I think this book had the perfect narrator. These two enemies to lovers had a round about way of getting together and it was a great ride. Throw in mystery, kids, and dogs and you have a true winner.

I always know I am going to enjoy an Elle Keaton book. A new series!!! Yay! Xavier and Vincent have the whole enemies to lovers thing going on so hard! Neither one can really say why the other one gets on their nerves. I love it! Their sparks could set the local forest on fire if it weren’t for the amount of rain! This story even has a matchmaking teenager and sweet doggos. Snark flies and two people decide to take a chance in this wonderful start to a new series set in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. We have a whole new set of characters to fall in love with!

New Review! Adverse Conditions (Reclaimed Hearts #1) by @ellekeatonauthor as narrated by Gabriel McKnight I read this ages ago when it was first published and then as soon as it was released in audio, I had to listen to it! it’s a rare breed of cozy romantic-suspense with the small town setting and this one is based around an enemies to lovers trope between two neighbours both alike in dignity! lol

I truly loved this book. The way Elle writes just works. Vincent and Xavier had a connection that Vincent couldn’t accept because of fear of loss again. Xavier has a pull to Vincent and he doesn’t want to push him away. They have known each other forever but Vincent couldn’t let it in. The narrators voice and energy make the story better too. I definitely recommend this book to everyone who loves mm romance stories.

I absolutely loved this book when I read it with my eyes a little over two years ago; I wish I could say that I loved the audiobook. I still loved the story so much but I found the narrator to be unnecessarily emotive to the point that he almost sounded campy. I'm sure that part of the problem for me was that Michael Dean has performed many of Elle's books in other series that are somewhat connected. I just didn't feel that sense of suspense while listening that I felt when I read the book with my eyes. I'm going to say that it really might just be that I'm not accustomed to his style as this is the first audiobook I've listened to that he's narrated. Below is my review of the story from when I read it with my eyes. A great start to a new series! Adverse Conditions is the first book in a new series by Elle Keaton. It has to spend a bit of time setting up things that won’t be resolved until future books and that wasn’t unexpected. This is a great story with older MCs – early 40’s – and I’m glad to see more authors writing books for characters who are a bit older. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy good books with characters of all ages but as an older person myself it’s nice to read about older characters once in a while. Xavier and Vincent start out as enemies which goes back to their high school days. It isn’t long before Xavier realizes that he doesn’t want to be enemies at all but Vincent takes a bit of coaxing, mostly because he has a daughter to consider. I loved all of the characters in this story and I’m sure that some of the secondary ones will be getting their own book at some point. I loved the rescue dog element and the fact that Xavier’s mom took in two who were a bonded pair. There’s a murder mystery that wasn’t resolved yet but the romance between the two main characters is solid. It wouldn’t be an Elle Keaton story if there weren’t some humor mixed in with all of the serious stuff. Xavier’s very expensive shoes provided great comic relief, especially when Vincent came up with the perfect solution; you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out what that was. . Elle did a good bit of teasing us with interesting secondary characters throughout Adverse Conditions and I was very happy to learn that Martin and Nick will be the MCs of Below Grade coming soon!