Audiobook Review: Starting from Scratch by Lane Hayes, narrated by Michael Pauley (Starting From #2)


Note: The audiobook was provided by the author via IndiGo Marketing & Design.

“Kiss me. It's your turn.” 
I opened my mouth and closed it. Twice. “What are you—are you fucking with me?” 
“No, I'm serious. Do it, so we can go back to normal. I hate being ignored.” 
“I haven't ignored you. I'm busy.” 
“Bullshit. You're ignoring me. At first I thought it was a good plan, but it's not working. We need reset the balance. Kiss me, so we can forget about it and move on.”

I may have a thing for Lane Hayes's audiobooks. I've listened to every single audiobook edition of her books because she always seems to have awesome narrators paired with her stories. As of late, Michael Pauley seems to be her go-to narrator, having narrated her two on-going series, Out in College, which features college athletes coming out of the proverbial closet, and Starting From, which is about an up and coming band called Zero, and it's this Hayes-Pauley combination that's become one of my personal favorites. Their latest work together is the second audiobook in the Starting From series, Starting from Scratch, which features Zero's bassist and its manager.

Charlie Rourke loves working with Zero, especially since he considers its members family. All of them except Ky Baldwin. Sure, Ky's got the whole hot California surfer slash skateboarder dude going and he's a good bassist, but Charlie doesn't think Ky's serious about anything, which means that he can't possibly be serious about Zero. Ky's clued in to Charlie not liking him, and he isn't exactly sure why either. But when Ky offers to teach Charlie's younger brother how to skateboard, Charlie begins to see Ky in a different light. The attraction that's been simmering between them finally boils over, but will keeping their new relationship secret end up hurting everyone in the end?

As always, Lane Hayes has penned a great story that had my heart feeling full by the end of the audiobook. I loved Charlie and Ky, and going from people who liked to push each other's buttons to a couple pushing the boundaries of their relationship from professional to personal (and antagonistic to flat-out adorable) highlighted how good they were for one another after all. Michael Pauley, once again, doesn't disappoint, what with varying inflections that made one character easily distinguishable from another and bringing story to life with gusto. Naming Starting from Scratch one of my favorite audiobooks for 2019 is no hardship, and neither was listening to it. Five-plus stars. ♥

Date Listened to: 08 November 2019

Learn more about Lane Hayes.

Learn more about Michael Pauley.

Purchase Starting from Scratch on Audible | iTunes.

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