Anthony

Single Dads of Gaynor Beach

By: Gabbi Grey

Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthony

During my seven years as a social worker in Gaynor Beach, California, delivering orphaned twins to their unsuspecting father is the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced. These babies lost their mother and they need a loving parent, but is adorable Scott Wexler up to that challenge? Transferring custody is one thing—walking away is something entirely different, especially with the stress of Christmas bearing down on Scott too.

Scott

After escaping a miserable childhood, I’ve made a fresh start in California. I’m in charge at the Gaynor Beach Public Library, I love helping people, and I'm feeling like an actual functional human being. Then social worker Anthony Rodrigues shows up on my doorstep with twins I fathered through a sperm donation, and suddenly I'm responsible for two tiny lives. Accepting help from the gorgeous social worker is a no brainer—admitting I want him to stay is going to take a lot more courage.

This 74k word gay romance is a slow burn, mid-angst, instalove with a geeky librarian, a by-the-book social worker, adorable twin-toddler terrors, and a beleaguered cat named Crumpy.

©2022 Gabbi Grey (P)2024 Gabbi Grey

"We need to talk..."

After finishing Hugh, which is also a story by Gabbi Grey, in this multi-authored series of books called Single Dads of Gaynor Beach, I immediately started Anthony. At the time I didn't realize that Anthony was the same Anthony in the Hugh story. I didn't like Anthony very much so I wasn't sure I'd enjoyed this book. I'm glad to say I was wrong.

First off, if you haven't read/listened to Hugh, stop and read that first, these two books really should be read in order. It would be a shame to miss out on the subtleties of these characters.

This story was another emotional read/listen. I also forgot to mention in the last review I did that Michael Ferraiuolo did a fantastic job with the narration of both of these books (Hugh and Anthony). He brought these stories to life.

Slow-burn, some angst, unexpected arrival, social worker with some personal problems, librarian with a rough childhood, hopefully these two will work through their personal issues

Great audiobook

The storyline was good. Emotional at times. Michael Ferraiuolo voice the different characters well and performed the emotional scenes perfectly. The lack of communication between Anthony and Scott gave me anxiety but that anxiety made the book better for me. I would recommend listening to Hugh first though because i accidentally switch them around and Anthony gives small spoilers for Hugh.

Anthony & Scott

I enjoyed this story a lot. I'm glad we got to see that Anthony wasn't really as bad as he seemed when we first met him in Hugh. I'm glad he and Scott got their HEA. I enjoyed the audiobook for this one with the great narration from Michael Ferraiuolo.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Sweet Romance!

I really loved all of the struggles that this couple went through when twins were unexpectedly dropped off at the bio-Dad's house by the local social worker. Feeling sorry for the unsuspecting Dad, the social worker stuck around to help. This story is very sweet, and reminded me of all of the issues I had with my little one! I wish there had been 2 narrators, as the voices were too similar for my taste.

Fantastic narration

Narration 5⭐️
Book 5⭐️

I wasn’t too sure about this going in, because I absolutely despised Anthony from one of the other books. However, he has a great redemption story. He and Scott fairly fall into a relationship, but it works. I loved the secondary characters, especially the inclusion of Lacey. I’d love to see a couple more epilogues showing years down the road, as the twins get older.

Parenting brings companionship, then love

When Anthony, a social worker, shows up with twins at Scott’s door, it’s a shock. The story is that Scott’s best friend used his sperm donation, unbeknownst to him, then gave up her babies to Anthony at work.

Anthony knows it’s too much for Scott and offers to help, guiding him with getting the kids settled, buying furniture for them, and feeding and diapering.

Scott really wants the kids, and doesn’t know why his friend never contacted him about taking them, but at least with Anthony, and eventually Lacey to babysit, things start to settle.

They realize it’s not the best time to start a relationship, but can’t help wanting more from each other. Meanwhile, they deal with a vet visit for the cat, a hospital visit for one baby, and Anthony’s estranged father, as well as the babies’ mother, showing up.

