Barred Desires Audiobook By Ashley James cover art

Barred Desires

The Deepest Desires, Book 1

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Barred Desires

By: Ashley James
Narrated by: Eric Corbyn, Michael Gallagher
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Luca Gray Hart

I have everything I could ever want—a great family, awesome friends, a girlfriend, and I’m headed off to my dream college. But the past is always there, lurking like a shadow in the night....

Branson Joseph Adler

I love men. I love everything about them. Their feel. Their smell. Their taste. It’s no secret to my friends and family that I’m gay. But I do have one secret....

What happens when you give in to the temptation and your world turns upside down?

It’s forbidden.

But it’s ours.

Barred Desires is the first book in the Deepest Desires interconnected series. It is a forbidden MM stepbrother romance, and it is angsty, emotional, and steamy.

©2022 Ashley James (P)2023 Pink Flamingo Productions Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance Heartfelt Feel-Good Funny Tearjerking
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Engaging Storyline • Emotional Depth • Excellent Performance • Realistic Characters • Strong Chemistry • Steamy Romance

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I enjoyed this book immensely, the story not only captivated my attention right from the start, but it tugged on my tugged on my heartstrings the entire time, too. Ashley James is a “new to me” author, and I enjoyed her writing style. The storylines she created are interesting and original and the characters are realistic, easy to relate to and connect with, they were easy to care about too. I adored the two lead characters, Luca Gray Hart and Branson Joseph Adler, the secondary characters were great too, except for Courtney, Branson’s nickname for her was very fitting. Branson and Luca become stepbrothers when Luca’s father and Branson’s mother married. Courtney and Luca dated for a couple of years, but he is not happy with her or their relationship, plus he is having inappropriate thoughts about his stepbrother, Branson, who is gay, despite being straight. Luca is starting college and when his housing plan falls through, his father suggests he take the extra room at Branson’s house, which is what he does. Luca fits right in with the guys at the house and he and Branson become even closer and their feelings for each other strengthen. Complicating things are Courtney and that they are stepbrothers, also Luca’s past nightmares are coming back to haunt him, and it is Branson who comforts him. Both of them have past demons, but Branson deals with his better, and he shares his with Luca who opens up about his own, both were gut-wrenching to hear. Love is love, so I do not see this as a forbidden romance, and I loved how their relationship played out, the story is wonderfully plotted story and has plenty of drama, heartfelt emotions and steamy romance.  Ashley James, thank you for this great story and emotional rollercoaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 And for terrific the narration, Michael Gallagher and Eric Corbyn did a great job bringing these bringing these characters and story to life. They had a complete understanding of the characters they were portraying, giving each a voice that suited their character and was believable in every role they played. You could hear how much heart they put into their work as they captured the character’s emotions and projected them into their performance. They are entertaining storytellers and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for the great listen. 

Great Story & Narration🎧 Steamy & Emotional!

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I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Luca and Branson were fantastic together, they had heat and such a great connection. For me, it took too long for things with Courtney to come to a head and Branson and Luca to progress, it made the story feel like it dragged a little bit. But it was because they clearly had no chemistry and no one likes Courtney. The writing was well done. I loved how things progressed (outside of the Courtney issue). It deals with some very heavy and sad topics, lots of issues that crop up and just broke my heart. I loved the taboo aspect.

I listened to the audio book, and it was a good performance. I really liked Branson’s voice actor but I wasn’t a huge fan of Luca’s, you could hear him take his breaths and they sounded too loud sometimes and not there others but it drove me insane when he sucked air in and it sounded like he was gasping. Otherwise, if you can get beyond that, they do a good job.

Sweet and steamy stepbrothers love story

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this was ashley’s debut? it was so good!! i really liked the one narrator but the other one really bothered me. you could hear his breath intake after every sentence. the story was great tho!!

ashleys debut?

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Listener received this title free

Barred Desires is the first book in The Deepest Desires series. This book is about Luca Gray Hart and Branson Joseph Adler. This is the first book I've read/listened to by Ashely James and I enjoyed it and would like to continue the series.

Luca and Brandon are stepbrothers. When they end up at college together, Luca starts to question his sexuality when he starts to have feelings for Brandon.

Both Brandon and Luca are going through or have gone through things in the past. I enjoyed their backstory and getting to see how they came to who they are today.

Can Luca and Brandon get through everything that is thrown at them? Will they get their happy ending? Can Luca figure out who he is meant to be? I did enjoy this book and am excited to go on with the series.

Barred Desires

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Listener received this title free

4/5 ⭐️
3/5🌶️
3/5🎧

I love a good stepbrother MM story and this one didn’t disappoint. I thought the story line and length of the story was good. The audio was around six hours total and I enjoyed the overall story.

Seeing Luca and Bransons story play out was really refreshing. They both wanted each other and you could feel the tension and chemistry in the story. I enjoyed seeing Luca accept that he wasn’t as straight as he thought he was. His story broke my heart a little and this is where the book lost a star for me. His past and that trauma didn’t seem resolved. I would have liked for him to open up to his dad or to go to therapy or something to resolve his tragic past.

I didn’t love the narration in this book. I loved Bransons voice and audio, but Lucas audio wasn’t great and you could hear the narrator breathing weird after almost every sentence and it made it hard to concentrate on the story at some points.

I loved the overall story though. The smüt was really well written and I love a good gäy for you trope and the one bed trope/forced proximity. I also really loved how accepting their parents were and friends. Their relationship was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed how much they loved and cared for each other. Overall great story, just wish some stuff was resolved and I wish the narration for Luca was a little better!

I loved the story!

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