Born and raised in Cherry Creek, Edmund Fitzgerald was the sort of man who tried to find the good in all things. As a natural leader, Fitz reclaimed his trauma after half his body burned in a fire and worked his way up to Fire Chief at the local department. He had a good home, and good friends, even if his romantic life left something to be desired. In spite of his bad luck in love, he managed … managed to keep a cheerful smile on for everyone. At least, until Antoine Tremblay crashed into town.
Literally.
As the older twin with absent parents and a chip on his shoulder, Antoine and his brother grew up nomadic—the inconvenient offspring of traveling teachers who wanted nothing more than to spend their lives seeing the world. While his friends were dreaming of road trips, Antoine was dreaming of a home to call his own. Retreating into his consulting career, Antoine dedicates his life to stabilizing small town economies, and doesn’t hesitate to take a job in Cherry Creek—a town that makes it very clear it doesn’t want Antoine there. Before he even crosses the city limits, Antoine is run off the road by a wild goat, and he’s forced to accept a rescue by a wary man who makes it very clear that Antoine’s presence in Cherry Creek is not welcome.
And what’s worse, the ridiculously attractive, absolutely infuriating Fire Chief seems to be at the center of every single one of his disasters that happens after—and unfortunately there are many. All Antoine wants is to do his job and go home, but Cherry Creek seems to have it in for him, and Edmund Fitzgerald seems thrilled to watch him fall apart. It might be real hatred, or it might just be pigtail pulling, but Antoine isn’t sure which, and he’s not really sure he wants to know. After all, a place like Cherry Creek will never be his home.
Fitz has never found someone worth fighting for, and Antoine has never found a reason to stay, but they know that looking at each other leaves them absolutely breathless. Will that be enough to make a relationship work, or will they decide that their love isn’t worth the fight?
Love Him Breathless is the second book in the series On The Market. It contains no cheating and a happily ever after.
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Love Him Breathless is the second book in the On the Market series. This book can easily stand on its own but reading the first book in the series gives the reader a really good sense of what the town of Cherry Creek is like and introduces the reader to a lot of important side characters.
Antoine is a consultant who specializes in sprucing up towns and making them an attractive place to visit. He’s extremely good at his job, but his personal life has suffered in contrast. It takes one trip to Cherry Creek to completely throw Antoine’s life upside down and show him exactly what he’s been missing. The relationship between Antoine and Fitz is tumultuous at first: both men immediately get under each other’s skin and harsh words are exchanged. But then, that antagonizing energy morphs into a powerful attraction that can’t be denied. I absolutely loved the transformation of Antoine’s and Fitz’s relationship from enemies-to-lovers. This trope, if not done well, can feel unauthentic, but the author does a really good job with not only developing the characters but also developing their relationship and making it feel real. Overall, I really enjoyed this book—from the plot to the characters—plus I’m falling in love with all the other side characters who live in this cute town of Cherry Creek.
The audiobook was narrated by Nick Hudson who has a great voice and does a fantastic job with the narration. Nick does a great job of keeping each character distinct and also infuses a lot of emotion and energy into his performance. It makes listening to the story really interesting and fun. The audiobook production was well done and also contributed to a great listening experience.
Enemies to lovers, what more do you want
Fitz the Fire chief in Cherry Creek, damaged very badly by a fire as a teenager he wanted to protect people from the same fate as himself.
Antoine new to town, to help fix the small town economy, but the small town Cherry Creek seems to not want any help from Antoine. And Fitz seems to always be there when something happens to Antoine.
The characters are well written and their story is fun, the town of Cherry Creek seems to be a great start for a long series as there are lots of good characters.
Great story and fun, a HEA and good narration.
Love Him Breathless
On the Market, Book 2
By: E.M. Lindsey
Narrated by: Nick Hudson
Series: On the Market, Book 2
Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
Overall
Narration
Story
Read at 1.15 speed on Audible
I really enjoyed this book a lot.
