pauley brought this deep emotional and so-so sad audiobook to life. His performance was especially good with this reading. He threw himself into this plot and saturated me with scrambled emotions. I cried from the beginning to the end. I can not believe how deeply these men's suffering touched me. You can not miss this one, our favorite characters from book one in this series appears quite prominently here. We have more beautiful poems to enjoy. Bring your box of tissues, because you are going to bawl your eyes out.
I absolutely recommend this audiobook, author Felice Stevens, spent lots of time on character development, it is not rushed and in my opinion one of her best books.

Happy Listening

Emotional and Satisfying

I've read a few of Felice Steven's books and I rate this one among the best. I felt like I really got to know and like the two main characters. I cared what happened to them, and wanted to know how the men fared long after the story ended. It would be awesome to hear more from these two.