Mia left the crowded streets and subway of the city from the wilderness. She has the solitude she needs contained in a small house on the lake. She is unprepared for the neighbor that moves in across the lake. He's loud and appears to be player. Until a chance meeting in town intrigues Jared to find out all he can about the quiet and mysterious Mia.

Jared moves his pregnant sister in with him to help her out. A career ending injury has permanently benched Jared, the Enforcer, and he's adjusting to his new normal. Until a chance meeting in town intrigues Jared to find out all he can about the quiet and mysterious Mia.

I loved this story! Such a sweet book with great characters. Wonderful writing and I enjoyed the dual narration. The narrators were both great!

I listened to the excerpt and enjoyed the narrator and would be interested in listening more of this book.

After a career ending injury Jared is enjoying a period of freedom as he decides what direction the future will hold. The one thing that he does know is that his life is about to change when his sister Jordy, who is pregnant and alone, moves in with him.

Over a decade earlier a devasting experience cost Mia the life she knew. She has moved to a cabin on the water and limits her interactions with other people so having Jared and his sister next door is more difficult than she imagined.

Mia is there when Jared and Jordy need someone the most and not only does it bring Mia and Jared closer, but it brings up the past that she hasn’t been able to face. The obstacles that they both faced and how they dealt with them were real as both the love and healing was not instantaneous but rather developed over time which only made the story that much more fulfilling. I enjoyed the performance by both of these narrators and thought they did a great job at bringing out the personalities of the characters.

Mia has retreated from the world. She stays in her little cottage on the lake using the quiet as a place to retreat from the world. Mia has suffered from agoraphobia and panic attacks for the past ten years, She has the safety of her cottage and her routine, but she is realizing she is not really living her life anymore. This all changes when her new neighbor moves across the lake.
Jared is a recently retired NHL player. After a career-ending injury, he moves to the lake for a new start. His younger sister is pregnant and all on her own. Jared is now ready to stop his partying ways to take care of his sister and soon to be born nephew.
This is a nice slow burn romance. I really like how it dealt with Mia's anxiety. Finding Jared did not fix her. She worked on herself. Jared was there to support her. I loved all the interactions between the family and the new baby. Seeing Jared going from nervous guy to confident caregiver to a baby was really sweet.
The narrators were great. I've listed to other titles by Tor Thom and have always liked him. This was the first time I listened to Charley Ongel narrate and I think she did a good job.

A great read. It has alot of realistic elements to it. It hit home for me with Mia having an anxiety disorder. I really appreciated how this author handled that topic. And Jared's struggle with his past in the NHL and how he deals with it and comes to terms with it.

It starts right off with a very steamy voyuer moment, that I did not see coming. Mia make assumptions about Jared from the start but quickly realizes it's not what she thinks. I really loved her character. I loved Jared and Mia together, the banter they shared was highly entertaining.

Jared is a rugged, drop dead gorgeous former athlete that caught my attention right from the start. He's trying to change his past ways now that he has a big responsibility in his life now. He brings all the heat when he and Mia finally reach that point. It's a slow burn but packs the biggest punch that's worth the wait.

An overall great listen and I'm excited for more in this series! Also the narrators did an amazing job!

Let’s start by saying this one jumps right into the rump at the very beginning. And then it fizzles out.

There is nothing g overly spectacular about the plot or the characters and yet it’s just enough to keep you pumping along.

Those adult scenes well they are just that. Same words and patterns that seem to fall into every adult novel. It just didn’t seem an different from book A or book Z so to speak.

I will admit that the minor twist here and there are probable what pushed me to finish. There had been 3 maybe 4 if I recall correctly. But some them came and went in fell sweep.

The narrators did a fantastic job helping to make the characters feeling and thoughts come more alive.

But it still wasn’t enough to make this book more then just a book.

Being honest the story kind of let me down since I was expecting a nice romantic novel but it ended up being a really flat story. It took me a while to finish it since I didn't really feel a connection with the story in general. The audiobook helped me to keep me hooked, even though the voice of Mia wasn't really up to the description of her character.

some of the wording is questionable. When talking about a baby bottom, I don't know anyone who would say the baby's ass. Freya Barker also is more an erotica want a be than a romance novel. Descriptions of some sex scenes and the lack of in others is off-setting. Characters are introduced but not developed or necessary in some scenes. This is not a book I would recommend I was barely able to get through this book.

