Narrated by Iggy Toma
Anna Zabo is a new-to-me author, and I picked up Just Business (book two in the Takeover series) because I’m on a narrator glom (and it was in the Audible Romance Package). It’s a steamy, BDSM-themed romance, and to be honest, isn’t something I’d likely have chosen to read or listen to had it not been for the fact that I’d happily listen to Iggy Toma announcing arrivals and departures at Waterloo station.
Justin White is a clever, ambitious young man studying for his MBA and working as a barista in order to make ends meet. One of his regular customers is Sam Anderson, the CEO of a small but dynamic consulting firm – and Justin has overheard him talking with his friend and colleague, Eli Ovadia, about the fact that he needs to hire a new assistant. Justin is barely keeping his head above water financially, between helping his family, his tuition and living expenses, and he really wants the job; he has the right education and experience and knows he could do a lot worse than learn how to run a business from Sam Anderson – so he gathers his courage and hands Sam the application he’s prepared. He’s invited for an interview and gets the job.
Eli is reserved and arrogant – and Justin decides he doesn’t like him. Except that dislike doesn’t account for the frisson Justin feels around Eli – the way his intense gaze makes his stomach flip or his mouth go dry. Justin has to keep his feelings under wraps – until he discovers that the attraction is mutual, and realises that Eli’s desire for control meshes perfectly with his own desire to submit to it – and to Eli.
First off, the whole pain-as-pleasure thing doesn’t float my boat and some of the things Eli and Justin get up to in this book are way out of my comfort zone. In print, I suspect I might have skipped some of it. BUT – with that said, these are not just-for-the-sake of it sex scenes; they shed light on the characters and the development of their relationship, and while the ‘scening’ itself wasn’t my thing, the way that Eli cares for Justin so steadfastly and tenderly afterwards is beautiful.
Before long, Justin and Eli are a couple and Eli has fallen head-over-heels in love. Justin spends more time at Eli’s lavish home than at his own crappy apartment, the sex is incredible and they’re satisfying each other’s needs in a way that fulfils them equally as well. But Justin’s previous abusive relationship with a wealthy Dom who treated him as though he owned him has left emotional scars he’s never properly dealt with, and one particular ‘scene’ triggers him so badly that he runs – but not before saying some truly horrible things to Eli and leaving Eli heartbroken and wondering what on earth he did wrong.
The SM content of this story might not have been my cup of tea, but the emotional content definitely was. Like Justin, Eli has past trauma he battles every day; for him it’s survivor’s guilt over the accident sixteen years earlier that killed his first lover and everyone else in the car, leaving him with a limp that is an ever present reminder of that terrible day and what happened afterwards. He’s a wonderfully rounded-out character and I hated the way Justin treated him; it was hard to watch Justin make assumptions about Eli, to hear his inability (or refusal) to understand that Eli was a completely different type of man to his ex and would never treat him badly. Eli is a dominant personality, for sure, but he’s well aware of the fact that being a Dom in the bedroom is only one facet of him as a person – and that’s something Justin has to learn if they’re ever going to make things work between them. I really liked the way Eli decides to impart what Justin needs to know, showing him that their D/s relationship is only part of what they have together and that it doesn’t mean they can’t be equal partners in other aspects of their lives – or in the bedroom.
I did have some issues with the story. Eli falls for Justin very quickly, especially considering they don’t know each other very well, and Eli has had hardly any romantic relationships before (his choice), so there’s a bit of insta-love going on. I also didn’t care much for the miscommunication aspect of the story, but this is probably where the narration steps in to paper over those cracks, because Iggy Toma’s interpretation of Eli’s hurt and Justin’s coldness is so perfect and so utterly convincing that I was able to let that niggle go in a way I might not have been able to had I read the book instead of listened to it. Mr. Toma delivers an excellent performance all-round; it’s well-paced and the character differentiation is good, but most importantly of all, he nails the more emotionally charged moments perfectly, whether it’s in the aftermath of a particularly intense scene, or the difficult exchanges between Eli and Justin when they’re at odds. Both leads are expertly characterised, too, with Mr. Toma injecting a deeper resonance into his voice to portray Eli and employing a brighter tone for Justin. There’s not a great deal of humour in the book, but what there is is captured well; Justin’s snark and Eli’s dry humour are both in evidence. The sex scenes – some of which are quite long – are equally well-performed, and all credit to the narrator for pitching them just right; not over or underplaying them and infusing them with the sort of confidence and conviction I always think is needed in order to keep the audience on-side in intimate moments (and perhaps moreso when a lot of kink is involved).
I enjoyed listening to Just Business, in spite of the fact that some of the sex scenes weren’t my thing. I liked the central relationship and characters – Eli especially – and appreciated that the conflict arose organically and wasn’t just something that was thrown in at random; most of all I loved the intensity of the romance and the depth of the understanding that grew between Justin and Eli. Add Iggy Toma’s superb narration to the mix and this is an audiobook I can recommend to those who like their romance at the hotter, edgier end of the spectrum
Caz
Buy Just Business by Anna Zabo on Amazon
