Sounds of Love (Senses and Sensations #1) by Susan Laine
The Senses and Sensations series..
- Sounds of Love (book #1) – in this review
- Love in Plain Sight (book #2)
- A Luminous Touch (book #3)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Blurb…
What does love sound like? If you hear it, will you heed its call?
Police officer Jordan Waters is recovering from a shooting by moving to a new apartment in a new town and taking a new job. In other words, he’s lonely. His first instinct is to relieve his anxiety through uncomplicated sex—until he meets a man so far out of his league and experience that he stumbles for the first time.
Police volunteer Sebastian Sumner may be deaf, but his spirit, openness, and sense of humor give him the strength to get through anything—even the emotional defenses of Jordan Waters. But it’s his own family history that poses the biggest challenge. Can he learn to trust Jordan with his heart, or will his upbringing blind him to the sounds of love?
So what did I think?
This is one of those books that I really had mixed reactions about which totally surprised me as I had seen quite high ratings and reviews from my GR friends plus found the blurb really appealing.
I actually struggled to engage with the story for about the first 50%. So what didn’t I enjoy? I’m not sure if I totally liked the first person POV. I think I actually got a little sick of Jordan’s voice. Jordan seemed all over the place, flitting from thought to thought. He could be in the middle of a drama and suddenly starting thinking about something totally unrelated and things seemed to drag out with long internal monologue.
But after the first 50%, things started to pick up and also more characters started to play an active role in the story. The plot centres around Jordan, a policeman and self-confessed “A guy gifted in sexual pleasures but talentless in love.” who falls for Sebastian, a deaf volunteer police worker. Sebastian manages to break through to Jordan and even from the first meeting, it is clear that Jordan has feelings for him. He cares enough to warn Sebastian about his past and suggest he gets the low down from his partner before they take their relationship any further.
My favourite line which really illustrates Jordan’s soon-to-be-changed view of the world……..“It wasn’t like I was in love, or like he was in love, or like we were going to be together forever. It wasn’t like the future was etched in stone for us, destined to be lovers, to become one. That was straight romance, not gay sex.”
Sebastian was a fabulous character (strong, capable and honest) and his deafness was NOT his defining quality. This was not a story about how Jordan forms a relationship with a deaf man, rather a story about how Jordan forms a relationship with any man.
I found some of the dialogue to be a bit flowery, some scenes a bit disjointed, some events or reactions that seemed strange or unrealistic and there was definitely something weird going on with gay men coming out of the closet left, right and centre! I would also like to let Jordan know that talking about someone’s brothers’ living arrangement isn’t the best way to stall to make sex last! Distracting? Yes. But in a good way? No. 🙂
It may sound like I didn’t like this story much but I actually did find the second half enjoyable. The story is redeemed by men who aren’t afraid to show love and emotion, cute kid brothers (Bro is great!) and happy endings!
To find out more about Susan Laine and her books, visit her website.
Buy Sounds of Love from Amazon.