I very much enjoyed the book. As I do with all the Freya Barker books that I have read or listened to. As with all the other, what I love most is that the book deals with adult. Grown. Lived a life adults. Mia had a whole life before her until that day that it was all taken away from her. Then she gets the chance to have glimpses of the life should could have and life moves forward. Forward in to the life/lives of her new neighbors. The Enforcer and his house guest become more of a family to Mia than she could have every imagined strangers would be.

Narration was good but audio had echo issues with it regardless of the speed in which I listened to it. That was the only drawback that I had.

A Change in Tide is another book that I had read a few months ago but then had this amazing opportunity to listen to the audiobook. It was just as good as I remember it. The narrators, Charley Ongel & Tor Thom did a wonderful job portraying Mia and Jared’s emotions.

Mia and Jared’s story was definitely an emotional one. After a horrific event ten years ago, Mia is still suffering from PTSD from that event. She has been living in quiet seclusion in a cottage on the lake, but that all changes when a new neighbor moves in across from her.

Jared is a former pro-hockey player, but after a career ending injury he is now in the process of trying to figure out what he is supposed to do with his life. Adding to this complication, he becomes a safe haven for his pregnant sister, Jordy, when the father wants nothing to do with her or his child.

The first impression of Jared was not the greatest for Mia, but something about him fascinated her. But with her panic attacks and not really wanting to deal with a playboy, she tries to stay away. But like it was fate, her former life is exactly what Jared and his sister needed. Mia, a former mid-wife was at the perfect place at the right time. And from then on,

Mia and Jared's story was low on drama (just a little with Jordy’s ex and Jared’s celebrity status), it was more of an emotional journey where their feelings towards each other grow slowly over time. Jared was just amazing with Mia, he was so patient and knew exactly what to do during Mia’s panic attacks.

Another fantastic book to read and to listen to.

Thank you to Netgalley and Spectrum Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book, but as it dragged on, I kept waiting and waiting for something more to happen. It just didn’t. The romance was sweet. The characters were developed. I’m not sure exactly what I was looking for but maybe more conflict?? I enjoyed Jared’s love for Mia, his sister and the baby. Mia’s character growth was solid.
I was gifted the audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for a review. The male narrator was fine. I struggled with the female narrator. She made Mia’s friend and Jordie sound like air heads. I had a lot of struggle with the new Netgalley app. The book kept stopping at the end of the chapter. It’s new so I imagine there will be kinks to work out. All in all, it was an okay book. I’d probably try another from this author.

Heat Factor: There is a good deal of self-love happening before the loving each other happens
Character Chemistry: Overall good, but she played some games with him that I didn’t like
Plot: Woman decides she wants to figure out how to push past her PTSD agoraphobia anxiety for the life she wants. Man decides to focus on family after his hockey career is ended.
Overall: Everything is just fine.

A Change in Tide isn’t something that I’d necessarily run over and one-click, but it also doesn’t have any tropes or plotting that I prefer to avoid, and that initial thought remained consistent as I listened to the book.

In terms of audio, Tor Thom and Charley Ongel are easy to listen to. Neither does weird or annoying voices for the opposite sex, and they differentiate voices enough that conversations aren’t difficult to follow. That said, I have noticed when listening to audiobooks that sometimes the narration doesn’t feel quite natural, and I don’t know if that’s because the narrators are enunciating more than we would in normal speech or because the author decided to use a slightly unnatural phrasing (e.g. “I will see” rather than “I’ll see”). I think in this case it’s primarily the latter, but every now and again I wondered if the narrator had simply chosen to emphasize the wrong word in a sentence. Overall, it was an easy listen. Just FYI, I listen at 1.5x speed because 1x speed sounds to me like they’re drawing out every vowel sound, and I’m wading through molasses.

On to the story.

Jared is Mia’s new neighbor, and after they get off to a slightly rocky start (by which I mean she gets all judgy-pants when he’s having sex on the dock with one woman for all the world to see and then a couple days later is cuddling up to a different, very pregnant woman), before being thrust together when Jared’s sister goes into labor in his boat in the middle of nowhere on the lake where they both live. (That’s right, the pregnant lady is his sister. Assumptions are bad for you.)

In a past life, before she had PTSD, Mia was a successful midwife, so the story is able to progress when Jared and his sister transition from needing help birthing a baby to needing help figuring out what to do with a newborn (super normal). For her part, Mia really wants any excuse to cuddle that baby and be needed for her skills. The two households become inseparable friends.

Other than the romantic relationship and Mia working through her anxiety, there’s not a super consistent plot thread to this book. Jared’s sister’s baby daddy, who abandoned her, reappears to cause trouble. Segue into Jared’s fame and notoriety catching up with him, which pulls Mia into a spotlight she doesn’t want. Then Jared gets into a spot of trouble when he goes all protective caveman when the press goes after Mia. And so on.

