Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

By: Charlie Cochet

Narrated by: Michael Stellman

Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Julian "Quinn" Quintero, a gruff, tough Miami SWAT officer, has been injured on the job, and all he's looking for is a little peace and quiet to recover - difficult to achieve with his large Cuban family. An adventure in picking up his prescriptions puts him in the path of his geeky, brownie-baking neighbor, Spencer Morgan. Spencer sweeps into Quinn's life like a tropical storm of sunshine and rainbows. Not surprisingly, it's chaos at first sight. Quinn's in need of a little tender loving care, and Spencer decides he's just the man for the job. Their very different lives might clash, but they might also find some common ground - and maybe more.

©2015 Charlie Cochet (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

I love you and your brownies equally

I’ve owned this audio for a while and I purchased it back then because the title was so cute and it was only $1.99 with whispersync. 😉 And what a fun, little sexy listen this is! 😍 I really wish this is a full-length novel because I can’t get enough of Spencer and Quinn. The title of the book pretty much explains everything. Quinn is a Miami SWAT officer who has to rest at home “grumpily” because of his leg injury and Spencer is the next door neighbor geek who smothered Quinn with his divine cooking and unending affection. 😂 Of course, the first encounter was hilarious! 😁 I mean the geek and the jock so what do you expect? 😎 It was endearingly awkward and funny. And things develop rather quickly from that! Finally our all-o-mighty SWAT officer had to give in to the inescapable nerdy charms of Spencer. 😁 This is such a low-angst, sweet and endearing listen. I really loved it so much even Quinn’s arseholian friend Javier couldn’t annoy me from enjoying the hell out of this shortie. Michael Stellman did a lovely job narrating the story and I couldn’t recommend this enough for a short, fun and sweet listen. 😌😘


5 I love you and your brownies equally stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️




Audio rating

Story - 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Performance - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Overall - 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sweet tale

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts was a sweet, if not terribly dramatic, romance. It was well-written and had interesting guys I wish I knew in real life.

I loved the twink/alpha male pairing and enjoyed the unusual way in which they fell in love.

Michael Stellman did a great job with this novella. Quinn and Spencer have different personalities as well as distinct voices and the narrator nailed them both as well as Quinn’s hilarious Cuban family.

One of My Favorites

I love this book. both Reading and Audio of it. Its Cute and Funny and I love Spencer! I wish it was a little longer but still. this is my Go-To story when I need a pick me up or a laugh.
the Narrator is good for this one too. My first time listening to him and he did a good job.

Light hearted and fun

If you're familiar with Cochet you know you're gonna laugh and it's fun and serious and kinda crazy but it all works, the narration is done well a quick and fun story.

Sweet performance

Any additional comments?

Michael Stellman delivers a sweet performance of this cute novella.

When Miami SWAT officer Julian “Quinn” Quintero is shot in the line of duty during a raid he's laid up out of work until he heals up. When his brother in law tries to drop off a prescription but can't get Quinn to open his door, he ends up leaving the medicine with Quinn's next door neighbor, Spencer Morgan.

Spencer has noticed the hot officer and his 8-pack for over a year, but, unfortunately Quinn's never noticed him. Until now. When hot officer and computer geek meet it's a humorously epic disaster. When Spencer returns to Quinn to apologize, and help out, the two begin spending time together and getting to know one another.

For those looking for some hot sexy times, there's nothing spicy happening until the end, but it's really fluid the way it happens. I liked that their relationship grew and developed naturally. The only complaints I have is I wish the last third of the story didn't feel so rushed, and I didn't buy that Spencer would have been so naïve with the stunt Javier pulls at the end.

That aside, I enjoyed this - it was cute and sweet with a little heat at the end. I just would have enjoyed a little more heat, if you know what I'm sayin'.

As for the narration Stellman does a good job, but not stellar in the accent area. I may be biased having been raised in Miami, but his Cuban accent needs a lot of work.

It's fluffy and low angst and I would definitely recommend it for a quick listen on a commute.

