The Love of My Next Life

Next Life Duet, Book 1

By: Brit Benson

Narrated by: JF Harding, Lidia Dornet

Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

I calmed his demons. He created mine.

Macon Davis. My best friend’s brother. My tormentor. My least favorite person. Pothead. Delinquent. A careless, directionless loser.

That’s what I used to believe, but I didn’t really know him. And when I finally saw him, it was the best and worst thing to ever happen to me.

We burned hot and fast. Passion. Anger. Love. Pain. We were reckless. Naive. We were doomed from the start.

When I finally saw Macon Davis for who he was, we both went down in the flames.

***

The Love of My Next Life is part one of a duet. It is just as much a love story as it is a tale of ruin. While the duet will end in an HEA, book one does not.

©2022 Brit Benson Books (P)2023 Brit Benson Books

Amazing Start To This Duet!

I read The Love of My Next Life when it first came out so I thought I was prepared to listen to the audio book. But again I was completely blown away by this story. The audio version just brought it more to life and therefore made me more invested. Narrators Lidia Dornet & JF Harding did an amazing job as Macon & Lennon and I couldn't have loved it more!

If you haven't met Macon & Lennon yet what are you waiting for?!

Ahhmazing

** Audio Review **

OVERALL: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟💫- All the Stars
•Storyline: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
▪︎Spice Level:  🌶🌶/ 5
•Narration: Duet Style- 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧👏/5 -JF Harding & Lidia Dornet
•Swoon level:🫠🫠🫠/5
•Bookshelf Worthy: 📚📚📚📚📚/5
•Platform: Audio and E-book
•Recommend: Yes!!!
▪︎Re-read/re-listen: Yes!!! Most definitely
•Trope: Enimies to lovers. Opposites attract.

Check your trigger warnings.

• Thoughts:
Have you ever read a story that has captured your whole heart, mind, body, and soul? This is one of those books! It was everything, I was so captivated and so in love with the heart, feelings, and words the author laid out in front of us. This book was so well done. We meet Lennon and Macon when they are elementary age and into their last year of high school. The level of understanding they have for one another, the type of love where their souls recognize each other. These stories are the ones that stay with me for a lifetime. I don't think this couple will ever leave me. I was so deeply touched and have the book hangover to prove it. Lol. This is a review where I will tell you after you verify this book won't trigger you. You need to read it. My words will not do this book justice. I wish I could write a review to do this book justice. Just read it.

•Narrator thoughts:
JF Harding and Lidia Dornet were 100 percent pure perfection!!! I loved their performance. I love them! These two narrators are incredible, and they brought Lennon and Macon to life. Fantastic job!!!

Second chance to get it right!

Macon and Lennon were childhood enemies. From the moment she showed up in elementary school, they clashed like no other. She was his sister's best friend. And then plot twist... and another plot twist... and yet another plot twist. The tension, the angst, the banter... all of it came through in living color with narrators Lidia Dornet and JF Harding. The personalities and emotions were palpable through their voices. I can't wait to dive into book 2.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this review.

Emotional and angsty!

The Love of My Next Life is a highly emotional, enemies to lovers-more like bully-romance. It's full of teenage drama and then some. Lennon's best friend is Claire, who has an older brother, Macon. Macon and Lennon have a very complex and toxic relationship. Macon seems to hate Lennon one minute and then lusts after her the next. He is very unlikable for most of the story. It ends in a cliffhanger and I am so glad I had the next book.

Thank you to Home Cooked Books for the ALC of this story. It's a duet narration and so, so good. Both male and female narrators pulled me into this story, and I didn't want to stop listening.

Captivating from start to finish

Loved it! The storyline in this book is captivating from start to finish. Lidia Dornet and JF Harding give stellar performances as Lennon and Macon. This book is part of a duet and book one ends in a cliffhanger. I purchased the next book before even finishing the epilogue.

An Emotional Read

Brit Benson never disappoints me. I listened to this book in two days. It was so fast paced and I just kept wanting to know more. I love a good best friends brother story. Although in this book I did not like the best friend. Lennon deserved so much better. Macon wasn’t any better at times playing with her feelings but there were scenes in his POV that show how much he cares for her, he’s just not in the right mindset to show her real love. The cliffhanger at the end got me good and I can’t wait for book two.

Listening to this book was an emotional rollercoaster. I have never hard JF Harding or Lidia Dornet. Both told the story with such emotion you could feel the scenes especially where the Lennon was going through the unthinkable. She really went above and beyond to show it in her voice. I felt the same about JF Harding. Both narrators took each character and made them jump off the page.

I highly recommend this book.

My ears are on fire!!

W O W!! JF Harding you slayed Macon Davis, your voice gave me goosebumps and I’m ready to listen to everything you narrate from this point forward! A thousand thumbs up 👍🏻. And Lidia Dornet voice was pure gold when it came to narrating push over , Lennon Capri Washington. I loved these two characters and their narrators and now a true fan! I need more!

5 star

this was a beautiful narration. well done. the guy did the guy parts and the girl did the girl parts. I finished this thing in one day. I couldn't get enough. ugh. my heart hurts in the bestway

What a start to this story!

This is the first book on the Next Life duet and WOW.

It will leave you destroyed…or at least it did me. And I IMMEDIATELY dove into the 2nd book in the duet.

This story follows Lennon and Macon and let’s just say their relationship is rocky, at best. Best friend’s brother, enemies to lovers, so much angst, and all the emotions one can handle. This book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger so you def need to snag the second book and read it.

The duet narration by Lidia Dornet and JF Harding is absolutely perfect : you can FEEL the emotions from their voices coming off in waves.

One of my faves of 2023

This is book 1 of a duet. It sets the foundation of Lennon and Macon’s relationship. Together, Both books cover a span of about 10 years of their relationship.

From the very beginning, I am eating up the tension between these two characters. I loved, how in the first few chapters we get Lennon’s POV on how she sees Macon which really sets the stage for her early relationship with him. And when the duet comes in with Macon’s POV the story really starts to settle in with a delicious back and forth sparring. So, we’re still in a mysterious place of not knowing why he’s a troubled teen. And that adds a lot to the good angst. Lennon went through so much growing up that she’s become a strong young woman, but the struggles with her budding relationship with Macon as she’s triggered by his drug use among so many other things. All this adds multiple layers of rich storytelling.

Normally I’m not one for very angsty drama but this delivers so well. Macon’s history and his reliance on numbing with drugs is handled well. It’s tough to listen to and I didn’t want to like him in the beginning because of it yet it’s key to understand his history and how Lennon reacts to him while they are teens but also sets up her triggered responses for when she’s older.

I’d call this a page-turner if I was reading it. As this is audio, I found I took it into stores with me as I didn’t want to stop listening.

The cliffhanger for book one left so many questions and I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to listen to the ALC of book 2 immediately

And WOW. These two narrators hit it out of the park. What a perfect pairing.
JF Harding is one of my favorite narrators. His vocal range from children to older men is so varied and makes for this great story. This is the first book I’ve listened to of Lidia Dornet and I really like her. She kept me interested and her emotions she portrayed for Lennon really hit the mark.