A perfect enemies- to-lovers, I mean, they were really enemies in he beginning, apart from the physical attraction they couldn’t stand each other and they were really mean to each other, with barbs and snapping remarks. There was even a bit of hate sex thrown in. And I LOVED IT! It made it so much sweeter when they finally start to thaw to each other and realize that they might actually LIKE each other. And they are both scared, no, even more… terrified!
Fitz and Antoine are complex and imperfect characters, but at their core they both are lonely men longing for, but afraid of, love.
Absolutely loved the ending, it was just perfect!
This was super bogged down with so. many. characters. There were a lot of couples or people who either had other books in different series or are going to get a book. Being unfamiliar with anything except book 1 in this “world” – it was overwhelming. I felt like so much of the story was trying to update/explain these other couples that Fitz & Antoine didn’t get enough time making me believe them as a couple. Were they attracted to each other? Yes. But it just never went beyond that in a way that made me believe the “I love you and I want forever” at the end.
I’m not sure if the goal was “slow burn” or “slow sweet small town romance”, unfortunately it missed both and long stretches just felt boring. Which was surprising given how well it was pulled off in Love Him Free and how much I enjoyed that story.
Also, either Lindsey is setting up Owen & Dmitri to get their own stories at some point or the issues that were vaguely referred to were just left hanging. It left the book feeling incomplete rather than as a teaser.
Nick Hudson’s narration is likely the only reason I finished this. He does a good job with voices, accents, & emotions.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from Gay Romance Reviews and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Nick Hudson is vastly becoming one of my favorite narrators. This book as well as any other he has narrated is so good and the book is just more with his narration. To keep this trend this book left me wanting. I wanted more. More time for Fitz and Antoine to explore their feelings, more time for their banter, and definitely more of their HFN…that seems like their HEA…this book was still sooo good, I just felt rushed at the end and I didn’t want that for them. They were opposites who were listing after each other and really they were falling for each other. Great book and love this author!!
ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
Fantastic Story & Narration A Heartfelt Delight!
Love Him Breathless
On the Market, Book 2
By: E.M. Lindsey
Narrated by: Nick Hudson
E.M. Lindsey pens another wonderful novel in her “On the Market” series and I enjoyed every minute of it. The story grabbed my attention right from the start and captivated it straight to the end. The characters are realistic, easy to relate to and connect with, I adored the two leads Edmund “Fitz” Fitzgerald and Antoine Tremblay, the secondary characters are just as amazing too. Fitz grew up in Cherry Creek, he was severely burned when he was younger but with hard work and determination he overcame his injuries. He became a firefighter and worked himself up the ranks to become the town’s Fire Chief. Antoine Tremblay is good at what he does, he helps boost images for towns and resorts to bring in tourists. Cherry Creek is small town USA, they are struggling financially and need help, so they hire Antoine to put them on the map. But Antoine becomes jinxed just as he enters town he hits something and to further his luck even more he bonks heads with the Fire Chief who responded to his call for assistance. And that was not all, for some reason he becomes accident prone and his constant savior is Fitz, the Fire Chief. OMG, the chemistry between these two is electric and neither one picks up on it right away making for some awkward moments, some hilarious ones too. I loved how everything plays out in this great enemies to lovers romance, the story is beautifully plotted and there is never a dull moment. There is plenty of drama, angst, humor, heartfelt and emotional moments and a slow burn romance. E.M. Lindsey, thank you for another wonderful story and emotional rollercoaster ride.
And for the fabulous narration, Nick Hudson is a talented narrator and a versatile voice artist. He continues to bring these characters and their story to life. He performs the voices for all the characters, gives each their own distinct voice which makes it easy to follow along and tell who is who. He does a fantastic job portraying each character, grasping their persona and playing the role with perfection. He is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for another great listen
Thank you #GRR
It was great to see Fitz fall in love. Antoine is prickly, but that’s because he’s guarding his heart. Fitz and Antoine balance each other beautifully.
Fits and Antoine could have something special but only if Antoine can survive all the near death misses and both find the courage to give love a try.
I loved Cherry Creek and all the quirky characters, even the three legged goat has a certain charm.
No spoilers of any kind included.
Love Him Breathless was so amazing, I could not put the book down until I got to the ending where I was left wanting and needing more.