In all the chaos, they still manage to fall in love and form a family.

I received this ARC for free and am pleased to provide my honest review in appreciation.

Not for me

I don't know how I feel about this book. I couldn't get past the premise and the relationship seemed forced. There is no way this could happen in real life and I know I should go with it. I read books with vampires, dragons, alpha/omegas, etc. with no problem. But I could let go this time.
This book just wasn't for me even if the story was well thought out and cohesive.
I received this ARC for free and am pleased to provide my honest review.
angst 2/5
heat 2/5
story 3/5
POV 2

Anthony and Scott

I admit I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder with Anthony. His behavior in the book, which features Hugh and Oscar, left a bad impression. Seeing how he gave so much of himself to Scott and the twins had me changing my mind about him. Anthony and Scott open themselves up and expose their pasts to build a solid and deep relationship. I loved their devotion to each other and their babies. The ending is so hopeful that I'm crossing my fingers that Gabbi writes us a follow-up.
Highly recommended author and series

Audiobook: Excellent narrator

Wonderful Story & Listen🎧 Engrossing & Heartfelt!

It is great to be back in Gaynor Beach for another fantastic single dad romance novel written by Gabbi Great and it is a great addition to the series, a multi-author series of standalone novels. After meeting Anthony Rodrigues in “Hugh” I knew I needed to know his story, and despite not being very likable, I still found him intriguing and knew there was more to him than meets to eye. Anthony is a social worker with child protective services and he delivers not one but two bundles of joy to Scott Wexler, twin babies he had not known he fathered, via sperm donation, once he gets over the shock of it all, Scott handles the surprise fairly well. This is an unusual case for Anthony and he takes a special interest in it, in Scott and the babies too, so he sticks around to help him take care of the babies and to set up his home. It was great to watch these two get to know each other and see their relationship morph into more, also great to learn their backstories and knowing Anthony’s explained a lot of his behavior. Both overcame their childhoods and made the best for themselves. This is a beautifully written and plotted story, a story that captivated my attention the entire time and tugged at my heartstrings. Gabbi Grey, thank you for another wonderful story and emotional rollercoaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 Michael Ferraiuolo continues to deliver an outstanding performance bringing these characters and story to life. His character voices are fitting to their personalities and he is believable in every role. He continues to set the perfect tone for the story, captures all the characters’ emotions and had you feeling each one. Ferraiuolo is a versatile voice artist and his performance elevates this already wonderful story to another level. Thank you for another fabulous listen.

Redeemed

Anthony is book 8 in the single dads of gaynor beach, a multi-author series, but can absolutely be read as a stand alone. Having read some of the other Gaynor beach books by Gabbi Grey, I had some inkling of the characters in this one but there’s enough back story or the characters are minor enough that it’s not noticeable. I actually read/listened to this before Hugh - which is book number 4 - and I highly highly recommend this and I’ll tell you why. I really, really didn’t like Anthony and I think his redemption would have been much more difficult had I read Hugh first. Does Hugh take place temporally first? Yes. Do the plots tie together? Also yes. Do I still recommend reading Anthony first, absolutely yes. Anthony is a social worker who was hard on one of his clients who subsequently overdosed and everyone blamed Anthony for her overdose. While that’s inherently problematic and I understand that, seeing how he interacted with Oscar and Hugh in Hugh …. Ugh. No. So open with him trying to redeem himself by helping an unsuspecting Scott with two toddler he didn’t know he had? It works. He sort of goes to help Scott and then basically never leaves. But watching him figure his stuff out and deal with some of his past issues - some of which just show up at the door - and how he loves those kids, well it works. As a slight sidenote, Anthony’s dad gets admitted to the hospital and the doc realizes he has a DNR so somehow he doesn’t get treatment? DNR and end of life care are not the same and often confused, and this perpetuated that erroneous belief in my perception. That being said, it really didn’t detract from the overall story too much. Glad they all got their found family.