Yet a Stranger

The First Quarto, Book 2

By: Gregory Ashe

Narrated by: J.F. Harding

When Auggie Lopez returns to Wroxall College, he’s determined that his second year will be different from the chaos he faced as a freshman. He’s living in the Sigma Sigma house, he’s got a good group of friends, and his social media presence is growing. Meeting a hot older guy on move-in day is just the cherry on top. All he has to do now is avoid getting dragged into another murder.

That last part, though, turns out to be easier said than done, especially when Auggie’s ex-roommate, Orlando, asks for help. Orlando’s brother Cal has gone missing, and Orlando wants Auggie to find him.

Auggie knows he’ll need help, but recruiting his friend - and crush - Theo is not as straightforward as he expects. While Auggie was gone for the summer, Theo has started dating someone, and neither Theo nor Auggie knows how to handle the shift in their relationship.

Finding Orlando’s brother dead only makes their situation more complicated. Although the police are quick to write off the homicide as a drug deal gone wrong, Auggie and Theo aren’t so sure, and Orlando begs them to keep investigating. To learn the truth, Auggie and Theo will have to untangle a web of lies while keeping each other safe from a killer who is determined to stop them.

As Auggie and Theo dig deeper, they realize that Cal was a stranger even to the people who thought they knew him. And Auggie and Theo both begin to fear that they are also strangers to each other.

©2020 Gregory Ashe (P)2022 Gregory Ashe

Gaah!

I love Theo and Auggie so.much. How long must we suffer? lol Gregory Ashe is now firmly at the top of my favorite authors list. He is such a great storyteller! Most of all I love his characters even the ones I dislike... Please have JF Harding narrate all of your stories until the end of time!!!! He is simply a perfect fit and makes the listening experience unforgettable and impossible to pause! Thank you for another fabulous book and PLEASE hurry and produce book three in audio... I am going to begin reading the Kindle edition now but I'll look forward to.the audio production!

Great story. Great narration.

This story was intense. So many events crash together at once that Theo and Auggie spend a great deal of the story spinning.

I struggled to write a review for the first book. I couldn't find the right words to express how I felt about the events of the first story. Maybe the Shakespeare theme generated subconscious mental block for me. This book is a bit different. It felt like the Empire Strikes Back of the series. Big reveals, traumatic events, and fast-paced action scenes turn this story into an emotional rollercoaster.

The book has quite a few tidbits to contemplate after you are finished reading/listening. The parallels between a certain Shakespearean play, the mystery that Theo and Auggie are trying to solve, and the events unfolding in their lives, leave plenty of ideas to process. Seeing glimpses of Somerset's life before Hazard returns to Wahredua made me want to reread all of the Hazard and Somerset books. Trying to remember how to spell Wahredua made me want to throw a brick at a map of Missouri even though it is a fictional town. Listening to JF Harding narrate this series made me want to hunt down everything he has narrated so far. I should stop here. I have more to contemplate while I toss some clothes in the dryer, then I am going to listen to book three.

MM Romance Amateur Detectives Shakespeare Themes

A phenomenal quote about longing from the book:
“For a moment, Auggie wanted to tell him everything about Theo too. About watching the back of Theo’s neck in class and knowing the exact instant Wagner said something that Theo disagreed with. About the times he’d walked outside and headed toward Theo’s house without even realizing it. About the weirdest things that would remind him of Theo: the weave of the upholstery on the couches in the third-floor lounge; peanut butter toast; the sound of a page being turned in a quiet room. Mostly he wanted to tell Fer that he didn’t know what to do to stop hurting all the time.”

February 2023. Book 2 in a MM romance mystery series about two amateur sleuths, a college freshman and a grad student who find themselves embroiled in a missing persons’ case that ends up being far more complicated than it first appears.
Book 2 has Auggie in a Shakespeare class focusing on Romeo and Juliet and Theo working on his thesis chapter related to it, and elements of the story and their thoughts on it pop up several times and inform discussions on relationships, miscommunications, etc. in insightful and interesting ways. Hence the title being part of a line from the play.

As always, 5 out of 5 stars. This one had a lot of hard and frustrating moments but also a lot of growth for the characters. Angst, grief, trauma, long, warmth, humor, growth, and a couple injuries requiring the hospital.

“Yet a Stranger” by Gregory Ashe. Book 2 in the 4 book series “The First Quarto.

another 5 star reaf from Mr Ashe

Mystery, emotions, and the unmistakable banter of Theo and Auggie all delivered with JF Harding's stellar narration. He brings the cast of characters to life making the listening experience 5 star.

Another great book!

I love Auggie and Theo. The book was great and the audio made it even better. I don’t know how every book he writes is so compelling, you just can’t put it down! So good!!

Great second book

I loved this book. I need the third book so freaking bad. I'm even tempted to read it but I know I won't because then I won't get the full JF Harding experience. Frick, Auggie and Theo are such hot messes and if you think in book 2 they get it together then your wrong. Gregory Ashe keeps his title of King of the Slowest of Slow Burns. This book has all the twists and turns that you want. It gets a little tiggery, there is some violence and deals with some relationship abuse. Low heat with little descriptions. Overall, I loved it. JF Harding's narration was on point as always. I just cannot wait for more.

