A Heated Beat Story As a diehard music fan, a dirty, smoky gig is Vice Squad Detective Danny Jones’s idea of heaven. While watching one of the most popular bands in Northern England, the sight of gorgeous rock star Finn McGovern changes his life forever. Beneath the tattoos and leather jacket, Finn is kind and sweet, but when he confesses a dark secret to Danny, it tests their fledgling bond. … tests their fledgling bond. Danny digs deep to accept Finn, but before long, a terrifying trail of death threatens to tear them apart before they’ve even got started.
A monster is killing prostitutes on Danny’s patch, and when a dead girl turns up too close to home, Danny discovers a heartbreaking link between the girl and his bright new life with Finn, a life he’ll do anything to protect.
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Narrator: Dan Calley
Overall 4.5 Stars
Narrator 5 Stars
Story 4 Stars
Garrett Leigh is brilliant at creating a story around flawed characters. There isn’t anything perfect about Finn and Danny. Yet, I found myself captivated by their story, despite not having one case of the goofy grins I normally like to have with books I am reading. People are fascinating creatures, and Finn and Danny are no exclusion.
Finn is a talented musician, who just happens to have a mental illness bad enough that it gives a lot of people pause. Many don’t stick around. After meeting Danny, one night at the end of a gig, they hook up, and proceed to spend more time with each other. When Finn tells Danny, he doesn’t immediately run away, but he has his concerns. On top of that, Danny is under pressure on the job. He’s a cop, and someone is killing prostitutes under his nose. He’s got a lot on his plate and it’s taking a toll. Watching these men struggle with finding a balance, and a proper understanding of each other, is heartbreaking at times. I felt bad for Finn, because his battles with paranoia, and fear, are never-ending.
This story was well written, thought-provoking, and reminds us there are some unpleasantries in life, but it doesn’t mean that love can’t be found in them.
Dan Calley continues to amaze me with his narrating skills. He really nails the emotions of the characters, so you feel what they are feeling. You’re IN the moment with the characters. It’s one of my favorite parts of audiobooks. The ability to multitask is another!
Finn and Danny (an audio review)
Lucky Man is the second book in the Heated Beat duo. I have to say I enjoyed this book more than the first because it brought out one of Garrett Leigh’s true talents – writing honestly and accurately about mental illness. She brings a keen understanding to what it’s like to be mentally ill and I feel her representations are accurate. As someone with a mental illness, I appreciate when the characters are real. I also appreciate that love doesn’t fix the illness and that people living with these conditions also deserve happy endings.
I’ll quickly mention the uneven narration style. This is not the standard back and forth alternative point of view chapters between the two heroes. That being said, it’s much more balanced than other books and I got a glimpse into both Finn and Danny’s worlds. Danny’s a cop. He takes a night off to see a band perform and is caught in the web of Finn whose voice and beauty are enchanting. They hook up and both wind up finding something they’re looking for. But Finn has a secret and if Danny can’t handle it, their relationship is doomed to end before it even begins.
Jack and Will from the first book in the series make appearances in this book as well and it was nice to see them so happy. I was surprised they weren’t living together full time, but the stories needed to be linked and making Jack and Finn flatmates worked. Finn and his issues were one part of the plot while the other was Danny and his work. He’s investigating the murder of prostitutes. Some of the women he’s gotten to know with his beat. When one murder comes a little close to Finn, things get all the more challenging. Things worked out, though. Bad guy caught? Check. Happy ending? You bet. Lovely book? Absolutely.
Finally, I’ll mention Dan Calley’s narration. I feel like Ms. Leigh and Mr. Calley are a couple made in narration heaven. His deeply resonant voice works with the sometimes-dark places where these books go. He handles the characters with concern and care. The book just works.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted the audio file of this book.
This is book 2 in the Heated Beat series, and while it’s not NECESSARY to read/listen to book one, My Mate Jack, I think you SHOULD, cos , you know, I said so! Jack and Will pop up a lot, since Jack lives with Finn, but it’s not needed to have their story before this one. But you know, THAT book was a 5 star listen too!
Danny has drooled over Finn on stage for some time. Meeting him, going home with him, gave him the best night of his life. But Finn has a secret and Danny has a stressful job. Can they make it work?
This is a much darker, dirtier, deadly listen than book one, but I loved it just as much, maybe a tad more.
There is powerful and instant chemistry between Finn and Danny, and it carries right through the book. Its hot and steamy, but equally, deeply emotional, for both Finn and Danny. Finn’s health issues, and what that meant in his previous relationships, are his primary concern. Danny is dealing with a murderer who has been on a spree across the country.
Danny reaction to Finn’s health issues were not what Finn was expecting, but still, Danny struggled with Finn a couple of times, especially when he had an episode (is that the correct term? ) but Danny rode it out, and did his best to understand. Some serious research into Finn’s condition has been done for this book, I’m not saying what that is, because spoilers, but the level of research into treatments and how people suffering this condition cope shows here.
I LOVED that this book is set in Nottingham. As a Nottingham gal, I got all the places that were mentioned, and loved that the shortened, locally used names for places like The Queens Medical Centre (big hospital!) are used. Loved the references to local towns, and how far they are away from Nottingham and the correct distances/times are used. Proper made my day!
I did get the murderer all wrong. I had a fairly close to Finn character pegged as the bad guy, but that all went belly up on me, so well played!
Both Finn and Danny have a say here, and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad they do! I think this one, especially, would have suffered had we not got them both, so thank you GArrett Leigh, for making my day twice in this book!
Dan Calley narrates again, and again, he knocks it out the park!
His voices for Will and Jack are spot on from book to book, but Danny and Finn’s voices are perfect too. He gets over all of Danny’s concern about the relationship, given that he isn’t out at work. He gets over all of his concern about Finn when he has an episode, and how he deals with the aftermath. Calley gets over all of Finn’s insecurities, and what’s going on in his brain. I felt for Finn, listening to him have internal conversations with himself about Danny and his feelings for Danny, and where their relationship was going.
Mr Calley NAILS it, he really does.
5 full and shiny stars for the book AND narration
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
Audiobook review:
Performance – 5
Story – 5
Overall – 5
This book got to me in so many ways. Danny and Finn hit it off right away but Finn has a secret that he’s afraid will drive Danny away. As they become closer, he knows that he has to tell Danny. The reaction he gets isn’t quite what he expected.
Danny is under a lot of stress with his job; he has to find out who is killing the prostitutes. His job begins to impact his relationship with Finn and they have things they must work through to get to their HEA.
I really loved this story. Garrett Leigh always handles books with mental illness in them with the perfect blend of reality and respectfulness and Lucky Man was no exception. Dan Calley turned in another fine audio performance. I really enjoy listening to his voice acting.
A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author/narrator.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***