Stick and Poke

Irons & Works, Book 5

By: E.M. Lindsey

Narrated by: J. Sampson

Mat Harlow had his life figured out. He married his college sweetheart, and his residency at the hospital was showing a promising career ahead. Then, at the hands of a reckless driver, all of it changed. A traumatic brain injury derails his life, and Mat finds himself dumped by his wife, out of a job, and rejected by his family. He escapes into the world of tattooing, settling in Fairfield, Colorado, surrounded by the only people who had ever offered him unconditional support. But as comforting as the guys at Irons and Works are, he can’t deny that he’s lonely. His inability to read, aphasia, and stammer make it difficult for him to maintain any semblance of normal when it comes to relationships.

Wyatt Adley has dealt with his fair share of disaster when it comes to marriage. When his husband is involved in a scandal with a student, Wyatt spends all of his energy to clear his name, then quickly escapes Canada for the US. He settles in a sleepy little town just outside of Denver, renting a small house from the local mechanic, and trying to lay low until he figures out what he wants to do with his life. But it’s not that easy to start over, and his ability to keep himself isolated is strained when he meets the young tattoo artist recovering from a head injury. Wyatt falls quickly and deeply, but there’s one problem - as far as he knows, Mat is straight.

Except, that might not be entirely true. Mat’s been holding tight to a secret, afraid to take up space in a lane that never belonged to him. But with every French pick-up line Wyatt teases him with, every second he spends in the other man’s company, Mat starts to realize he can’t hide that part of himself anymore. He’s enamored with the other man -from Wyatt’s love of old westerns and Tombstone, to the way he lives his life unapologetically. Once Mat leaps, he knows there’s no going back.

If only it were so easy. Wyatt is afraid that his past ruined him for any future, and Mat’s afraid that his inabilities make him impossible to love, but with the support of their friends and family, they just might find their way to their happily ever after.

Stick and Poke is the fifth book in the Irons and Works series. The book contains no cheating, and guaranteed HEA.

©2019 E.M. Lindsey (P)2020 E.M. Lindsey

I really like this series but the reader was terrible

The book has a lot of French and some other names not typical to English so butchered and mispronounced the words that it took away from the books experience. He has a nice voice and if he were given a less challenging text it might have been tolerable. For example, there is a character named Rowan like the tree. He pronounces it roAn with a read emphasis. There is another name which he has so totally bastardized I’m not even sure what it is. I think it’s ewan like mcgregor. I think he has about five different variations on this name. None of them are right AT ALL. It was a real chore to listen to this guy read

Great story. Needs better narration.

I loved the book and this whole series but I couldn't get over the narration. I'm not well spoken in French but my husband is and even I cringed so hard at how things were pronounced. I let my husband listen and he just couldn't after one line lol. If one is going to narrate a book with a different language then please study before hand. Other than that I was please with this story.

Wonderful and heartfelt

This audio book is a treasure. Matt and Wyatt come to one another with serious physical issues. But they work together and support one another through difficult times. This was my first book by this narrator and I feel he did a very good job. Highly recommended plus you get your HEA.

Would be better with a different narrator

I love the story, but the narrator doesn't know how to pronounce a lot of non-English words, which as an audiobook removes a lot of meaning from the book. (For example, he often pronounces "cœur" (heart) as "sœur" (sister) which is a significant change). I love how soft this relationship is, and how it's about two people supporting each other through personal growth.

Definitely needs editing

I really love this book and it’s probably one of my favorite ones in this series but the narration was very hard to follow, which was SUCH a bummer.

He has a lovely voice but the accents were… wrong. The French was awkward and inaccurate, a lot of names were mispronounced, and it definitely needed editing. There was a lot of long pauses where he clears his throat and restarts the sentence with an accent, or restarts in general which takes me out of the story. I kept thinking I jerked my head (stops the audio on my AirPods) or it paused for some reason. Nope. It definitely would have improved from just having a few alpha listeners or such.

Sweet, dramatic, lovely

Mat - the ‘token straight guy’ of the Irons and Works crew and Wyatt- the blind guy living out back at James’ house build an interesting relationship. Both have disabilities that they work through and traumas from the past. The story has lots of plot points that keep the flow moving at a constant pace. There are fears, insecurities, light angst that isn’t cloying, triumphs, breakthroughs, and real-life struggles that resolve in believable ways. At the end, I think I got a cavity from the utter sweetness of their deep love! This is a story that unfolds over a year or more, and is a fantastic addition to the Irons and Works family. I like this narrator better than the previous narrator- he does a great job making the men sound unique and distinct from each other.

A+ Narrator for an A+ story

This book has a different narrator than books 1-4, and I absolutely love the way he brought Wyatt and Matt to life! I had mentioned in an earlier audio review that I was worried about how Wyatt's voice sounded, but this narrator gave me all the sophisticated, French-accented swooniness I could have hoped for.

I can't say enough good things about the Irons and Works series. While you could read this book as a stand-alone, I highly recommend you start with book 1 to get maximum enjoyment. Matt and Wyatt are one of my favorite couples in the series, and I'm so thrilled with how this audio turned out.