All of this plotting felt natural to the story, and because Jared and Mia and co. were all pulling together to get through it, supporting each other and looking after each other as needed, Mia pulling back from Jared did not feel particularly natural when the, um, gray moment (I guess) occurred. I could wrap my head around her withdrawal in view of the role her anxiety plays in the story, but it wasn’t executed as a reactionary, anxiety-based withdrawal, it was executed as a deliberate withdrawal that made it feel like she was testing Jared and playing games with him.

I’ll explain. There is a moment after a bit of high drama is resolved, when Jared has to leave town for the weekend to start his new coaching job. He’s also got to go back to work, like, the next day. But he comes home on Sunday night looking forward to spending the night with Mia again. He did not communicate this to her, but they’d essentially been living together through all the drama, so it wasn’t an unreasonable expectation. But Mia is all packed up and heads home, like, the minute Jared walks in the door. After living with him for weeks, being in love with him, being away from him for the first time in their relationship, and right after he bared his soul to her (which she did not reciprocate), she peaces out like it’s no big deal that she’s decided to go home because she wants to clear her head but also because Jared always gets what he wants, so she shouldn’t make it easy for him because he needs to work for what he wants. Like. WTF, MIA. Does she explain any of this? NO. She just says she needs some space and her door is open and bye. If I were Jared, I would also be gutted, but his sister reams him because that’s always how it goes, the hero has to grovel even when the heroine is being a little bit mean.

Mia can feel that things are moving too fast and that once the drama is over she can take a step back and get centered. But running off the minute your SO gets home after being away without even having a “How did your big weekend go? And also let’s touch base on where we are” cup of tea is just a totally asshole move, IMO. And yet it’s Jason who apologizes for being privileged. I’m still very irritated about this.

Okay. Got a little ranty there, but that was the only point that I became frustrated. Otherwise, it was a calm, small town romance with a bit of “famous hero/country mouse” thrown in to spice up the pot. I’d live on that lake.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report in September.

A Change in Tide by Freya Barker was my second audiobook from Netgalley and I was anticipating the same kind of excitement I had felt with the first audiobook.
Surprisingly I felt a different kind of emotion while reading A Change in Tide. I felt a sense of calm and peace while listening to the narrators Charley Ongel and Tor Thom. I have recently ventured into the world of audiobooks and so far I am liking the narrators.
This book is about two individuals Mia and Jared who have decided to live off the grid to come to terms with some incidents and tragedies in their lives. Over the course of the book, accidental circumstances keep throwing them together and slowly they start to trust and depend on each other. They start supporting each other to overcome their issues and get on with their lives. They also start slowly liking each other and ultimately fall in love. The characters are very mature and they have this stillness to them which makes you feel at ease with them. There were funny instances which made laugh like a maniac all to yourself.. The chemistry between the main characters is sizzling!!
It is a slow burn kind of a read. If it is a light romance with a touch of some serious topics you are looking for, this is definitely the book for you.
The narrators have done an amazing job giving life to characters just with their voices!!
Thank you #NetGalley and Spectrum Audio for this amazing audio experience.

Readometer rating - 3***/5

Two healing hearts find strength in each other.

In an unusual start, the shocking first chapter forces both the reader and the heroine to detach emotionally from the hero. If you're prone to clutching your pearls, you might want to skip that part. I thought it was a perfect way to show us not only the current mindset of the book's hero, but also the extent to which our heroine has shut herself off from the world as a result of PTSD and its related effects.

After that raw introduction, we get to know both Jared and Mia separately before an emergency thrusts them into each other's lives. I loved the slow-burn approach, the way they both blossomed around each other, and the intensity and depth of their connection. There are more than a few hilarious moments, especially as Jared has to come to terms with his changing family. The secondary romance was also swoon-worthy all by itself, and I wish we'd been able to see more of them.

The story pulls no punches with the realism and stark natural beauty. I could feel the setting so viscerally that I felt like I'd been there on vacation by the time I was done reading. Not only is the HEA sweetly satisfying, but the years-later epilogue was an extra bonus and wrapped things up beautifully.

I received an audio ARC through NetGalley, and read along with the book on my Kindle. The female voice was wonderfully articulate and gave just the right amount of emphasis to differentiate between the characters. The male narrator was deliciously growly with a deep, sensuous voice that was perfect for Jared, and he was able to transition between the various speaking characters very nicely.

