Sink or Swim

Shore Leave, Book 2

By: Annabeth Albert

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux, Joel Leslie

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

"Albert makes a deeper and more sensitive investigation into what love is than most romances." —New York Times Book Review on Conventionally Yours

A meet-cute leads to more than they expected in this military-hero romance from award-winning author Annabeth Albert

Navy chief Calder Euler loves to win big. His latest score? A remote mountain cabin. Checking it out is supposed to be a quick trip, but Calder’s luck abruptly turns when a freak injury and a freakier snowstorm leave him stranded.

Oh, and the cabin isn’t empty. A silver fox caring for two young girls claims that the property is his, but Calder’s paperwork says otherwise.

Felix Sigurd is on a losing streak, and his ex-husband risking the cabin in a reckless bet is only the latest in a series of misfortunes. He’ll tolerate the handsome stranger for a couple nights--even care for his injuries—but that’s it.

Calder doesn’t know a damn thing about kids, but making pancakes for Felix’s girls is a surprising delight. Trapped in the cabin, the four of them slip easily into the rhythms of a family. But when the ice melts, they’ll have to decide if a future together is in the cards.

Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

Shore Leave
Book 1: Sailor Proof
Book 2: Sink or Swim

Also by Annabeth Albert:

Out of Uniform
Book 1: Off Base
Book 2: At Attention
Book 3: On Point
Book 4: Wheels Up
Book 5: Squared Away
Book 6: Tight Quarters
Book 7: Rough Terrain

©2022 Annabeth Albert (P)2022 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Enjoyable

Very realistic and funny. Caulder was very unexpected. Charming and funny. I enjoyed listening to the book

Loved it!

Such a great second book in the series. I loved the way it handled several different issues and the way the relationship developed. The character development is such a major part of the story and it did a great job propelling the narrative.

Joel Leslie’s and Greg Boudreaux’s performances were, as always, stellar and brought the story and the characters to life beautifully.

Enjoyed this book a lot.

Enjoyed this 2nd book of this series. Glad it came out on Audible. It a military series. This one is about two men who have a mishap with their first meeting. Calder won a cabin in a poker party and decided to go check it out only to trip down the stairs when the actual owner and his two girls show up to spend the weekend. Felix was still reeling from his divorce from his husband and his adopted nieces that he was raising on his own. And coming to find a stranger in his family cabin who ended up getting hurt falling down the stairs. This two develops a friendly relationship that morphs into more the more they get to know each other. Cute story.

Equal parts sweet, refreshing, and off.

I can’t think of another MM romance that dealt with the sexual side of a relationship in this way. It was initially a bit odd, but as the story progressed, I was in love with their honesty and approach. Too often MM romance is a pair of horny rabbits who constantly have the best O’s of their lives - every night. These two actually talk from the beginning , and the vulnerability is evident. I think it’s what made this book work so well, and feel real in a way these book often do not. This story is really about connections.

The narration was a problem for me. Greg Boudreaux is always the consummate narrator. He is great with women’s and children’s voices. This book is an example of why this tiresome need for duet narration needs to go away, unless each narrator owns specific voices throughout for consistency. Joel Leslie is so hit or miss for me. I think about how stressful he was to listen to in Alexis Hall’s Arden St. Ives series. He reads like a narrator playing a narrator - overly breathy and forced. Sometimes it works, or as in this case, it did not. He narrated Felix as if he was plucked from a 1930’s Katherine Hepburn film. His odd use of the trans Atlantic speech pattern was so jarring I wasn’t sure I could make it through. He has one woman’s voice in his repertoire - which in this case seemed to fit the character of Gabrielle fine, but Boudreaux’s interpretation of her was still better. I have opted to score up for Greg’s fabulous performance, rather than score down for Joel’s odd choices.

The slow burn is probably my favorite trope, and this book delivers that all day long. The guys are sweet together, especially Calder learning that not only does he like children, but he learns he’s good with children. His sweet determination is perfect for a slow burn, and his growth over the course of the story is what make this a four star read. Yes, it’s borderline Hallmark schmaltz at times, but he’s so earnest about it that it works.

