Barred Desires

The Deepest Desires, Book 1

De: Ashley James

Narrado por: Eric Corbyn, Michael Gallagher

Duración: 6 h y 30 m

Resumen del Editor

Luca Gray Hart

I have everything I could ever want—a great family, awesome friends, a girlfriend, and I’m headed off to my dream college. But the past is always there, lurking like a shadow in the night....

Branson Joseph Adler

I love men. I love everything about them. Their feel. Their smell. Their taste. It’s no secret to my friends and family that I’m gay. But I do have one secret....

What happens when you give in to the temptation and your world turns upside down?

It’s forbidden.

But it’s ours.

Barred Desires is the first book in the Deepest Desires interconnected series. It is a forbidden MM stepbrother romance, and it is angsty, emotional, and steamy.

©2022 Ashley James (P)2023 Pink Flamingo Productions

Great Story & Narration🎧 Steamy & Emotional!

I enjoyed this book immensely, the story not only captivated my attention right from the start, but it tugged on my tugged on my heartstrings the entire time, too. Ashley James is a “new to me” author, and I enjoyed her writing style. The storylines she created are interesting and original and the characters are realistic, easy to relate to and connect with, they were easy to care about too. I adored the two lead characters, Luca Gray Hart and Branson Joseph Adler, the secondary characters were great too, except for Courtney, Branson’s nickname for her was very fitting. Branson and Luca become stepbrothers when Luca’s father and Branson’s mother married. Courtney and Luca dated for a couple of years, but he is not happy with her or their relationship, plus he is having inappropriate thoughts about his stepbrother, Branson, who is gay, despite being straight. Luca is starting college and when his housing plan falls through, his father suggests he take the extra room at Branson’s house, which is what he does. Luca fits right in with the guys at the house and he and Branson become even closer and their feelings for each other strengthen. Complicating things are Courtney and that they are stepbrothers, also Luca’s past nightmares are coming back to haunt him, and it is Branson who comforts him. Both of them have past demons, but Branson deals with his better, and he shares his with Luca who opens up about his own, both were gut-wrenching to hear. Love is love, so I do not see this as a forbidden romance, and I loved how their relationship played out, the story is wonderfully plotted story and has plenty of drama, heartfelt emotions and steamy romance.  Ashley James, thank you for this great story and emotional rollercoaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 And for terrific the narration, Michael Gallagher and Eric Corbyn did a great job bringing these bringing these characters and story to life. They had a complete understanding of the characters they were portraying, giving each a voice that suited their character and was believable in every role they played. You could hear how much heart they put into their work as they captured the character’s emotions and projected them into their performance. They are entertaining storytellers and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for the great listen. 

Sweet and steamy stepbrothers love story

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Luca and Branson were fantastic together, they had heat and such a great connection. For me, it took too long for things with Courtney to come to a head and Branson and Luca to progress, it made the story feel like it dragged a little bit. But it was because they clearly had no chemistry and no one likes Courtney. The writing was well done. I loved how things progressed (outside of the Courtney issue). It deals with some very heavy and sad topics, lots of issues that crop up and just broke my heart. I loved the taboo aspect.

I listened to the audio book, and it was a good performance. I really liked Branson’s voice actor but I wasn’t a huge fan of Luca’s, you could hear him take his breaths and they sounded too loud sometimes and not there others but it drove me insane when he sucked air in and it sounded like he was gasping. Otherwise, if you can get beyond that, they do a good job.

Great story!!

This is a well told story. The narrator does an excellent job telling it. He puts in some real emotion during the good parts. It really puts passion in to the story.

MM step brother romance

This was hot! I loved the relationship between these two. There was also some depth and past trauma. Hurt/comfort & step bros! ❤️

Luca and Corbin

𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣, 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚, 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩. 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢.

𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐒 is the first book in The Deepest Desires series by Ashley James which is Luca and Branson's story.

Branson has had feelings for his stepbrother Luca for a while but he knows nothing can come from it. After Luca accidentally walks in on Branson, all of a sudden things start changing and they start to become a lot closer.

Branson and Luca danced around each other for a bit when it came to giving in to their feelings but once they finally gave in, they were combustible. There were a few side characters that I could have done without. I am excited to dive into book two of the series.

Michael Gallagher was great as always and I enjoyed my first experience with Erin Corbyn and look forward to listening to more books by him in the future.

Get ready for... mm, stepbrother, college, forbidden, gay awakening, first times, playboy, roommates,

Content & Kinks... sexual abuse (mc, childhood)

4 Maple Leafs | 3 Flames

MM Slow Burn Romance

This is the first book in The Deepest Desires Series, a forbidden MM stepbrother romance. Luca and Branson's slow burn romance is emotional, and passionate, filled with angst, and family drama. They are both interesting characters. The chemistry is sizzling hot. Eric Corbyn and Michael Gallagher did a good job bringing this story to life. #PFPAudio

ashleys debut?

this was ashley’s debut? it was so good!! i really liked the one narrator but the other one really bothered me. you could hear his breath intake after every sentence. the story was great tho!!

A little different

This was a little different but I did enjoyed reading it. It’s a little slow at the beginning but then it moved quickly . Eric and Michael did an amazing job at narrating

MM, step sibling trope

I rarely read the description of the book so I go in blind almost every time. This one I knew was an MM, but didn't know what tropes it had. So it was a surprise for me when it was stepbrothers. Overall I really enjoyed this performance. The narrations was great, the tones of their voices matched the emotions and the ups and down of the book. I could hear the smiles when there was good times and their voices were wonderful. Step siblings trope is on the taboo side and I think it was done well in this book. They did grow up together, and didn't realize their feelings for each other until they were in college. The book had smooth transitions and dealt with some tough subjects, Parental death, drug abuse, domestic violence, child rape, and more. With how short the book was I think it dealt with it well in that time frame. I liked the story but I think it was missing something or maybe how quickly it moved with their relationship was what had me feeling it was more of a 3.5 stars on the storyline. Overall I would recommend the book if you are fan of the taboo MM side of romance books!

Excellent!

I loved how the relationship developed over time, but there was still action 😉 from the start.

I thought the narrator for Branson was great. The narrator for Luca was kinda breathy (which I was mostly able to ignore) and might bug some listeners.

The spice was excellent! It was intimate without feeling fetishizing.

Overall a great book! I’ll definitely being reading more from this author.

**Major tw for CSA and SA.
***I received a copy of this audiobook from Pink Flamingo Productions in exchange for my honest review