Recommended.

Nice!

Sweet romance between two nice guys. I didn't find Julian "gruff" -- just a bit reserved at the beginning. But Spencer was adorable and vulnerable from the start. Loved it when they got together. Heartwarming! :-)

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

Omg this audio book was absolutely positively amazing. I would highly recommend this audio book.

Cute and fun romance

This is a sweet story, light and fun. And Michael really brings the story to life in his reading of it.

Quinn and Spencer are fun characters, and their progression from friends to lovers happens in a light-hearted and natural way. This book is focused much more on relationship building than on sex. So the sex scenes are well done and hot, but infrequent.

I highly recommend this to someone looking for a cute, low-angst romance.

*I received a free copy of this audiobook from Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review.*

Fun story okay narration

Spencer is a socially awkward, comic-book-loving, computer nerd who works from home. He’s been secretly crushing on his super-hot SWAT team neighbor for the last year and now that the guy’s injured he figures it’s his chance to be “friendly”.

Quinn is a no-nonsense, kinda grumpy guy who isn’t really looking for a relationship. He’s never even noticed Spencer before and now the guy is showing up all over the place.

After a disastrous “first” meeting, they quickly become friends. When Quinn’s loving but meddlesome family butts in AND his sometimes dickish friends get involved things move from friends to “more”, but can it last and is it real or just a game to Quinn while he’s laid up?

**

First I have to say that I love, love, love, LOVE Charlie Cochet. I’m a huge fan. So I was psyched to see a contemporary short of hers coming out and devoured it right away.

I love the humor, the characters, and the set-up. Geek meets God. God’s a grumpy-ass and Geek is too-cute-for-words.

What I think was missing in this story is length. I know, I know. People always say they want more, more, more. But really, in this case I did think it was necessary.

I wanted the conversion from pesky neighbor to friend to be slower. As it stands, one big meal and Quinn is spilling all his feelings and Spencer is telling his life story. I wanted Quinn to be reticent for a longer period of time, forcing Spencer to really make the effort.

Second, there was so much wonderful detail that kind of got squished in the middle and left alone. Quinn’s family is hysterical! I love them! I wanted more time with the mother plotting to get Quinn and Spencer together. More inappropriate blurts from the father. More matchmaking from the brother-in-law.

Third, I was sort-of confused by the direction the sexual nature of the relationship went. Once there was kissing there was off page “making out” for days? Weeks? Then the final scene – definitely HOT – but the only time we see them in that way. It felt kinda disjointed and strange to not see the physical side of their relationship develop more organically.

Fourth, the climactic final scene. Ugh! I wanted to punch Javier square in his… well face is fine but really?!? What an a-hole! I was glad Quinn got him a good one, but I didn’t understand his motivation at all! I also didn’t think Spencer would have gone for the whole stripping thing to begin with and once he saw a room full of people – he’d have been out of there! But he stayed then there was the Misunderstanding (capital M) and a quick make up scene.

If we’re going to have a Big Misunderstanding, give it time to fester and have the boy do some real groveling. But since the whole stripper thing kind of felt like left field I’m not sure how that would have even worked out.

So… on the one hand I loved so much of the story and thought it was terribly cute and sweet but knowing how well Charlie can create full and well drawn out stories I was a bit let down. Maybe if I’d never read anything else by her I would have been satisfied, but even her Christmasy short stories seemed more well-rounded than this did.

I still liked it and would recommend it.

Audio

Michael Stellman did a nice enough job with this. He has a lovely reading voice, good cadence, and nice pacing. But… there was so much potential if there’d been a narrator who could do the many Cuban accents. Michael’s Spanish isn’t good and he makes no attempt at an accent. That was disappointing. (I love me a hot Spanish accent!)

As a way to enjoy this, it’s good but not fantastic. I enjoyed listening to it but wished for more…

3.5 of 5 stars

Great but short

I enjoyed the story but it was a bit to short for my liking. Narrator was great.