Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert

Narrated by Joel Leslie & Greg Boudreaux

The first in Annabeth Albert’s new Shore Leave series, Sailor Proof, is a fluffy, angst-free story which pairs two excellent narrators and some of my favourite tropes: fake relationship, best friend’s sibling and there’s only one bed! – Does that not sound like a recipe for an entertaining listen?

Derrick Fox is a naval chief working in the sonar department on a submarine. As the book begins, he’s just about to finish a deployment. “First kiss” is a tradition where one lucky sailor gets to have the honour of the first homecoming kiss from their loved one and a big fuss is made of it. Unfortunately on this occasion, the first kiss has gone to a cocky junior grade lieutenant who is dating Derrick’s ex – only when they started dating he was Derrick’s current if you know what I mean.

Derrick’s BFF, Calder Euler, also a chief on the same submarine, suggests that Derrick make his ex jealous by setting up a homecoming kiss of his own and nominates his younger brother Arthur for the task.

Arthur Euler is 25 and a talented musician but he feels like he doesn’t really fit in with the rest of his high-achieving public service-minded family. Most of them are in the military or emergency services and he’s the odd duck. He did have something of a crush on Derrick a while back but he agrees to the fake homecoming scene more because he detests cheating and wants to help Derrick stick it to Steve.

Arthur has grown up since Derrick saw him last and now he’s far more than just his best friend’s little brother. And their homecoming kiss is the best kiss either of them have ever had. Uh oh.

To make matters worse, Arthur’s parents arrive for the homecoming to welcome Calder too and suddenly Arthur and Derrick are lying to the entire family and spending a week together at the Euler family camping trip/reunion, an annual tradition for the sprawling clan.

Derrick was orphaned as a young boy and then raised by his grandmother who lived in a retirement village so he’s envious of the rambunctious family. Arthur finds that having Derrick as a buffer between him and the family makes things easier and for the first time in a long time, he finds himself enjoying the trip.

They share a cabin and yes, there is only one bed. After that kiss, it doesn’t take long for proximity to do its work and Arthur and Derrick agree to have a fling. Neither of them are really fling material though and both catch feelings early on.

Arthur had vowed never to date a military man and Derrick never thought he would be worthy of a HEA so they have a bit of baggage to work though. For the most part however, the story is low-angst and fairly domestic as the pair work out their attraction and get to know one another as adults and lovers.

Arthur is also a virgin at the start of the book (but not by the end! wink wink) and this initially gives Derrick further pause but they are just too attracted and after all, there is only one bed and it’s not even all that big (the bed that is. Har).

Joel Leslie narrates the sections from Arthur’s perspective and Greg Boudreaux reads Derrick’s. Both narrators are very experienced, skilled and at the top of their game here.

Most of what I’ve listened to Joel Leslie narrate has been UK-set and I’m used to hearing him with an English accent so it was a little jarring to hear him speaking with an American accent (aka his actual accent!). That’s all on me though because his performance was excellent.

As was Greg Boudreaux’s narration actually. Derrick is a little more reticent than Arthur and Mr. Boudreaux embodied that in the listen. Similarly, Mr. Leslie gave Arthur the more youthful exuberance that was all through the text.

The story is a bit of a comfort listen and with this pair narrating you really can’t go wrong.

Kaetrin

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Buy Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert on Amazon