Bad Attitude by K.A. Mitchell ~ Audio Review

K.A. Mitchell - Bad Attitude Audio Cover 274yhrwTitle: Bad Attitude

Series: Bad in Baltimore 03

Author: K.A. Mitchell

Narrator: Chet Daniel

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 7 hours, 37 minutes

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (21st December 2018)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: đź’–đź’–đź’–đź’– 4 Hearts

Reviewer: Prime

Blurb: Saving lives never used to be this complicated.

Gavin Montgomery does what’s expected of him by his wealthy and powerful family – look good in a tuxedo and don’t make waves. When a friend takes a leap off a bridge, Gavin tries to save him, only to fall in with him. At least at the bottom of the river he won’t feel like such a disap-pointment to his family. But he’s pulled from the water by a man with an iron grip, a sexy mouth, and a chip on his shoulder the size of the national deficit.

Jamie Donnigan likes his life the way it is – though he could have done without losing his father and giving up smoking. But at least he’s managed to avoid his own ball and chain as he’s watched all his friends pair off. When Montgomery fame turns a simple rescue into a media cir-cus, Jamie decides if he’s being punished for his good deed, he might as well treat himself to a hot and sweaty good time. It’s not like the elegant and charming Gavin is going to lure Jamie away from his bachelor lifestyle. Nobody’s that charming. Not even a Montgomery….

Purchase Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review: Bad Attitude is the third book in KA Mitchell’s series Bad in Baltimore. This is only my third experience with both the author and the audio narrator, after recently listening to the audio of books one and two. Although there is reference to characters from the previous two books, this one will still work as a standalone book as there are not overarching plotlines.

I’ll start with the narration. And I really am repeating myself because the narration by Chet Daniel has been impressive and consistent throughout the series. He is a narrator that I will look forward to hearing more from in the future. I found myself easily getting lost in the narration and the characters and the voices given to the characters. Also, much like the first two books, the narration was easily the highlight of the book.

Alright, so comments on the story. Overall, I have to say that much like book two I enjoyed this third book quite a bit. Although both stories are very different and I cannot say which is better than the other. Once more, I found the MCs very likable in this story and of the three couples in this series, were the most relatable. Like the previous books, I will repeat myself in saying that the only thing that stopped me from enjoying this story to the maximum is the amount of sex scenes. I felt that there are a lot of drawn out sex scenes that tended to take away from the plot and slow things down quite a bit. But if you like the sex scenes, more power to you and you’ll probably find a lot of enjoyment in this book.

The story is about Jamie Donnigan and Gavin Montgomery. Jamie is an aquatic rescuer on the police force and the report of someone jumping off one of the city bridges has him meeting Gavin. Gavin is a rich boy and embodies all the stereotypes, although we quickly find out that he has hidden depths. Gavin has a horrible family who think he has jumped, and they don’t want the family name besmirched. The reality was that he jumped to save his friend who voluntarily went off the bridge on a madcap scheme. Gavin is actually a pretty good swimmer and is not just a rich party boy, he knows how to survive and that was why he was confident enough (sort of) to go after his friend instead of waiting for help. The case brings Jamie and Gavin together and the two men quickly give into the physical desire that sparks between them.

I recommend this book to people that like 1) lots of sex, and, 2) two guys who are complete opposites in social standings find out that they have a lot in common.

Bad Boyfriend by KA Mitchell ~ Audio Review

Title: Bad Boyfriend

Series: Bad in Baltimore 02

Author: K.A. Mitchell

Narrator: Chet Daniel

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 6 hours, 34 minutes

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (3rd July 2018)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: đź’–đź’–đź’–đź’– 4 Hearts

Reviewer: Prime

Blurb: Causing trouble has never been more fun.

Eli Wright doesn’t follow anyone’s rules. When he was 17, his parents threw him out of the house for being gay. He’s been making his own way for the past five years and he’s not about to change himself for anyone’s expectations. For now, romance can wait. There are plenty of hot guys to keep him entertained until he finds someone special.

Quinn Maloney kept the peace and his closeted boyfriend’s secrets for 10 years. One morning he got a hell of a wake-up along with his coffee. Not only did the boyfriend cheat on him, but he’s marrying the girl he knocked up. Inviting Quinn to the baby’s baptism is the last straw. Quinn’s had enough of gritting his teeth to play nice. His former boyfriend is in for a rude awak-ening, because Quinn’s not going to sit quietly on the sidelines. In fact, he has the perfect scheme, and he just needs to convince the much younger, eyeliner-wearing guy who winks at him in a bar to help him out.

Eli’s deception is a little too good, and soon he has everyone believing they’re madly in love. In fact, he’s almost got Quinn believing it himself….

Purchase Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review: Bad Boyfriend is the second book in KA Mitchell’s series Bad in Baltimore. This is only my second experience with both the author and the audio narrator, after recently listening to the audio of book one. Although this is the second book in the series I do not think that it is vital to read the previous book and works well as a standalone novel.

So firstly, the narration. Much like book one I was left very impressed by the narration by Chet Daniel. He is certainly a narrator that I will look forward to hearing more from. I found myself easily getting lost in the narration and the characters and the voices given to the characters. Also, much like book one, the narration was easily the highlight of the book.

