The Happy List

Better with You, Book 1

By: Briar Prescott

Narrated by: Kirt Graves, Joel Leslie

Gray: There are some things I excel at: Exercising rigid control over every aspect of my life. Making sensible decisions at every turn. Being organized, predictable, and responsible.

In short, I'm boring as hell and in desperate need of a change. Luckily I have my best friend by my side and a newly written to-do list to guide my way through the murky waters of finding happiness. It's all very promising at first, but as weeks pass, I start to realize that the best part of my day has always been Kai. And when I see him out on a date with some guy? Let's just say I'm definitely not happy about it.

Kai: I'm back in Boston after ten years of traveling, and I've fulfilled all my goals: See the world. Figure out what to do with my life. Get over my impossible crush on Gray. Check, check, and check.

Life's good until I accidentally find Gray's happy list, which contains some very interesting things that friends never ever do with each other. And as weeks pass, it becomes clear those not-so-innocent parts are the ones Gray is determined to explore with me. I can't resist him, and pretty soon I'm forced to admit that I'm not as done with my crush as I thought I was . . .

Contains mature themes.

©2020 Briar Prescott (P)2022 Tantor

LOL

I don't think I've laughed so much with any audible book as this. Great writing.

Let me start

Let me start by saying that these are 2 of my top narrators and I will pick up a story based on either of them narrating. With that said idk 🤷🏽‍♀️ if it was the Boston accents or what but it was a struggle to get into this at the beginning. I'm happy I stuck with it because I did overall enjoy the story.

Strong Boston Accented Narrator

I have both the ebook and audio book for this title. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, but this review is going to focus solely on the audio book. I would have loved it if it had all been narrated by Kirt Graves who covered the reading of Gray's chapters. Unfortunately, there is alot of Joel Leslie reading as Kai with an accent I really did not like. Hated, to be honest. I like to listen at least 1.5x speed and it sounded so weird for his parts. I tried listening at normal speed, though, and he just sounded drunk and Bostonian so I stayed with the faster speed to get through the narration. If this is what Joel really sounds like, I'm sorry, but if that accent was put on for this character OMG WHY???? Gray and Kai grew up together in Boston. Kai left years ago to sow his wild oats and try to get over Gray. Why would he be the one with the heavy accent? Was it to show Gray as a high class lawyer above an accent while Kai is a low class, blue collar yokel proclaiming his Boston roots every time he opens his gob no matter where he's gone in the world? I didn't know I had a problem with this accent before this book. I've watched so many movies set in Boston with Ben Affleck or Mark Wahlberg putting on that accent but I guess I tolerated it because movies are shorter. Sped up, it took me 5 hours to listen to this whole book and that was too much Kai for me. The narration did help spur me along reading the ebook, but it didn't bring the story to life like I wanted it to.

Cute

I think my first by this author but not by either of these narrators.

Overall this was a cute story, a little to monologing for me. But enjoyable.

An enjoyable listen

This was my first by Briar Prescott. I liked it. Solid writing. That seems like faint praise, but in this world of so much indy-published work, it can no longer be taken for granted.

Kirt and Joel showed up with all the important skills to convey the story arc and emotion, as expected. However, neither came through with a consistent Boston accent. Not an issue for me, but if you will be bothered by that, just know going in, it’s not there.

The story is a slooowwww burn friends to lovers, with plenty of cold feet, uncertainty, and angst along the way. It also manages to be a sweet, light, enjoyable read, with enough unique details to make it feel original. The characters are so good together, I found myself rooting for their happiness and getting a proximity buzz from their chemistry.

It would make an excellent beach or vacation read.

I will look for more from Briar Prescott. 👍👍