Work, sleep, work, repeat. Nero’s lonely life suits him just fine until his best friend, Cass, asks him to take on a new apprentice—a beautiful young man who’s never set foot in a professional kitchen. Despite his irritation and his lifelong ability to shut the world out, Nero is mesmerised by the vibrant stray, especially when he learns what drove him to seek sanctuary on Nero’s battered old … couch.
Lenny Mitchell is living under a cloud of fear. Pursued by a stalker, he has nowhere left to run until Nero offers him a port in a storm—a job at the hottest restaurant in Shepherd’s Bush. Kitchen life proves heady and addictive, and it’s not long before he finds himself falling hard and fast for the man who has taken him in.
Fast-forward a month and a neither man can imagine life without the other, but one thing stands in their way: a lifetime of horrors Nero can’t bring himself to share with Lenny. Or can he? For the first time ever, happiness is there for the taking, and Nero must learn to embrace it before fate steps in and rips it away.
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Garrett Leigh’s books are a must-read for me. I love the emotion that runs through the stories and this book is no exception.
I was so excited to see that the next book in this series was about Nero. I wanted to know more about him just like Jake did in Misfits and hated that we didn’t get more in that book! But, this book was definitely better than just a quick mention in another book.
Nero was an enigma in Misfits, but he’s Cass’s best friend, so I was intrigued. He’s a grumpy guy, floating from restaurant to restaurant, doing whatever needed to be done for Urban Soul. But, when Cass asks him to look out for Lenny, let him live in his apartment and keep him safe, Nero turns into the most unassumingly sweet guy.
My heart broke for Lenny – he was so scared and had no way to help himself. Cass swooping in and saving the day (and Jake having a feeling that Lenny would be good for Nero) really changed his life. Even though working in the kitchen was new for him, you could tell that he was forming a bond with Nero that went beyond work.
My one hangup was that Nero was so cagey about his life and experiences the whole time he was with Lenny. He only opened up when he realized he would be destroyed if Lenny wasn’t in his life anymore. That being said, Nero’s story was hard to read and I was so glad it didn’t keep them apart for very long. It was huge that Nero was willing to open up to Lenny and give him what he needed to make sure they loved each other because of everything that had made them who they were.
Nero and Lenny’s relationship grew from a responsibility to a necessity. They became friends, relied on each other for everything, protected and supported each other and helped each other to become the best versions of themselves.
I’m so glad we got quite a few Cass/Tom/Jake cameos in this book that continued to push the story forward and add to it, instead of just them popping in randomly. The friendship between Nero and Cass was so sweet, seeing Tom in action to fix things for Lenny was the perfect way to bring him in and Jake helping Lenny to find his passion was great.
The new restaurant, The Stray Tiger, was perfect for Nero and I loved that Lenny could tell from the very beginning that Cass, Tom and Jake were building something specifically for Nero. Somewhere for him to put down roots, even if Nero couldn’t see it himself until the end. Between Nero and Lenny, they made it into their space – a restaurant concept and a design that meant so much to both of them.
I loved seeing Nero and Lenny happy together in the epilogue, living together in Vauxhall and planning to spend the whole summer driving the van around making vegetarian food at music festivals. Sounds like the perfect way to send these two off and close out their story.
Audiobook review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 4
Story – 5
Gritty and touching; a great love story!
While Strays is part of the Urban Soul series, it can be read as a standalone with no problem. I’m sorry to say that I haven’t read book one yet, but I didn’t feel like I missed anything by listening to this one on its own.
Dan Calley’s voice is so nice and mellow and very easy to listen to. As with one other book I listened to recently, I did have just a bit of trouble differentiating between the MC’s voices but the way the dialogue was written it wasn’t difficult to know who was speaking. I’m pretty sure part of the problem is me – Midwest US gal listening to a great narrator with a strong London (I’m told that’s what it is) accent. In any case, I still loved listening to this one.
Parts of this story just about broke my heart. Lenny is running from a stalker and he’s given refuge within the Urban Soul group of restaurants – specifically he’s going to work with Nero at Pippa’s. As with most of Garrett Leigh’s books that I’ve read lately, this one is very British and helped to expand my vocabulary of Brit words and slang.
Nero is having a difficult time opening up to Lenny and it causes problems in their relationship; Lenny can’t stand the silence between them. But once Nero opens up and tells him everything it just about breaks Lenny’s heart. Then, just when it seems like everything is going to work out fine for Lenny and Nero, a twist is thrown into the works.
Fantastic stories like Strays is why I’ve become a huge fan of Garrett Leigh’s writing.
A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com*** (Posting on August 29, 2020.)