I must admit, that I enjoyed this second book better than the first book. I think that the MCs were much more likable in this story and their outlandish scheme was much easier to swallow. The main thing that I didn’t gel with in this book was the amount of sex scenes. I felt that there were a number of random sex scenes that didn’t really help to bring the plot forward, when really in some instances a few paragraphs of conversation would have sufficed. But if you like the sex scenes, more power to you and you’ll probably find a lot more enjoyment in this book.

The story starts with Eli, who is a photographer for Nate from book one. Eli Wright has never been one to follow rules and he isn’t shy to be himself. He knows that there is nothing worth him not ever being his true self. He eventually wants love but for now he isn’t on the look out for Mr Right.

Quinn Maloney is quite the opposite. He lived in the closet for ten years to absolutely everyone, despite being best friends with his ex’s family. His ex was too scared of being himself. Quinn’s world is shattered when he is not only dumped, but he finds out that his cheating ex has got a woman pregnant and “is doing the right thing and marrying her”. That sucks, but what is more fucked up is how his ex manipulates Quinn and keeps him captive despite not being together any more. So when he is invited to be godfather to the ex’s kid, he proposes his hook-up, Eli, to join him and pretend to be his boyfriend. Not only that, Quinn wants Eli to go all out with his act. Eli figures that will be fun but goes in blind without a lot of the facts. This is the start of a roller coaster that ignites the spark of attraction between the guys.

I am aware that I am using the word outlandish a lot to explain the scenario concocted by the MCs in this story, but it the best I got at the moment. Quinn has a really strange and twisted relationship with his ex, while he considers the ex’s family to be his closest friends and allies. I understand that bit, I’ve seen in real life a couple instances where despite the couple separating they are still friends with the full disclosure of everyone else/new spouses. Strangely enough it works. In this case it was the whole thing of Quinn being dragged into the wedding party and being the godfather to his ex’s kid. That was just weird, but I went with it mostly because I really liked both Eli and Quinn and thought that they were well matched.

I recommend this book to people that like 1) lots of sex, and, 2) two guys pretending to be in love because they’ve concocted an outlandish scenario.

Bad Company by K.A. Mitchell ~ Audio Review

Title: Bad Company

Series: Bad in Baltimore 01

Author: K.A. Mitchell

Narrator: Chet Daniel

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 5 hours, 50 minutes

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (9th April 2018)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: đź’–đź’–đź’–đź’– 3.5 Hearts

Reviewer: Prime

Blurb: Some things are sweeter than revenge.

“I need a boyfriend.”

Hearing those words from his very straight, very ex-best friend doesn’t put Nate in a helpful mood. Not only did Kellan Brooks’s father destroy Nate’s family in his quest for power, but Kel-lan broke Nate’s heart back in high school. Nate thought he could trust his best friend with the revelation that he might be gay, only to find out he was horribly wrong and become the laugh-ingstock of the whole school. Kellan must be truly desperate if he’s turning to Nate now.

Kellan’s through letting his father run his life, and he wants to make the man pay for cutting him off. What better way to stick it to the bigot than to come out as gay himself—especially with the son of the very man his father crushed on his quest for money and power. Kellan can’t blame Nate for wanting nothing to do with him, though. Kellan will have to convince him to play along, but it’s even harder to convince himself that the heat between them is only an act….

Purchase Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review: Bad Company is the first book in KA Mitchell’s series Bad in Baltimore. I’ve not read anything in the past by Mitchell but I was nonetheless intrigued reading the blurb and I was happy to become invested in a new series. For that matter, Chet Daniels as the narrator of the audiobook was also a new experience for me, so I really went into this one blind.

So firstly, the narration. I was quite impressed by the narration. I found myself easily getting lost in the narration and the characters and the voices given to the characters. For me the narration was easily the highlight of the book. Daniels’ voice was entertaining and quite honestly kept me going because I have a suspicion that if I were to read this story it would be a reluctant finish at best, or a did not finish at worst.

I’m going to explain those comments before I go into discussing the story. Basically, there are a lot of sex scenes in this book that go on for long chapters. If that’s you’re thing, this is probably going to be one hot read. However, for me, it’s not really my thing, so while I enjoyed the story for the most part the sex scenes popping up (especially at points where I wanted the plot to move forward) were annoying at times.

As for the story itself, we follow the romance between Kellan and Nate. Kellan and Nate were best friends once upon a time when they were kids, but Kellan’s uber rich father destroyed Nate’s father’s livelihood and stole his idea/patent, which was compounded by the fact that Kellan never stood up for Nate in high school when he was bullied for being gay.

Now that they are adults, Kellan is a rich boy and more than a tad arrogant and selfish. His father is an arsehole and the two butt heads, ending in Kellan with no money, no car and no place to live. He is homeless. All Kellan wants is revenge on his father, who also does not approve of Kellan being gay. So Kellan throws himself at the mercy of his ex-best friend, who is now a successful newspaper editor and the two concoct a plan that will allow Nate to do an expose on Kellan’s father, and Kellan can get his revenge on his father.

I had trouble with the storyline, because it was hard to suspend my disbelief to believe that this hare-brained scheme would work in any world. Kellan was also a difficult character to warm up to, and in some respects so was Nate. They’re both contrary sort of blokes but they did have a chemistry that made their romance work. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the audio enough that I am willing to go on and give the rest of the series a go. It’s not uncommon that a narrator will allow me to enjoy a book that I normally wouldn’t be able to finish if I read it.

I recommend this book to people that like 1) lots of sex, and, 2) friends-to-enemies-to-lovers type scenario (which was honestly the draw for me).