End of the Line

Rail Riders, Book 1

By: Nicky James

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

When a boy who has everything meets a boy who has nothing, life will never be the same again.

Leopold Van Eschen is in big trouble. All the money in the world won’t save him from what he’s done. On the run, desperate to get away, Leo finds himself seeking help from a bunch of vagabonds he meets in a railyard.

Leo has no idea his whole world is about to change.

Killian has been homeless and living on the fly for nine years. The closest thing he has to family is a group of fellow freight-hoppers. With the wind at his back and the whole world stretched out before him, he’s happy. It’s not an easy life, but you can’t put a price on freedom.
A chance run-in with a wealthy stranger turns Killian’s world upside down. Leo’s cute and desperate to get away. Without knowing a thing about him, Killian and his friends help Leo escape the city.
It doesn’t take long before Killian realizes the boy he’s slowly falling for has dark secrets.

Who is Leo running from?
What happened to make Leo want to give up a life of wealth to live the life of a vagabond instead?

**End of the Line is the first book in a queer romance series. It’s a story of two men from vastly different worlds who fall in love while on a journey of self-discovery. It’s a story of friendship and found family. No cliffhangers. 100% HEA**

©2021 Nicky James (P)2023 Nicky James

What an amazing ride

Well Nicky James has done it again. She's taken an idea and created a new and exciting story of rail jumping. Leo and Killian are well written characters. The storyline draws you in immediately and I was invested from the get go. The whole gang are an interesting group and Nicky’s characters have this depth that you can’t help but be drawn into the story. The narration is wonderful and he brings all the characters to life.
I look forward to listening to the rest of this series. If you have enjoyed Nicky's books before then you will not be disappointed in this one.

Road trip

Excellent and awesome, dangerous and exciting. one of the best reads for me in 2025.

Amazing story

I love Nicky James' writing and particularly appreciate the variety of stories she tells. End of the Line is amazing, one of her best. It has a unique premise and a captivating storyline with a little bit of everything - some action/adventure, suspense, romance, hurt/comfort. It's perfectly crafted and expertly executed. The found family dynamic James creates between Leo, Killian, and their fellow rail riders is so strong. I adored it and am so glad several stories follow this fascinating group of created family. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately, I didn't love Nick J. Russo's vocal performance on this title. Russo is a skilled narrator, and he hits it out of the park when he's on. But he can be inconsistent and his interpretation of the characters here is a miss, at least for me. TBH, Russo isn't the strongest with accents and he tries for it here with Leo, but it's not quite right to start with and then he drops the accent fairly often. All in all, it made for a confusing listening experience. Russo's fundamentals are otherwise solid and he captures the scenes' emotions and dynamics. But because I found the accent issue distracting, I'd probably revert to just text for this story on rereads.

I want a rider tattoo!!!

I love this book! I love it when it came out and I love it when now a year or so later! I have all the books in this series and can't wait to have Nick bring them to life! I completely forgot some great moments and some emotional ones that he just brings to life in a way that makes me forget where I am and what I'm doing because my brain is currently running away from a herd of stampeding cows. killer and greenie are so cute together I love them together and how they got there was a fight! one thing I kept forgetting about when I read it was Leo's accent. but now hearing it so much makes more since.

also Leo's dad!!! ugh we love a growing father.

I'll catch you on the rails for the next one!

Fantastic audio. Happily recommend

The dramatic, action packed start drew me straight into this story.

Leopold is running, from what exactly, we are not sure, but we know it's nothing good. Leopold literally stumbles and Killian steps in to help him. I, like Killian, was curious about Leo's past..

"What kind of life did you live before this? Why are you running? Who are you, Leo? What happened to you?"

Even after I found out more about Leo's story I was intrigued to see what his future held. I  liked that Willow, Tyler and Dodger along with Killian and Leo were becoming a little makeshift family. The group slowly starting to warm to Leo and becoming more willing to help him.

'Love was something I knew nothing about, but I was ready to learn. I wanted it more and more every day. '

This is a well paced story full of action and adventure. It's an intense and powerful story of families, hope, trust and freedom.

I enjoyed listening to Nick J Russo bringing life to these guys. The voices for these characters sounds spot on. I actually thought it was dual narration as for a while as he does such a great job of distinctive voices for each character.