Mia lives in relative seclusion in a tiny cabin on a peaceful lake. Her choice after an accident on the subway leaves her dealing with fear of being around crowds or away from her cabin. Everything is pretty much quiet until a new neighbor moves in across the lake. He’s gorgeous, but Mia doesn’t get the greatest first impression after witnessing him in a compromising situation out on the dock, in full view, with one woman, and then escorting another fully pregnant woman home the next week. Things aren’t always what they seem, which Mia soon learns.

Jared’s professional hockey career ends prematurely when an injury makes it impossible to compete, but the situation enables him to be there for his pregnant sister when her loser boyfriend abandons her. He gets glimpses of his neighbor across the lake, and he’s intrigued, but it isn’t until they need her help as a midwife that they become more acquainted.

I was kind of jealous of Mia’s situation, not the fear part, but I’d love to live out in a cabin on a beautiful, secluded lake. It sang to my hermit tendencies! Mia left her career behind when it became apparent her panic attacks interfered too much to continue. The arrival of Jared and his sister forced Mia to step up, and it actually helped Mia quicken the process of healing.

I really enjoyed the slow build friendship and then romance between Mia and Jared. She can’t help being attracted to him. Who can resist a man with such obvious love of his family? I just loved the bits where Mia uses her skills and knowledge of newborns to help Jordy with her new baby. The baby parts reminded me of that intense time when I just had my kids and when my daughter had her babies. There’s nothing like snuggling a newborn or trying to calm them, which can really take it out of you, lol!

Jared was an intense guy and once he started having feelings for Mia he was pretty focused on her. I did mention in the first scene Mia witnesses him with another woman, but I should say that was it. For those worried about “other woman” drama from that, the woman didn’t have any other part in the story whatsoever. Once Jared and Mia get together, they can’t keep their hands off each other and if I had any complaints it would be that there were maybe too many sex scenes. Still, I really enjoyed their romantic journey and I plan on picking up the next in the series: A Change in View. Both stories are available on Kindle Unlimited, but I recommend the audio version as well.

Charley Ongel and Tor Thom did an excellent job narrating the female and male chapters. Charley Ongel was easy on the ears with a smooth, lilting tone, and Tor Thom had a very masculine voice.

The audiobook was read with two voices totally putting the listener into the story. The narrators chosen fit the story and again allowed the listener to fully picture and feel the emotions of the characters. I like that the characters had more to them then just a romance, but the author took in women's topics and PTSD (for something other than a returning war vet). Highly recommend in audio.

I really wanted to like this book more.

I kept in mind it was a romance and wasn’t supposed to writing on par with a literary novel. Still, I admit I struggled to keep listening. Yes I had the audio version. I love audiobooks, but the option backfired for me here. I was unable able to skim when I was bored. So, the audio option was far too slow for me. Plus, there was too much breast feeding information. I’ve done the cabbage leaves and dealt with blocked ducts etc. I guess I don’t care to read about it again. Repeatedly. It felt like information dumps and dragged the story down for me.


More about the audio.... the male voice was suburb. A perfect fit for Jared. The female voice was not ideal. I admit I cringed at listening to her first chapter. I never grew to like the character Mia and I’m not sure it it was because of the voice/ intonation/ reading style or the way she was written.

If you are looking for great sex scenes there are some here. Lots of masturbation too which may or may not be what you want.

Thank you to netgalley for my review copy.

Wow wow wow what a nice discovery beautifully written nice pace decent guy and broken but not too broken heroine
No insta love THANK YOU
No teenagers
Decent pace good description of childbirth and first weeks I slowly fell in love with this Beauty
Highly recommended
Thank NetGalley for ARC AUDIOBOOK

I listened to the Audiobook version of this, the narrators were fine. They grew on me. I’ve heard better. This is a new-to-me author. The story sounded interesting, so I was in. It should of been categorized as erotica and it wasn’t. I also don’t do well with weak heroines. And she was so unsure of everything. To much second guessing for me.
The story was like an X-rated soap opera. I felt like we jumped right into the middle of something and it was rushed. And the first scene was well, awkward. The romance lacked development and needed more chemistry. I didn’t find the intimate suggestive words like “baby” appropriate for the scenes. They didn’t know each other and the book didn’t really give them a chance to develop.
I hope this was helpful.

Thank you NETGALLEY and the publisher for this audiobook ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book of Freya Barker’s I’ve listened to. I very much enjoyed it and look forward to discovering more of her work.
In the past I think I’ve mostly listened to/read American romances, I really enjoyed the Canadian setting of this one. It was interesting having the main struggle with mental illness, seeing how hard everyday life is.
It was a good change of pace for a romance title and I’m happy to have come across it.
Can’t wait to recommend it.