Cherish & Blessed

Faith, Love, and Devotion, Book 4

By: Tere Michaels

Narrated by: JP Handler

After several years of happy coupledom, Matt and Evan can relax in the knowledge that their little family has survived the worst of it. The two older girls are away at college, the twins have yet to fully hit teen angst, Matt is doing well with his part time security consulting, and Evan is about to be promoted to captain - it seems like things are calm and bright.

Until they aren't.

As the holidays approach, Evan and Matt get a shock no parent is ever prepared for: feisty Miranda, Evan's eldest, has a new boyfriend Kent, and they are talking marriage after just three months together. In fact, Miranda wants to bring him to Thanksgiving dinner - along with his parents Blake and Cornelia.

Blessed:

Lives are in transition as everyone gathers at the stunning Hamptons beach home of Daisy and Bennett to celebrate the christening of their new baby. Griffin and Jim - secretly growing tired of their rootless lifestyle - are in a rocky spot in their relationship. And as the godfather, Griffin finds himself yearning for something he's sure Jim won't be interested in.

Fatherhood.

Matt and Evan are looking to reconnect during the long weekend, as their respective careers pull them in separate directions. With less time spent together, Evan grows concerned about what will happen when the last two kids leave the nest.

©2015 Tere Michaels (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

bit of a filler .... solid 3.5 stars

📖 Story comment: 2 separate stories - more vignettes "a day in the life of", rather than actual stories.

Cherished: easy pace, Matt & Evan's characters are consistent and they continue to develop and grow into their relationship. It's Thanksgiving dinner and Evan's eldest daughter Miranda's is behaving like a brat - I wasn't a fan!

Blessed: Everyone is together for Daisy's baby christening, bit of a follow-up to Griffin & Jim's story and where they are currently at in their relationship. Easy pace and I enjoyed it.

🎧 Narrator comment: I have no real issues with JP Handler's narration, his style is his own and I found nothing overtly wrong with it. His characters voices are consistent with earlier titles, he has good timing and the emotions of the story come through, overall I enjoyed it and wouldn't not listen to it again.

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📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 5, gets a 7 if i'm doing a series re-listen,
It can't really be listened to on its own.
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator [4⭐] • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]

Audio voice ruined it for me.

What did you like best about Cherish & Blessed? What did you like least?

Not really for me due to my compatibility to the voice.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Cherish & Blessed?

I love Evan and Matt

How could the performance have been better?

Nothing.

Was Cherish & Blessed worth the listening time?

Nothing, I'd rather read it.

Any additional comments?

Read the book.

Another nice narration, fun to see characters grow

This is definitely not a stand-alone and is the fourth and fifth books combined in one edition.

In Cherished we see Matt dealing with parenthood as Evan’s daughter really puts everyone through the wringer. I loved the look into the couple as they navigate more of the everyday realities of being a unique family. The fact that Kent’s parents were more bothered by the guns than the gay was a great twist and I thought the whole storyline was well done.

In Blessed we see all four couples (Evan’s partner and her new husband, plus Daisy and her new baby along with Griff and Jim) at the Hamptons for Daisy’s baby’s christening.

Though Evan is still dealing with being promoted to captain and put in a position more for diplomacy rather than danger, he and Matt are just so damn cute and in love! Griff and Jim, however, are smoothing out some of the rough edges of their romance and this is a nice sequel to their story.

Something very interesting happened though at the end… it seems left open for another installment! I am hoping that with the re-release of the original stories and their audiobook debuts that we will see another (final?) installment giving our guys some even more permanent closure. (Hint, hint… a wedding perhaps???)




Audio

JP Handler has narrated this entire series. I think he’s one of those narrators who will either strike you as being perfect or not so perfect.

I think he did a better job with this than some of the previous books. His voice modulation was a little more solid, less “warbling” and emotional.

I love this series so much and I think, once you get used to it, his narration is adequate.

All About Love

Such a treat to have another book about Evan and Matt, along with Jim and Griffin all in the same book. Both short stories - Cherish and Blessed - bring back secondary characters and give readers more opportunities to see the men interact with those around them even as their own relationships continue to strengthen. It did leave me wanting to see the next phase - there were hints of possibilities to come in their futures. And I would love to know more about Daisy and Bennett too.

Once again, JP Handler nails the narration. I could listen to him read for hours... oh wait... I did... and I might again. This is a series that will be listened to again.

I review for the Guilty Indulgence Review Site.

Don't bother with this one

What would have made Cherish & Blessed better?

Above all this book needed a plot and something for the reader to care about. It seems even the author couldn't manage to raise an interest in it.

The 'story' in this book is almost non-existent. It's more a series of scenes in which couples have (formulaic, unconvincing) sex and tell each other how much they love them. Oh, and of course, being gay men, they spend the few minutes a day when they are not have sex and telling their partners they love them, thinking about children and marriage. This is definitely a book written for and by women.

There is a poor attempt at creating some tension with a miscommunication between one couple and the behaviour of one of the children. But I found it unmoving and uninteresting, probably because it was so as realistic as a Dynasty bitch fight.

Would you ever listen to anything by Tere Michaels again?

I would give the author another try because I have enjoyed the previous books in the series, but I will be much more cautious and read any reviews carefully first.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

This narrator is terrible. He seems to be getting a lot of work in this genre, which is very unfortunate. He has two traits which are a constant distraction. The first is that he reads English in a way that suggests that it is not his first language. Not accented, but the emphasis is very often on the wrong word in a sentence. Worse is the way that no matter what the subject matter or character, he reads in a voice of high emotion, his voice cracking as if on the edge of tears. It is almost always inappropriate and very distracting. There is also no distinction between the voices of different characters, which often makes it hard to distinguish which character is speaking (not that it matters in this case as they all say the same things for the most part).

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoyed the previous books in this series, perhaps skip this one in order not to spoil it. There is no character development, and no story development that you wouldn't pick up immediately for the next one. I hope that if there is another it is a return to form.