Nearly thirteen hours of audiobook and not ONE character says 'stat' incorrectly or tries to shock someone back to life while they're still conscious. Do you know how rare that is? This book doesn't even take place in a hospital and I'm still relieved. The bar is underground and Meagan Brandy somehow still cleared it.
I picked this up during a particularly brutal stretch of night shifts—four twelves in a row, the kind where you start seeing your dashboard clock as a personal enemy. Carlos had been asking why I kept falling asleep during our shows, and honestly? I needed something that would keep me awake on that 3 AM drive home but wouldn't require me to remember seventeen plot threads. A new adult romance about a quarterback and a girl with secrets seemed like exactly the right level of brain engagement.
Two Voices, Zero Whiplash
CJ Bloom and Alexander Cendese trade off chapters, and here's the thing—it's not gimmicky. Bloom handles Kalani's perspective with this guarded quality that makes sense for a character who's clearly running from something. There's a weariness there that doesn't tip into melodrama. Cendese does the cocky quarterback thing without making me want to drive into oncoming traffic, which is honestly an achievement. These football romance heroes can go SO wrong in audio format. The "I'm charming and I know it" voice either works or it makes you want to commit vehicular homicide.
They brought distinct energy to their chapters without making me feel like I was listening to two different books. That's harder than it sounds. I've listened to dual-narrator romances where the tonal whiplash gave me actual motion sickness.
Thirteen Hours That Don't Feel Like Thirteen Hours
At almost thirteen hours, this could have been a slog. It's not. Brandy drops these little breadcrumbs about what Kalani's running from, and I found myself genuinely curious rather than frustrated. The pacing works for long listening sessions—I'd pull into my driveway and sit there for another ten minutes because I needed to know what happened next. Carlos started texting me "you alive?" which is fair.
The small-town new-girl-meets-popular-jock setup isn't reinventing anything. But it doesn't need to. Sometimes you want comfort food, and this is the audiobook equivalent of pancit my mom makes when I've had a rough week. Familiar, satisfying, hits the spot. Before We Were Yours gave me that same comfort-food feeling, though with way more tissues involved.
More Feelings Than Expected
I expected fluff. I got fluff with feelings. The emotional beats hit harder than I anticipated—there's real vulnerability underneath the banter, and both narrators commit to those moments. I did not cry in my car. (I absolutely cried in my car. Carlos asked. I blamed allergies. He didn't believe me.)
The "mature themes" warning is accurate—this is definitely new adult territory, not YA. The spicy scenes are present and the narrators handle them without making it awkward, which is its own skill set. Nothing pulled me out of the story.
Your Prescription
If you want literary fiction that makes you contemplate the human condition, keep scrolling. If you want a sports romance with heart, good chemistry, and narrators who don't phone it in, this is your book. Perfect for night shift workers, long commutes, or anyone who needs something engaging but not emotionally devastating.
Skip if: you can't handle slow-burn (this one takes its time), you need constant action, or cocky love interests make you homicidal regardless of execution.
Clocking Out
I immediately downloaded the second book in the series. That's the real review, right there. Twelve hours and forty-five minutes later, I wanted more of these characters. The dual narration elevated what could have been a standard romance into something I actually looked forward to during my drives home.
My mom would probably clutch her rosary at some of the scenes, but she'd also secretly love the family dynamics. I'm not telling her about this one. Some things are between me and my Honda Civic.
