Fantastic story, fantastic audiobook!

I received an advanced copy of this story for review and started reading it and loved it. Then I listened to a sample of the audiobook and I knew I had to buy it and finish the story by listening to the full-cast audio. It was amazing and I’ve never been so glad that I used a credit for a book. I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to very many full-cast audiobooks and I didn’t know that they could be such an immersive experience.

As much as I enjoyed listening to this I don’t know if it would have been as good if it weren’t for the excellent story that Lauren Blakely wrote. I knew going in that there would be a cliffhanger and I was OK with that. I only have a problem with cliffhangers when I don’t know there is one in advance of reading the book.

I don’t want to rehash the blurb or retell the story. It was very emotional in places and pretty heartbreaking near the end. Both of the MCs have confidence issues and that leads to more than one misunderstanding.

The audiobook includes the prequel, Shameless Flirt, but reading this isn’t necessary to enjoy the book. It’s actually more like a short teaser. The other thing the audiobook includes is a blooper reel. OMG is it ever funny; it was worth getting the audiobook just to listen to the bloopers at the end.

As soon as I finished listening to Hopelessly Bromantic I immediately pre-ordered the conclusion, Here Comes My Man. I have every confidence that TJ and Jude will get their HEA but I’m sure that Lauren Blakely is going to make them work for it.

***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***

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Silly giggles and butterflies

Oh man! This was incredible, sorry Teddy English accents wins all the time “Team Shane/Jude,.

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So so good, what a treat!!

I pre-ordered the Kindle book of this and then promptly ignored it when it appeared on my kindle and I am now so happy I did because I then had both parts of this duet waiting for me!

I didn't end up reading the ebook but rather listening to the audiobook and omg what a treat!!!! To have an audiobook with a full, incredible cast is just fantastic. Shane East and Teddy Hamilton are amazing and the rest of the cast are great as well. I often read part of a book and listen to the rest, depending on what I'm doing throughout the day but with this one I just wanted to keep listening!!!

The story started slowly enough for me, with TJ arriving in London 7 years earlier, but by the middle of the book I could not turn it off. By the end of the book I was crying in the garden with the emotions from these two not communicating properly. I love these two, both so insecure, neither realising that the other feels the same as them, both (by the end) with ex boyfriends who've affected their willingness to be open with another person, leading to their blow up and the sort of cliffhanger this book is left on.

From a slowish start, by the end of this book I could not wait to start the next installation!!

I also loved the addition of the bloopers from the audio recording!!

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A great listen and more to come!

A great story and brilliant narration with a full supporting cast. Teddy and Shane are the perfect pairing and brought the characters to life. I am delighted with the ending, a cliffy so we have so much more to look forward to. Bring on the rest, i can't wait.

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Ignitable but believable chemistry

Ignitable but believable chemistry, full of spice and will steal your heart.

Hopelessly Bromantic is the first book in the duet and should be read/ listened to in order. There is also a prequel: Shameless Flirt that is free and leads straight into Hopelessly Bromantic.

I savoured every page of TJ and Jude’s love story. Hopelessly Bromantic was magical. Don’t get me wrong it was flirty, fun, and deliciously hot … the slow burn (which I’m not normally a fan of) was exquisite; each conversation, each innocent touch had more chemistry, more heat than some books contain as a whole. Their words made me flush, laugh, smile, and talk out loud. Sometimes a book you think is ordinary becomes so much more - this was that book. Hopelessly Bromantic is like a memoir of love. What was supposed to be light and flirty became spellbinding. And isn’t that the true joy of reading?

What I love about Lauren Blakely romances is that they are both real and dreamy at the same time. Her books are always so fun and extra to both read and listen to. This is my first time listening to a full cast. I wasn’t sure if I would like it and had already decided I wasn’t downloading the audiobook because of it, but after reading some of their story - I needed to listen to it as well. I wouldn’t say it enhanced the book, but it also didn’t hinder the story in anyway: it was just there. However, Teddy Hamilton and Shane East are just perfect for narrating this book. Their voices matched the characters so well I was convinced that they were TJ and Jude.

The ending was so powerful and tied up the book perfectly. I loved how it wasn’t a major, super surprising cliffhanger, which I didn’t know I really needed.

The Men of Summer series were my favourite books by Lauren Blakely and since then I have struggled with the recent books. However, Hopelessly Bromantic is up there on the same level as the Men of Summer series.

Simply a wonderful story that you won’t want to miss.

Plot: 📚📚📚📚📚
Character rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Feels: 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 (reading the book it was only 4, but listening to the audiobook Teddy Hamilton and Shane East’s performance elevated a scene to the point I started to cry).
Writing style: 🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊
Narration by Teddy Hamilton and Shane East: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
Narration by rest of the Full Cast: 🌈🌈🌈

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fantastic listen

I feel a multi cast always makes the story more believable, and this story was a fantastic story so having it preformed by a multi cast made it even better. I am going straight on to book 2 right now. Also loved the bloopers at the end 😍.

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Love the full cast formula!

This was great, and superbly performed—the end in particular. Bonus points for the bloops chapter, we need more of these in the audiobook world!!!

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I’m Broken

Oh flipping heck! I don’t even know how to start this review, so the first thing I did was look to see when book 2 is out, and oh my gosh.! I’ve got 27 days to wait, and counting. Enough of my ministrations, and more on the wonders that are TJ Ashford/Hardman and Jude Graham/Fox, in the here and now. I love TJ and Jude together, they just meld together perfectly. It’s like a perfect love story, the perfect bromance, until it isn’t. Coming together perfectly in London “wink wink”, even as they deny the possibility of being together, because - roomies. Then the added problem of distance, London/New York is not exactly easy. Then comes the stubborn dude syndrome, and bam, heart exploded. Ending with a super twist I did not see coming, and aaargh.

There’s a hint in the title - duet #1 - so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that I was left wanting, but still it did. I need book 2 stat. The prequel - Shameless Flirt which is a wonderful introduction to TJ and Jude is available on all platforms free of charge, it’s also included in the audio version of Hopelessly Bromantic. This leads in nicely to the fact that the audio version of this story features a full cast led by my two favourites Teddy Hamilton and Shane East, who both give it their all. They play TJ and Jude to utter perfection, there’s also a blooper reel at the end which cracked me up. Highly recommend for fans of m/m romance.

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Love this

I love Shane and Teddy ❤️ anything read by this two is absolutly amazing.
and I love the bloppers at the end 😀

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Wonderful 🥰

I love love love everything about it.
Teddy and Shane is such a wonderful narrators, I immersed listening to their voices it brought the characters in such wonderful delight so much emotions. I can’t wait to listen the second part of the story.

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1 person found this helpful