Narrated by Sebastian York
Although it doesn’t appear to have a name, Well Hung is the third book in a loosely connected series involving a group of friends from New York (the previous books being Big Rock and Mister O). In Mister O, readers were introduced to Natalie Rhodes, the sister of Charlotte (the heroine from Big Rock), and Wyatt Hammer, the twin brother of Mister O himself, Nick.
Wyatt, somewhat appropriately given his surname, has a carpentry business. My impression of it was that it was much bigger in Mister O (heh) than it turned out to be in Well Hung. In this book, it is basically a 2-person operation – Wyatt doing the work with the help of occasional sub-contractors and Natalie, working in the office and helping him out with schematics on site. Something else which wasn’t made as clear to me as perhaps it needed to be is that Wyatt has been very unlucky in love in the past. He has a history of dating women who turn on him after they split up (it is strongly suggested that Wyatt doesn’t deserve this treatment), and who do things such as hack into his website and delete his work data or sue him for half of his business. I can’t say that I love the crazy ex-girlfriend trope.
Although Wyatt is very attracted to Natalie, he is determined not to act on it because she is doing wonders for his business. Things are flowing smoothly and it looks like he will be able to expand his operation and take on extra staff. Natalie is a whiz with organisation and he’d be lost without her. He knows that starting a sexual relationship with Natalie is likely to threaten their professional relationship so he is determined to stay strong. On the other side of things though, they get along extremely well, including having the occasional dinner together after work, they have the same sense of humour, a similar background and they both like superhot spicy food.
Natalie is very competent at her job and is also a black belt in karate. I liked that she was always portrayed as intelligent and sharp and I liked how much Wyatt loved that about her.
When Wyatt and Natalie are asked to quote on some work in Las Vegas for a rich Manhattan socialite whose husband has a property in Sin City, the pair find themselves in an environment which is rife for naughtiness. In one drunken but hot and fun night, they get up to scorching monkey-sex in various places including (and I am not joking) a rollercoaster, on a slot machine and in an alcove at a casino. Oh, and they get married.
The rest of the book is about their impending annulment and their increasing difficulty in keeping their working relationship strictly business. There’s a big misunderstanding (my least favourite trope) towards the end which was fortunately not dragged out for too long, before they reach their HEA.
I love listening to this series. Sebastian York is the perfect narrator for it. Because they are all told from the hero’s point of view, the books really do call for a male narrator. And York delivers the humour, emotion and tension of the story so well. I am increasingly impressed by his comedic timing. Part of it is the material he has to work with of course, but I am in no doubt that in someone else’s hands, the words might come off as borderline creepy or un-charming. But York portrays Wyatt as a sexy, funny, occasional-doofus who has his heart in the right place but is afraid to trust his instincts because they’ve led him so wrong in the past.
York is, I think, getting better with his female character voices. Or, perhaps I’m just getting used to him. It’s also possible that I’m just prepared to cut him more slack because I enjoy the rest of his performances so much. He softens his voice for his portrayals of women rather than altering his pitch but whatever the cause of my change of heart, it is easy to tell who is talking and I had no trouble sinking into the world of the book.
When Wyatt and Natalie get married, there is a certain factoid left out of the dialogue and this becomes key later on. Wyatt can’t remember much about the wedding for most of the book and because we only know what Wyatt knows, Natalie’s actions don’t always make sense. I tend to find this a little frustrating as a listener – I like to know ALL THE THINGS! Also, maybe because my impression of Wyatt’s previous love life wasn’t as dire as perhaps it was supposed to be, I became annoyed at the way he often jumped to ridiculous conclusions about Natalie’s motives and actions. For instance, at one point, Natalie makes him a sandwich and he is seriously worried she’s poisoned it. Natalie was far more forgiving about this behaviour than I would have been.
However, Wyatt gives good grovel and Sebastian York’s narration more than makes up for some of the flaws in the story.
The series is so loosely related that one can pick up any of the three without feeling lost, so listeners need not worry about starting at Big Rock if they don’t want to. On the other hand, the three books have been a lot of fun and I’m happy to recommend them all. Well Hung is a funny, sexy, contemporary romance, light on the angst and big on the humour and with the added bonus of Sebastian York narrating, it’s a winner. I recommend.
Kaetrin
Narration: A
Book Content: B
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence Rating: Minimal
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Lauren Blakely Books
Well Hung was provided to AudioGals for a review.
[jwl-utmce-widget id=32435]
