Audiobook Review: At Piper's Point by Ethan Day, Narrated by Michael Lesley

Ten years and many boyfriends later, Cassidy Winters finally returns to the ancestral home of his grandmother, Sadie Hart, despite the best efforts of his father to prevent it. Cassidy's plans of a quiet, seaside ceremony to wish a final farewell to Sadie quickly unravel as interruptions run roughshod beginning with Neil who walks out of the ocean and straight into Cassidy’s bed. The dominoes topple one by one when the little dog he rescues from the hounds of hell brings him to Ben, the hunky vet who rescues Cassidy right back. News of his arrival spreads faster than Cassidy’s legs, bringing his boyhood friend and first love Nate Sommers to his doorstep – leaving Cassidy spiraling into a multi-layered love snafu. As if the island wasn’t getting crowded enough for Cassidy’s good taste and bad decisions, best friends Ollie and Spencer arrive in time to witness the uninvited return of Cassidy’s most recent ex, Teddy, who’s refusing to stay dumped.

Fists fly and all hell breaks loose amid mojitos and martinis as Cassidy finds himself planning a huge party to celebrate Sadie's life. Accusations are aimed as arguments and libidos boil over, but even through the chaos Cassidy knows exactly what he wants. While he's certainly willing, he isn’t sure if he's ready or able for love and life... At Pipers Point.

This was a fun and sexy romp of a story and having Michael Lesley read it to me made it even better.

There is a LOT going on in Piper’s Point for a small quaint seaside town and the one person at the center of the shenanigans is Cassidy. Everyone has the friend who is a drama magnet, and that is Cassidy. And I don’t necessarily mean it’s angsty bad dramatic drama, but there is always something (or someone) going on. Heading back to Piper’s Point to handle his beloved aunt’s estate doesn’t change that in the slightest and I think heading to the sanctuary that is the Point actually enhances the crazy making. That’s just what happens when you put a big personality into a small space. As well, one of the great things about the story is that there are already some big (and quirky) personalities there, so Cassidy’s homecoming fit right in.

Differentiating between characters is something Michael Lesley excels at so he’s the perfect person to narrate this one. There are a lot of characters and there is a lot of banter so the audio could have really turned into a shitshow without someone who has mad vocal skills driving the boat. As it was I had no trouble following the rapid fire conversations, get-togethers and heart-to-heart confessions that make up At Piper’s Point.

More than anything At Piper’s Point is a coming home story and I loved the emotions that Cassidy went through in coming back to the only place that ever felt like home. His reconnection with Nate was perfectly bittersweet and I wish there had been more focus there. I loved all of Cassidy’s friends/ex-boyfriends/fuck buddies, but it did get a little distracting at times. I wanted further inside Nate’s head sooner because I enjoyed listening to them working through their history, their time apart and then their coming back together.

This story would make a great movie since it has a little bit of every emotion worked in, but since that is unfortunately unlikely, the audiobook is going to be your next best bet. Michael Lesley did an excellent job keeping the characters on point throughout making what could have been a tough book to follow into audio into a really fun and satisfying listen.

**a copy of this audiobook was provided for an honest review**