Vespertine

De: Leta Blake, Indra Vaughn

Narrado por: Michael Ferraiuolo

Can a priest and a rock star obey love's call?

Seventeen years ago, Jasper Hendricks and Nicholas Blumfeld's childhood friendship turned into a secret, blissful love affair. They spent several idyllic months together until Jasper's calling to the Catholic priesthood became impossible to ignore. Left floundering, Nicky followed his own trajectory into rock stardom, but he never stopped looking back.

Today, Jasper pushes boundaries as an out, gay priest, working hard to help vulnerable LGBTQ youth. He's determined to bring change to the church and the world. Respected, admired, and settled in his skin, Jasper has long ignored his loneliness.

As Nico Blue, guitarist and songwriter for the band Vespertine, Nicky owns the hearts of millions. He and his bandmates have toured the world, lighting their fans on fire with their music. Numbed by drugs and fueled by simmering anger, Nicky feels completely alone. When Vespertine is forced to get sober, Nicky returns home to where it all started.

Jasper and Nicky's careers have ruled their lives since they parted as teens. When they come face to face again, they must choose between the past's lingering ghosts or the promise of a new future.

©2015 Leta Blake (P)2019 Leta Blake

blue oasis

i loved the book and i loved the audio just as much if not more.

Swoon!!

Gah Nicky, Gah Jazz! Love these characters individually and love them together. I was worried that ultimately the authors would either make fun of being religious or being atheist and would need to discredit one to make them come together. But they did it beautifully and it felt true to the experience of trying to navigate faith as an LGBTQ believer. Such an epic love story. Also the narrator was a rock star. His husky voice and chuckle for Nicky was MAGIC!

A heartfelt and emotional opposites attract! 🎸⛪️

This was such a sweet opposites attract romance!

A priest and a Rockstar don't have much common ground except that their hearts have been entwined since their childhood days.

17 years ago Jasper left Nico to follow his calling and become a priest.
Now Nico and Jasper are given a chance to reconnect and maybe rekindle the embers of their relationship.

Will they listen to their hearts this time round or will their careers tear them apart again?

This book is so well written and gave me all the feels.
The writing was engaging, touching and heartfelt.
The characters were real, relatable and well fleshed out.

Michael Ferraiuolo performed an amazing and compelling audio delivery.

A good story, but so painful

This was a really hard story to listen to. There was so much happening, so much suffering, so much grief and joy, so much love between the Reverend Jasper Hendricks and his old lover-turned-enemy-turned lover again Nicholas Blumfeld -- aka Nico Blue, guitarist and songwriter to the world-renowned band Vespertine. The story begins in so much fragility, so much woundedness, so much guilt and grief that it weighed me down and I almost gave up on it. And though there are many warm and happy moments, many hopeful and sweet moments, and some heated times, the dark overtones remain. I loved the way they came back to each other, and I appreciated the way the writer taught us about what it's like to be an addict in recovery. I listened to the end but never managed to completely shed the pain I felt at the beginning and all the way through. Michael Ferraiuolo did a great job of differentiating the characters and emoting at important points, whether in laughter or tears, whether in tender or heated moments.

Loved it

I loved this beautiful story, so real and true. I am not a huge fan of rock star books but this story was different, the emphasis was not on a damaged rock star and his life in limelights. This is a LOVE story and shows that love comes in all shapes and colors and can overcome anything even something as serious as a heroin addiction. Both characters were interesting and unique, I enjoyed following their relationship development, HOT sexy HOT. Narration was amazing, I love this narrator he always does such a great job with voices and storytelling. This was a perfect listening experience, highly recommend.

really good storyline

Voluntary review of arc

Vespertine by authors Leta Blake and Indra Vaughn narrated by Michael Ferraiuolo. Vespertine is a really angsty story that deals with some very serious topics. One being drug abuse. I liked the real way this story approaches that subject. It is not glossed over it is really hard and gritty.
Nicky is a mess. He is back home trying to get his life back after drug overdoses and the rock and roll lifestyle catch up with him. I liked he could see he needed help and did get it. That showed maturity and readiness to get clean to me.
Jasper is a priest. His passion is the GLBTQ center. He is feeling his drive for the priesthood slipping from him. Especially when he has feelings for Nicky. He has to have a real moment in this book where he has to decide who he really is deep down.
I liked this strength and character. He is what Nicky needs, but I think Nicky is who he needs as well.
I loved this story. I laughed in place, cried in others, the narrator brings another layer to this story as well. Really brings the characters to life. I really adored this one. I hope there are many more stories to come.


Five Shooting Stars

Everything I could want

Wonderful emotional story. Great characters and relational development. Medium angst, just right. And of course outstanding narration by Michael F. A bit of a slow burn and It’s a long audio. I didn’t feel it was time wasted with filler. Highly recommended

Beautiful

This sat i my TBR list for a long time, not sure why I waited so long to listen, but man am I glad I finally did. It was very good. Beautifully well written, heart and feelings for days.

The narration was perfect.

This was such a moving book.

I loved this book. It was so moving. There are so many ways to tell a love story.

No words... 5+ stars!

Okay, so the headline for my review is "No words", but obviously, I review can't be a review if it didn't have words, so fingers crossed I can find words sufficient enough to explain why Vespertine gets the five-plus stars I felt that it deserved. I've listened to all of Leta Blake's currently available audiobooks, and while I have read Indra Vaughn's Patchwork Paradise, I've yet to listen to its audio version, so this one counts as my first from her, even if it is co-written. And...drum roll, please...it's narrated by none other than Michael Ferraiuolo, one of the most gifted voice-over talents out there, and clearly one of two of Blake's go-to narrators (the other being John Solo).

The story itself is considered a controversial one, what with one of the main characters being a Catholic priest. You'd think that being Catholic would have me shying away from books like Vespertine, but to be honest, I'm drawn to them, particularly when they're written by authors that I love or when the blurb sounds original enough to pique my interest. I want to see how the faith is presented and how the main characters find their way to each other. Suffice it to say, Leta Blake and Indra Vaughn have given me what I would consider the most original take on this particular story line. Now, I've had the eBook for a few years now, but it wasn't until I had the audiobook that I decided to do a read-along while listening to the audio, and goodness, but how this turned out to be one of the best dual experiences I've ever had.

Jasper Hendricks and Nicholas Blumfeld were friends who fell in love but went their separate ways. Jasper went on to become an ordained priest in the Catholic faith and Nicky launched a career as a rock star with his band, Vespertine. I loved how even when they grew up and turned into Father Jazz and Nico Blue, they were still Jasper and Nicky at their very core. As teenagers, a life together was not meant to be. Ironically, as adults seventeen years later, it was when everything was far more complicated that the possibility of having a future was far more palpable. I loved how this story was told, both in terms of Blake and Vaughn's writing and Ferraiuolo's narration. This was angsty and heavy, yet tempered by bites of wit and more lighthearted blips. Dare I say that Vespertine was Blake, Vaughn, AND Ferraiuolo at their best. Five-plus stars for this highly recommended audiobook. (And well, will you look at that? I actually found the words for this review!) ♥