Mister O by Lauren Blakely

Narrated by Sebastian York

The reviews for Mister O referenced the funny romance and oh, yeah, the sexy romance too, so I thought it might be right up my alley – it was! The title character is a cartoon turned TV show written by Nick Hammer, about a man whose superpower is giving pleasure to women. Nick was the nerdy guy in high school who grew into the the hot guy with a hot body, hot tattoos and nerdy glasses as an adult, and he’s pretty much at the top of his game with his cartoon’s success. Oh, and of course, his cartoon is autobiographical – cuz he’s all about giving women Os, in multiples. His secret crush is the one woman he can’t have – his best friend Spencer’s sister Harper. (I didn’t have any brothers, so I never experienced this weird man code thing, personally, but it seems to be a rule and used often as conflict in romance.)

Harper is his buddy – she’s a free spirit, magician by trade – and she admits to Nick that she needs help with men. She just doesn’t seem to get the whole dating/mating ritual thing, and becomes tongue-tied around good looking potential date material. So, yeah, Nick decides that while Spencer is away on his honeymoon for two weeks, he can give in to the urge, and maybe while he’s showing her the ropes, he’ll get her out of his system, and Spencer need never know. He accepts her request to tutor her in the ways of love.

As an aside, this is another stock trope in romance – “getting each other out of their systems” – never works. But don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a cliche-ridden story at all. Told in first person from Nick’s POV, we follow the very entertaining adventure Nick and Harper embark on, as they take their friendship to the next level – and the next – and the next. Because we’re privy to Nick’s thoughts, we go through the change from friends (with lust and attraction) to lovers over the two weeks, and it’s fun to hear it filtered through a man’s perspective. And the heat level in this book is high – there were several times I looked around me to see if there was any chance anyone could hear my audiobook from inside my car; while the story had depth and some emotion in amongst the funny bits, there also were long, graphic (and well written) (and well narrated) sex scenes that made up a much larger percentage of the word count than I’m used to in contemporary romantic comedy. However, the good news is the tired tropes of romance are not in the book, I’m happy to report – no stupid misunderstandings, no TSTL behavior on Harper’s part about the differences between their situations. Two talented and quirky artists find their way into each other’s lives, with a very satisfying epilogue to boot!

Sebastian York is truly the king of this sub-genre of romance, the American contemporary uber-sexy rom-com. He’s got the perfect delivery, and his comic timing is dead on. Because it’s first person, I always assume we’re hearing the POV person’s interpretations of the other characters, which is neither here nor there, since he gives each character, regardless of gender, a distinct sound and personality. His female voices are very easy to distinguish, with a softening and slight rise in pitch. There are some funny moments between Nick and his brother, as they volunteer-walk rescue dogs together every day. I know I say this about other narrators but really, York could totally read the phone book and make it sound interesting and sexy and probably funny too. Seriously, he’s a master at sounding like he IS Nick Hammer (or whichever hero he is reading) talking to you. I am giving this a big recommendation for fans of humorous/sexy/contemporary romance. One caveat – did I mention the Steam Level is pretty high?

Melinda

Narration: A+

Book Content: B+

Steam Factor: For your burning ears only

Violence Rating: None

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Lauren Blakely Books

Contemporary Romance Audiobook Review