Convincing Cole cover art

Convincing Cole

Shore Thing, Book 1

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Convincing Cole

By: Jaclyn Quinn
Narrated by: Kirt Graves
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About this listen

Cole Sullivan

Life's been pretty amazing. Moving back to my hometown of Coral Pointe Inlet and opening Shore Thing Management with my four best friends is the best decision I've ever made. Falling back into old habits with an ex? Not so much. When Aiden, the sexy, straight owner of SandBar comes to my rescue and pretends to be my boyfriend—handing me the flashlight I need to make my way out of the darkness—lines begin to blur. Suddenly, I'm falling again, but is it stupid of me to want Aiden to land by my side?

Aiden Rafferty

I've made a name for myself in this town. Granted, sometimes it's passed around in a morsel of gossip over morning coffee. I've poured my heart and soul into SandBar, and despite some townspeople thinking I turned my back on the family business, it's become a tourist hotspot. I see and hear a lot as a bartender, but I never get involved—until Cole. There's something about him, something that makes me want to protect him. Problem is, he's been hurt before. This fake relationship was my idea, so how do I go about convincing Cole there's nothing fake about it?

Contains mature themes.

©2021 Jaclyn Quinn (P)2023 Tantor Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance Heartfelt
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Cole Sullivan has moved back to his hometown of Coral Pointe Inlet and opened up a hotel with his loyal friends. While the hotel causes the odd headache, they’re nothing compared to the headaches Drake, his toxic on-again/off-again boyfriend, causes. During one particularly embarrassing showdown between them at the Sandbar, the owner, Aiden Rafferty steps in to rescue Cole by pretending to be his secret boyfriend. Also returning to Coral Pointe, Aiden has been frustrated that his restauranteur father has never taken him seriously, so he opened his own successful bar and the town has judged him for it. He has never considered being with a man before but he can’t stand by and watch Cole be humiliated. The two agree to keep up the pretence and soon form a strong friendship and feelings for each other.

This small-town / fake-relationship / GFY romance was sweet and heartwarming but with enough angst and drama to keep things interesting. I let all the secondary characters wash over me without trying to grasp who’s who because there are a lot of them and they’ll each have their own story as the series progresses. I enjoyed spending time with the two main characters, they were both decent guys and they had good chemistry. I found the nasty Drake a bit too arch-villain / pantomime like—he just didn’t seem like a real person—but he was a useful device for driving Aiden and Cole together and keeping them that way. I like the way Jaclyn Quinn writes and I’ll definitely chase up other books in the series. 🎧 What can I say? Kirt Graves is one of the best audio narrators around and he gave another great performance here.

Warmhearted with just the right amount of angst!

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