Audio Review: Shattered Glass by Dani Alexander

Guest Reviewed by Morgan

Title: Shattered Glass
Author: Dani Alexander
Narrator: Joseph Northton
Series: Shattered Glass #1
Heroes: Peter Cotton and Austin Glass
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: Book – 360 Pages; Audio – 11 Hours, 16 Minutes
Publisher: Dani Alexander
Release Date: Book – January 31, 2012; Audio – April 14, 2014
Available at: Audible and Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A male prostitute, a mangy cat, a murder, and an obsession that threatens his career, his impending marriage and his life…nothing is going as planned for Austin Glass.

Austin Glass seems to have it all: a loving fiancée, a future with the FBI, and a healthy-sized trust fund. At least on the surface. He also has a grin and a wisecrack for every situation. But the smile he presents to the world hides a painful past he’s buried too deeply to remember, and his quips mask bitterness and insecurity. Austin has himself and most of the whole world fooled – until he meets a redhead in a pair of bunny slippers.

As events unfold in the biggest case of his life, Austin’s carefully planned future unravels, and he finds himself pushed into making quick, life-changing decisions. But can he trust himself or anything he feels, when each event seems to be just a series of volatile reactions?

Review – Book:

Austin is a Denver police detective, on vice, who randomly meets and falls in love with Peter at a diner. It turns out that Peter is a sometimes-male-prostitute, but that doesn’t slow Austin down. Austin is also engaged to woman, but that doesn’t slow him down. Peter ends up being a key witness in one of Austin’s current cases, but that doesn’t slow him down. Ok, these things do slow him down, for like a second, but his attraction is strong enough to overcome these teeny tiny hurdles. Really, just because he’s never been gay before, or he might lose his chance at his dream job, or the fact that Peter does absolutely nothing to encourage his attention, why should those make him stop and think?

As the story progresses, Austin goes from gay to straight in like 0.2 seconds, but, he acknowledges this speed and we see that there were seeds of his gayness earlier in life but he’d been ignoring it for years.

The case Austin is on involves some of Peter’s past and possibly current lovers and human trafficking charges, and if you aren’t paying close attention, it can get pretty complex. In the end, Austin makes peace with his sexuality, convinces Peter to give him a chance and manages to solve the crime. Yay, HEA!

**

First let me tell you that this book is f*cking hysterical. Really, laugh out loud, hysterical. Every other line is a zinger.

Some examples:

Peter responding to Austin’s complaints about possible romantic competitors:

“Everyone is your competition.” Peter lifted his hand to his eyes and began lowering it incrementally.

“It goes normal human beings, crazies, republicans, my hand, imaginary characters, corpses and then, in a moment of lustful psychosis, you.” By the time he was done, his hand was below the table.

(Later in the story, Austin talking to his homophobic father)

“…Oh look, a homo sex shop. I can sense those now that I’m gay. It’s like a beacon, calling me home. A butt plug beacon….”|

(Later Austin responding to Peter’s request that he might want to date around since he is newly out.)

“Think about fucking anything that moves until I can decide if I want to be exclusive to someone? How many dicks do I have to suck to get to the center of my gayness?”

I could put so many more quotes down. Every other page is either highlighted or bookmarked! Dani Alexander is amazingly funny, and the story is super fast paced and quick witted, so you have to read (or listen) carefully to follow along. That is no tragedy, because the writing is excellent and so very funny.

The love story between Austin and Peter is not an ooey gooey one, but actually fairly pragmatic (once you get over Austin’s love at first sight). The two MCs are flawed with a capital F, and their love is as well. But, with a minimum of fanfare, the two do end up really devoted to one another and the epilogue gives us a brief glimpse at their happy future.

Another fantastic element of this book is the secondary characters (2 of whom are meant to have their own books coming out). Cai, Peter’s brother, is a manic-depressive artist who you can’t help but love and want to hug. Twinkerbelle, Peter’s friend Darryl, is a snarky queeny type who can’t find anything good about Austin until the very end and their banter is hysterical. Luis, Austin’s police partner, is a jaded older guy who believes in Austin even if can’t believe the things Austin does.

Anyhow, the whole dang cast is freakin’ funny and when they aren’t making you laugh, their touching back-stories will break your heart and make you cry.

This book talks about sex a lot, but there isn’t a heck of a lot of it between Austin and Peter. But the sex they do have is pretty hot and steamy. I thought Dani did an excellent job of handling the “first gay sex” scenes in that there is a lot of “can I do this?” even though Austin is so attracted to Peter that he acts the aggressor.

I thought it was an amazing novel, and I really look forward to the sequel(s), now over 2 years in the making. (I hear rumors it is actually slated out soon!)

Review – Audio Book:

Joseph Northton does an amazing job! Peter’s family is Russian, Luis is Hispanic, Peter is from the southern US, and Austin is from Colorado, and Joseph does all their accents excellently. This is a very wordy and fast-paced, dialog-driven story, and Joseph keeps up and keeps the listener engaged.

I absolutely loved the book and the audio version and highly recommend both.

Overall Impression: It was amazing!

*I purchased my own, personal copy of this book and audio book for review.*