Adverse Conditions

Reclaimed Hearts, Book 1

By: Elle Keaton

Narrated by: Gabriel McKnight

Never gonna happen.

Xavier swore he'd never move back to the flyspeck of a town he'd grown up in and he kept that promise for over twenty years. Now, he's back for good.

Vincent never left. After college, he stayed in town to be close to his elderly parents. These days he's the single dad of a fifteen-year-old daughter and working two jobs. He's perfectly happy with his life. Right?

Xavier's new mission is to breathe life back into Cooper Springs, but his stodgy, straight-laced, rule-following neighbor, Vincent Barone—is getting in the way.

Vincent doesn't have time to date. And he certainly wouldn't date his flashy, arrogant, neighbor whom he absolutely did not have a crush on back in high school.

Can two lifelong enemies move from hate to something more? Then there's the matter of the grisly discovery in the woods—murder is bad for business.

Contains mature themes.

©2023 Elle Keaton (P)2023 Tantor Media

Good story. Decent narration.

I was entertained. I enjoy following the twists and turns of this plot. Sometimes the social commentary was a bit too pointed, but I appreciate the message. The romance and steamy scenes for this story didn’t quite suit my tastes, but they were nicely constructed. Getting to know the characters was as interesting as meeting new people in real life. I didn't particularly like Xavier, but I was glad to have met him.

The narrator's voice was pleasant, but it felt like he was new to the profession. His voice acting is decent. However, he had some odd pronunciations, and his character voices weren't consistent. He also made the (in my opinion) heinous error of mispronouncing nuclear. That word only has one letter 'U'.

Overall this was an entertaining read, and I will continue with the series because not everything was resolved.

Yawn….

Overall story too weak to keep your attention. Narration was sorely lacking. I wasted one of my Audible credits for sure.