Two Steps Back

This is the second book in The First Quarto series. This was a hard read for me as Auggie and Theo seems to have taken two steps back from the one step forward of the first book. As we all remember from childhood, summer vacation often breeds distance among friends, and that is the case with this couple. Both seemed to have “moved on” from their budding romance and I hated it. I also couldn’t figure out why they decided to become unofficial PIs in a case that was only tangentially associated with them. I realize they were helping a friend but they seem to pay a pretty big price for getting involved. I also did not like either of their new romances. The mystery has many red herrings and twists and some hospital bed declarations, so I was able to get my “feels” on. So overall it was a frustrating read for me because I’m really not a fan of angst.

That said, since I am obviously invested in this couple making it, I know I must get through this time to get to the other side. It was also great to see John Somerset make more than a passing appearance. This is set before he and Hazard get together as he is still with his wife. The author is known as king of the slow burn and I can see this is going to be one of those. However, this story did keep me engaged and there was some pay off by the end. Of course, it ends on a cliff hanger that will keep me looking forward to the next installment.

J.F. Harding gives another great performance. I can’t imagine any other voice for these men.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Couldn't Stop Listening

Finished this one in three days. Loved 😍 it even thru the vice & violence. Strong characters. Enjoy the tension between Augie & Theo characters. Can't wait for more to come.

You'll always get more from a sophomore.

After spending the summer with his family in California, Auggie Lopez, who is now out and proud, is ready to take his social media audience through his sophomore year Wroxall Campus in Wahredua, Missouri. His older brother Fer is as protective as ever, and struggles to hold their dysfunctional family together, or at least stave off disaster until he gets his little brother through college.
Professor Theo Stratford’s life has not gotten any easier. His relationship with the still-closeted Howard Cartwright, his late husband’s former partner in the Wahredua PD, is not something he is completely happy with. But between his own classes, teaching and visiting his disabled daughter, his grief over losing his husband, Theo just isn’t ready to deal with it, one way or another. It doesn’t help that he is struggling with a growing dependence on pills to get him through his day.
The last thing either of these men need is another investigation, but his friend Orlando’s brother is missing, and Auggie doesn’t know who else to turn to for help. Theo was hoping their separation during summer months might have helped he and Auggie get over their attraction to each other, but as they search for Cal while fending off attacks from a corrupt police detective, their feelings for each other only grow.
But it’s impossible.
Is it? Theo is a teacher, Auggie is a student, but they need each other if they’re going to catch a potential murderer.

J.F. Harding is a favorite of mine, and, as usual, he brings Theo and Auggie to life brilliantly!

More Theo & Auggie!

Gregory Ashe continues to age me, because I swear every time I finish one of his books I've stressed, cussed, raged and/or cried enough that I'm pretty sure I've lost at least a couple of years. But what keeps me coming back is the characters that barge right into my heart and stay there. Uninvited, I might add. 😏

To be fair, I also get the best dialog. No matter what the relationship between his MCs, they're always terrific friends as well, and the banter is always stellar. I was happy to get all that here though it came with a whole lot of complications.

Theo and Auggie come back to Wroxall College for the new fall semester. Theo's trying to move on with his life and Auggie's just trying to figure out what he wants from his. Almost as soon as Auggie gets settled, Orlando shows up. But he's not there to hassle Auggie, he wants Auggie and Theo to look for his brother Cal, who's gone missing.

Predictably *and kind of understandably*, Theo is adamantly against this. Also predictably, when Auggie tells him he'll just do it on his own, Theo agrees to help him. He's too protective of Auggie *which I love*, no way he'd let him go off on this alone.

I love Theo and Auggie for who they are alone but I enjoy them together so much. Mostly. They're funny, and Auggie loves to needle Theo and make him lose his mind. I always laugh when Theo goes "dad" on him and Auggie turns right around and proves his point by acting like a sulky teenager, LOL. Which he actually is. But their friendship is so tangled up with all of the other things they feel for each other and can't *won't* act on that sometimes I just want to smack both of them really hard and see if it won't shake some sense loose.

In the midst of all this, Theo is trying to build a relationship with Cart, and Cart says all the right things....as long as they're alone inside Theo's house. 😒 Then a careless comment at a birthday party sends Cart running in the other direction. He says some terrible things to Theo, and I am done with Cart. I hope he goes away and never comes back. At the same time, Auggie has become involved with an older student but the situation is abusive and controlling. He hides it from Theo, of course, but Theo finds out. And I have never been happy before that Theo had such a rough upbringing but I was grateful for it then.

It wasn't enough but I'll take it. For now. 👿

When they finally figure out what happened to Cal, it's just...a whole lot of sad. Terrible family situations and jealousies end up with unintended consequences.

And though we didn't exactly get a cliffhanger, the scene at the end was just WHAT? I mean, what???

Have I said before what a sadist GA is? Yeah, that. It cannot be repeated enough. 🙄

Ashe's excellent writing and the exceptional storytelling was all present, he always hooks me into the plot and keeps me there until the end. His characterizations are second to none. Despite the fact that some of them just might be the most exasperating book-people in all of fiction *side-eyes, well, everybody*, his MCs are some of my most loved ever and Auggie and Theo fit right in with the rest of them. 💕 I'm super invested in where they go from here.

And for the audio, as always J.F. Harding can do no wrong with me! 🥰 His voice for these two, as well as every other character is pitch perfect, and his narration keeps me hanging on every word. I love listening to him, every time. I'm so looking forward to the next book!

Disclaimer: A copy of the audiobook was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.