AUDIO REVIEW: Bishop by AE Via (True Lover's Stories #1)

BISHOP

True Lover’s Stories - Book One

by AE Via

Release Date: September 27, 2019

Audio Release Date: March 31, 2020

Review

Wow, this story grips you by the throat and refuses to let you look away till the very end.

It is angsty AF, not really between the couple, but their personal stories…gah.

Bishop is out of prison and trying to right his life. Working at his father’s landscape company, with an incredible gift of landscape design, the world around him, the judgment of other people, seems determined to see only his ‘failings’. All those except the people whom he calls family, and one very sweet and kind office executive, Edison.

Edison is a good person. Kind, thoughtful, with a passion for cooking, he, too, is well familiar with the judgment of others. Colleagues who think he’s boring, snide remarks about his weight. He’s never had someone who sees him as gorgeous and interesting, until Bishop.

They may seem like vastly different people, but if you look past the outer shell, there’s no mistaking how perfect they are for one another.

Honestly, this was a rich, complex story that will grip you to the end. And better yet, listen to the audiobook, because narrator Tor Thom delivers an equally incredible performance of the characters, the style and the emotion of the story.

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Synopsis

At only thirty-two, Bishop Stockley has lived a hard-knock life. His gang was his family, the streets his home. Until the crew he’d always called his brothers betrayed him.

After doing five years in a federal prison, Bishop is back at his dad’s trailer and working for his landscaping company, thrust into a legit world where he’s no longer the alpha—a world where a criminal record is the least of his disadvantages, because Bishop can’t read or write. Illiteracy had never been an obstacle for him on the streets, he didn’t need to know how to read Moby Dick to survive, he needed to know how to read people… and that was a hustle he’d learned hard and fast. Now, he had to change his life.

Bishop’s only support system was a young, inexperienced dad who’d insisted he call him Mike all their life—since they looked more like brothers than father and son. And his hot-tempered, childhood, best friend from ’juvie, Trent. Bishop already had the deck stacked against him, but he wasn’t afraid of hard work to change his situation, and he did want to change. Especially after he encountered Edison Scala, a kind-spirited office manager who didn’t hesitate to come to his defense… a man that saw past Bishop’s grass-stained coveralls. A man who wasn’t intimidated by his stern features and his silence.

Edison hadn’t grown up the way most of his peers had. He’d been raised by a single father who’d owned an old-fashioned barber shop where Edison was taught how to not only shave with a straight razor, and shine shoes, but also how to treat others, to not judge, to be a gentleman, to be respectful and speak without profanity. But, the biggest lesson he’d learned, was to always be himself. His lack of friends and a social life wasn’t his fault. No matter how much weight he gained, no matter how many times his staff called him a square, Edison did not need to change.

Bishop knew Edison was off-limits. He’d made personal vows to himself when he was released from prison, ones that he never intended to break. But, when Edison asked him about providing landscaping services at his home, there was no way he could refuse.

He hadn’t expected Edison to feed him, praise him, encourage him, and look at him the way he did—as if Bishop was somebody. Mike and Trent warned him not to mix business with pleasure and he didn’t intend to.

No multiple pairings. No cliffhangers. Ends with a very, very HFN. Warning: This book is a M/M contemporary romance, a hardened man’s struggle to find real love. There are no police chases or doors being kicked in, in this one. But, don’t worry. Bishop is still intense enough to keep you on the edge.

About AE Via

A.E. Via is an author in the beautiful gay romance genre and also founder and owner of Via Star Wings Books. Her writing embodies everything from hopelessly romantic to spicy to scandalous. Her stories often include intriguing edges and twists that take readers to new, thought-provoking depths.

When she's not clicking away at her laptop, she devotes herself to her family--a husband and four children.

Where to find them: