Look, I'm just gonna say it: I listened to most of this book hiding in my car in the garage while my toddler was supposed to be napping. Twenty hours is a LOT of audiobook, and honestly? I regret nothing.
I picked up Beneath This Man because I'd heard the This Man series was basically romance crack, and after a week of stomach bugs rotating through all three kids, I needed something that would make me feel... something. Anything other than exhausted. Mission accomplished. Though maybe not in the ways I expected.
Jesse Ward Is A Lot (And I Mean A LOT)
Okay so here's the thing about this book. Jesse Ward is intense. Like, capital-I Intense. The kind of alpha male hero who makes you simultaneously swoon and want to shake some sense into him. He's possessive, he's brooding, he's got secrets darker than the circles under my eyes after Sophie's 3am wake-up calls.
And I get why some readers can't handle him. I really do. There were moments where I was like "Ava, girl, RUN" - but also moments where I completely understood why she doesn't. Jodi Ellen Malpas writes chemistry that practically crackles through your earbuds. The push and pull between these two is exhausting in the best possible way. It's like watching your friend date someone problematic but the drama is SO entertaining you can't look away.
Is it healthy relationship goals? Absolutely not. Is it a delicious escape from wiping noses and negotiating vegetable consumption? One hundred percent yes.
Why Edita Brychta Made This Work
Edita Brychta's narration is what elevated this from guilty pleasure to actual pleasure. Her modern posh British accent adds this layer of - I don't know - sophistication? To what is essentially very steamy content. There's something hilarious about hearing proper British delivery during the, um, spicier scenes. She somehow makes the swearing funnier and the emotional moments land harder.
What really impressed me is how she makes each character sound distinct. By hour three, I could tell who was talking before she even indicated it. Jesse has this commanding presence in her voice. Ava sounds appropriately exasperated (relatable). The side characters pop up and you immediately know who they are. That's not easy to do, especially across twenty hours.
Some people apparently felt she wasn't the right fit for this series, but I couldn't disagree more. Her delivery during the gritty exchanges? Chef's kiss. She draws out the humor in moments that could otherwise feel too heavy.
The Emotional Whiplash (Buckle Up)
This book put me through it. Laughing during school pickup. Tearing up at a red light. Feeling flustered while pushing a cart through Target. (The other moms definitely noticed. I didn't care.)
The pacing works for audiobook listening, which matters when you're consuming a story in 25-minute chunks between kid obligations. I could pause for a toddler meltdown, come back an hour later, and still remember exactly where I was emotionally. That's harder to pull off than it sounds.
There are some slower stretches - twenty hours is a lot, and not every scene earns its runtime. But when the story hits its stride, it really hits. The ups and downs feel earned. You're invested in whether Ava can crack through Jesse's walls, even when you're yelling at both of them to just COMMUNICATE already.
Who Should Listen (And Who Should Skip)
If you love intense contemporary romance with alpha heroes who have Issues - this is your jam. If possessive behavior in fiction makes you uncomfortable, hard pass. This isn't a cozy romance. It's messy and consuming and sometimes uncomfortable, and that's kind of the point.
You also need patience for this one. It's a slow burn in terms of Jesse's secrets unfolding, and if you need constant plot momentum, you might get frustrated. But if you're here for the emotional tension and the chemistry? You're gonna be very happy.
Content warning: there's plenty of spice. Like, a lot of spice. Don't listen with kids in the car. Learn from my near-miss when I forgot to switch to kid music before Emma got in.
The Gist
Did this book change my life? No. Did it make my week significantly better? Absolutely. Sometimes you don't need groundbreaking literature. Sometimes you need a dramatic British love story that makes you feel things while you're folding laundry. That same need-to-feel-something energy is what drew me to Untamed during another particularly exhausting week.
I'm already downloading book three. The garage car time has a new purpose.