But then again I’m like that with every book that I read by E.M. Lindsey, her work is so addicting and awesome.
So yes I do recommend this book because I absolutely loved it and I have a feeling you will too.
*An ARC was provided by the author, publisher or a promotional service and I have chosen to publish a fair and honest review*
I don’t know where I have been with this author but seriously I LOVE the stories. Fitz is amazing and a little more than I thought but it’s what I say about each character as we get to their story. I absolutely love that. I can’t wait to see what happens in book 3 cause that has me curious to how it will proceed.
Every book I read from Elaine keeps getting better and better. I adore Cherry Creek as a whole, and seeing these men get their happily ever afters fills me with joy.
Fitz, the Cherry Creek fire chief, has settled for far less than he deserves from life. He works long hours voluntarily to distract himself from feeling alone. In his mind, loneliness is better than being let down by someone he loves. He’s a small-town man at heart and wants Cherry Creek to stay exactly how it is forever. When Antoine comes crashing into the town with his plans to re-vamp tourism, he and Fitz butt heads immediately: “He swaggers in here with his f***ing Hollywood attitude and thinks he knows this place?”
Those who’ve read the Breaking the Rules series may remember that Antoine is Marcel’s brother. He’s painted as a bit of an a**hole in Marcel’s story, but in this book we get to see what’s in his heart. He wants roots, a permanent place he can call his home after spending so many years jumping from city to city. His harsh words are simply a defense mechanism, and he hates that he can’t make himself stop hurting people.
Fitz and Antoine’s story has all the best parts of an enemies-to-lovers romance: snarky banter, steamy sexual tension, and aggressive passion. Antoine is plagued by a series of accidents and mishaps that Fitz inevitably ends up rescuing him from. It seems like Cherry Creek keeps forcing these two to interact, and they can’t deny how drawn they are to each other for long. Their sexual encounters are unbelievably hot, dripping with lust and neediness.
The real struggle begins when Fitz and Antoine start falling for each other. Neither man is ready to admit his feelings. Fitz thinks there’s no way a small town like Cherry Creek could be enough for someone like Antoine. Antoine is afraid of how much Cherry Creek is starting to feel like the home he’s always wished for. At points I wanted to lock Fitz and Antoine in a room together and force them to be honest with each other. It takes a kayaking gone wrong and cross-country flight for them to sort out what they want from each other. Their story’s ending was very much happy, but I wasn’t ready to walk away! I wish there had been an epilogue to show what their new life together looks like.
**I voluntarily read an ARC of this book. This review expresses my honest thoughts and opinions.
Ahhh so much love for this one! This series is shaping up to be one of my absolute favorites. Since Marcel’s book was one of my favorite stories Lindsey has ever written, I was a little worried that Antoine wouldn’t be able to redeem himself, but oh boy was I wrong. Right from the get go he acknowledges that it’s his own issues that caused all the tension between the two and so I was able to embrace him with a clean slate. And then he went to Cherry Creek and the small town magic happened. I’ve said it before, but it takes a lot for me to like an enemies to lovers story, I just don’t usually find them believable. But it so worked here. Even as they were falling for each other, they weren’t sugary sweet with each other, and I loved them for it that much more. Fitz was a stand out in the previous book in the series, so I knew I’d like his story, but I absolutely loved the way it was done. 10/10 would recommend!
Fitz and Antoine woah it’s like hate love at the first site. I am enjoying this series and how it intertwined with Kate’s series.
I like the interactions as both men realise this is more than hate.
This is a well written book and should be read after Faultless.
I loved Fitz and Antoine!! I loved Marcel’s story (Antoine’s twin brother) and felt he was a jerk in that story, but I fell in love with him after learning more about how he was raised. I always knew I would love Fitz!! There is so many emotions pouring out of this story, ohh the hate, I could especially feel in the beginning. All the issues they dealt with to come together was essential in them finding themselves and each other. This was another fantastic story from EM Lindsey and can’t wait to read more about her men and Cherry Creek. A MUST read!!
I am voluntarily leaving a review form an ARC that I received from the author. My reviews are solely based on my thoughts and opinions.