One cliche after another

Honesty, I didn't know whether to laugh or cringe at J.F Harding's narration. He's a 'Cawp', a deep voice, hard-drinking closeted 'Cawp'. The characterization is just one cliche after another. The performance is too angsty and overblown for my liking and Tyler's self-disgust is overdone too. I just wanted to shake him. Jack DuPont is easier on the ear and his smooth narration works in counterpoint to the harsh, over angsty J.F Harding. It's a shame because Harding's other accents are good.
The story is padded with irrelevant backstory, and the murder mystery case is all done and dusted half-way through the story.
If you like a lot of hand wringing, whinging, shame, and a character who hates himself. Go for it.

5 people found this helpful

Great Story & Narration🎧 Captivating & Heartfelt!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it grabbed my attention right from the start and captivated it straight to the end. April Wilson is a gifted author, she created a story and characters that are realistic and easy to connect with. I adored the two lead characters, Tyler Jamison and Ian Alexander. Tyler Jamison is a homicide detective for Chicago P.D., he is unhappy with his love life, he has not found a woman who does it for him so he gives up on them and finding love. On his one night out he gets a glimpse of someone who raises his interest, that someone is a he and not a she. That same night he gets woken up to report to crime scene, another homicide with the same M.O. Ian Alexander saw his friends lights on in his boat so he went to visit, turns out he stumbles upon a crime scene and possibly in the path of a serial killer. Detective Tyler Jamison is the lead detective on the case and he becomes super protective of him. The first half of the book focuses on the solving the crime and finding the killer and Tyler looking out for Ian. The second half is after the crime is solved and focuses on the two getting to know each other and their growing relationship, the stories flow naturally and everything is plotted out nicely. I loved how everything plays out, there is plenty of drama, a touch of angst, some mystery, twists & turns, thrilling & suspenseful moments, a boat load of heartfelt and emotional moments and a wonderful romance. April Wilson, thank you for the great story and emotional rollercoaster ride. 🎧📚🎧

I listened to the Audible edition, J.F. Harding and Jack DuPont are fabulous narrators and voice artists. They bring the characters to life, giving each their own voice and personality. They did an awesome job portraying the characters, making each role their own. You could hear how much heart they put into their work as they capture the characters emotions and project them into their performance. They are talented and entertaining storytellers and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for this great listen.🎧

2 people found this helpful

Couldn't even finish it

It looks as if two different people wrote this. One did the first half and someone else who knew nothing about the characters did the second half.
Tyler's confused sexual orientation was so over the top, that it landed into homophobia. Even the writer felt the need to remind us every single chapter that he wasn't homophobic.
And Ian... What happened??!!!! He was so fun and amazing and such a great character and it suddenly turned into an insecure shadow that cried and whined about everything. Even after hearing about his past, that's literally a copy of 50 shades of gray, that 180 change of personality made no sense at all.

Great performances - lacklustre story

This is very much a book of two halves. It starts out as a (sort of) mystery/suspense story a with Detective Tyler Jamison investigating the murder of three gay men, all killed in the same manner and therefore believed to have been killed by the same person. During the course of the investigation, Tyler meets Ian Alexander; Tyler is deeply, deeply closeted but is strongly attracted to Ian in a way he’s never been to anyone.

The first half of the story (more or less) is taken up with the hunt for the killer – although to be honest, it’s not much of a hunt – during which Ian does some very TSTL things (like asking around at the gay club the victims were known to frequent and skipping out on the police protection he’s been given in order to do so), which of course, bring out Tyler’s growly, protective side. The perpetrator is arrested by the half-way point, but this is no intricate, twisty mystery – it’s all very simplistic and obviously just a plot device to get Tyler and Ian together.

Once the serial killer plot is dispensed with, the second half of the book focuses on the romance. It’s okay but nothing special, although I did like the way Tyler’s coming out was handled; he’s forty-four (to ian’s twenty-eight) and has spent his life trying to bury the part of him that liked men, even dating (and sleeping with) women. He never found the sort of connection he was looking for, but refused to admit why, and had eventually resigned himself to being alone. I can imagine that for someone so strongly entrenched in their ways, coming to the realisation – or at last admitting the truth – would be incredibly difficult and the way things finally come to a head for Tyler is well done. Ian has some issues relating to his childhood, but they seem somewhat superficial, as if they’ve been added simply in an attempt to make him interesting. The romance as a whole is pretty run of the mill stuff.

The best thing about this audiobook is the narration. I’m not familiar with Jack DuPont, but he delivers a strong performance all round - pacing, characterisation and differentiation were all good, as were his female voices. I’m a big fan of J.F. Harding (his name on this was why I picked up this audiobook in the first place) – and of course he was excellent in every respect. Interestingly though, both men have very similar types of voices – deep and slightly husky – and actually sound alike, so I wondered why two narrators were used. Jack DuPont reads the chapters from Tyler’s PoV and J.F. Harding those from Ian’s; both men portray the other character very well (JFH’s portrayal of Tyler was perfect) and quite honestly, either of them could have carried the book on his own.

The author sets up the drama for the next book towards the end of this one – I’m not sure I’ll be picking it up as once again, the plot seems fairly contrived and based on someone doing something really stupid it’s hard to believe they would have done.

Somebody to Love isn’t the worst audiobook I’ve ever listened to, but it’s far from the best. The excellent narration kept me listening even though the worst of the eye-rolling parts, but the story is disjointed and clichéd, and the characters are bland and barely two-dimensional. It passed the time and the excellent narration meant it passed mostly pleasantly, but I don’t think I’ll be listening to this one again.

Not my cuppa

I mean... Why was the plot resolved halfway through? Why did it just peter out like that in the ending?

MILD SPOLERS
Also I was a little annoyed with the amount of internalised homophobia from Tyler and Ian's huge amount of insecurity at every point. It's not that I'm unsympathetic to the things he's been through, it's just that it was not established why I should care about the characters like.. at all.

Good story

I liked this story. A cop in total denial of his sexuality meets an openly gay murder witness. The struggle with his sexuality and coming out felt real. I liked the narrators, although I do prefer single narration in audiobooks.

Great Story and Great Narration

April Wilson’s novels never fail to entertain and captivate, this spin off series from McIntyre Security is off to an incredible start and I can’t wait to find out the next step in Tyler and Ian’s story. The narrators are engaging and easy to understand speaking clearly and with emotive expressions. Five stars on all counts because there’s nothing at all to find fault on here!

Love will Always find you.

I did enjoy this audio book , enter Chicago homicide detective Tyler Jamieson who unbeknown to him is going to find someone he will be attracted to .

A serial killer is on the loose Tyler is on the case, though the investigation Tyler needs to talk to friends of the deceased ,the serial killer has his sights on Ian Alexander a young affluent guy who is extremely attractive .
Sparks fly between Tyler and Ian …....
A good storyline with marvelous narrators …. J. F. Harding & Jack Dupont.

Somebody to Love, with a touch of kickass!

Really good book, narrators did great job, love JF Harding anyway and first time listening to Jack Dupont, he didnt disappoint.

love it

love it thank you for getting me through one of the hardest weeks of my life xxx