Then there’s Felix. He is great in the beginning - aside from the voice - and as their relationship grows, how he intuitively connects with Calder physically and emotionally is amazing. He isn’t a ripped god, he’s a 40 something guy who’s been burned, but is still alive. Then we hit the mid point and Albert doesn’t throw any outside traps at the guys. Instead, Felix goes deeeeep into his own head. This could have worked, but as written it’s feels flimsy and childish. The inner voices Felix has in his head need to be evicted ASAP. It is very melodramatic with lots of hand wringing, reminiscent of one of the old movies Joel used channeled to his voice. I wanted to slap him and say “get over yourself!”

But let that go and instead enjoy Calder’s explorative journey. If you worry less about Felix, I think you will really enjoy this book, I know I did. Highly recommended.

pretty good

actor who played Felix sounded too old and like he had a cold. otherwise good story

I'm Staying

These two men seem like an unlikely pair giving their feelings about relationships. Yet thrown together unexpectedly there seems to be a bit of feelings in the air. I love the fact that while they connect in some way right away the real building of the relationship takes time. You feel yourself cheering Calder on as you works to prove himself to Felix. And the girls a wonderful bonus to the story.
I listened to audio version. The use of two narrators makes for an unique experience.

Overall: boring

Voices are over the top. Trying too hard to act. Storyline really doesn’t go anywhere interesting. Wouldn’t recommend at all.

Not that hot

This was not a very real MM story. It was more F4M book. Not sure I would recommend it for a gay man. Book one was great , second is just time

Manufactured tension

Felix's sudden reticence just did not work for me. It seemed contrived and was not supported by his prior actions. I had to put this one down unfinished.

Entertaining, but....

These books are entertaining but several things bother me.

The language and process in the stories sounds EXACTLY like L A Witt, with the same quirky non-Amercian English.
I don't care where people come from, but if you're writing a book set in the US, British or perhaps Canadian expressions sound unnatural coming out of an American characters mouth. A few examples:

The Drinks Menu - US we would say Drink Menu
In queue = standing in line
Trackies = Sweat Pants or sweats
Drive = Driveway
The Rear View - needs mirror
There are several others that catch my ear as wrong, but I'm not remembering them at the moment.

You can always tell when women are writing gay romance, and they seem to be writing it for a female audience.
The characters seem like female persona in male bodies. They instantly fall in love and are almost always monogamous from day one. (those are called Lesbians...LOL) The other thing, and yes I'm generalizing... once the sex scenes start, they go on for pages and pages and pages and most are extremely vanilla. Daryl Banner & Alexa Land weave and balance the sex and story in a way that makes sense than most. Too many authors write the the NO NO NO NO then SEX SEX SEX style. I wear my right finger out pushing the 15 seconds ahead button LOL. Sometimes less is more.

Oh and...if I asked my husband to put his "length" into my "opening", he'd either laugh hysterically and fall off the bed, or throw up all over me. NO gay man talks like that - yah.. it's not a "member" either...

And please... if you read most gay romance written by women, EVERY gay man wears "boxers" Maybe in 1950. Just for fun I went through my contact list of my gay friends that I see at the gym and/or have known for a while, and from my military days... boxers are clearly at the bottom of the list of what underwear they wear. I only know 2 gay friends out of 30 that wear "boxers" ...one is 75 and the other is Brazilian. Ok this is nit picking, but if you want a piece of fiction to be really enjoyable, the little details have to be right, otherwise the reader doesn't relate... Accents, vocabulary. psyche, clothing, etc...

The devil is in the details as they say.

All that said, Greg Boudreaux is always a good narrator, and usually nails the characters. I liked his narration especially in this book. I thought Joel Leslie read in a way that depicted more of a 60 year old fussy queen, his character sounded 20 years older than the other....Not sure if that was writing or performance.

The first book in this series was really fun, and I thought the character contrast was really good on all fronts.