Yanni's Story

Engaging story of a young gay man who had been on the streets and whose rescue and rehabilitation is a testimony to his own inner strengths and many very good and caring people. There is a fair amount of pathos and a well described, sometimes rocky, path to recovery. The story is not simply a spin-off of the earlier Spencer Cohen books ( all of which I have enjoyed, mostly through Audio books--more on that below. It can be greatly enjoyed on its own. And to those who have already read the others in the series, the intersections are seamless and fun to recognize. The characters are well developed and the author has a real knack in bringing out the characters in dialogue. The more titillating parts are both "more" and "titillating" and, for me, beautifully rendered. As to the narrator, I don't have adequate words to praise Joel Leslie's work. He has brought this excellent author's people to life in such a vivid way. I feel I truly know them--and like them! It is amazing how he is able to keep so many characters' voices in his head (given the large number throughout the series). I can see myself reading/listening to any and all works of N.R.Walker and Joel Leslie.

let's start with the positive because despite of all I'm going to say, this is still a somewhat enjoyable audiobook at least partly. The main charakters are lovely especially Yanni of course and his developement (if a bit idealized and simplified at points) is quite believable. the main plot about the past trauma and all that it entails is really interesting and also rather realistic. Joel Leslie does a fantastic Job as usual.let's start with the most obvious problem: this audiobook is really long. I would say at least 2 hours too long probably more. Especially towards the end the story drags. the emotional peak is reached probably around hour 11 or maybe 12 and so the rest of the over 15 hour long journey feels a bit pointless. the side charakters (as is the case for the whole series) are a bit flat and their motivation feel rather convenient for the plot and sadly really unrealistic.my main criticism however concerns the main romantic relationship itself: it feels like walker just wanted to much for this one story. on top of a highly complex case of cPTSD that the main character has to deal with, this story also features a rather in-your-face storyline of Daddy kink that got very suddenly so pornographic that I actually had to stop and skip parts- and believe me I usuallydont ever skip stuff but wow insest talk turned my stomac. And all that is happening whilst there is a very clear power imbalance within the relationship and a really bad case of PTSD - felt really wrong and toxic to me no matter how often Yanni is given a speach of it not being toxic. Also the second main charakter is double the age of the first. In and of it self that might not be a problem, people meet and fall in love, you cant plan that stuff, I get it. this is not the case here. the second main character actually only dates men that are 20 years younger than him he specifically looks for men in their esrly 20s. This is actually a rather big red flag. it's not less problematic just because it’s a gay love story, men can also be in toxic relationships. Of course it get's explained away with 'it’s something about the energy of younger men....' - i mean really? That’s the same crap men in their midlife crises tell to make themselves feel better for going after college students. it’s not about the energy, it’s about felt expectations that they might face with partners their own age and personal responsibilty they do not want to shoulder and in the worst cases they specifically look for the power imbalance that usually comes with an age difference. That is also one of the main criticisms of the Daddy kink itself, because this imbalance can be a focus and get's hightened and often can lead to a lot of mental damage on both sides.All in all sadly a rather problematic story. I Really do NOT recommend it for people with sexual abuse in their history or who have experienced any kind of physical abuse or PTSD