...I know I messed up, but I just want to get it right. Please, let me make this right. I can barely fucking breathe without you…” he begged.
"What You Do for Love" by Miss Zenith was never on my radar. I'd heard of the author. Even have another one of her books in my Kindle arsenal. However, with the over 2,000 books sitting in my library just in my Kindle alone, I hadn't had the opportunity to dive into her work yet. But when the audiobook was presented to me, I immediately went to read the synopsis to see if it would pique my interest. Let me just say now, I am so glad I said yes. I was even happier that I could sight read with it as I listened since the ebook is currently in Kindle Unlimited.
This book chronicles how two virtual strangers literally bump into each other and go from "enemies" to co-workers to secret lovers to NOTHING before I got my happily ever after. I'd read a couple reviews on the book, and one of the things that stuck out was that it was a rollercoaster to read.
While I personally wasn't on an amusment park ride while reading this book, I was fully invested in their highs and lows. Did I want to slap both of them at times? Yes. Did I swoon when they finally let their guard down and stopped playing around trying to stay platonic? Most definitely. But was I panicking, trying to figure out when the hell my HEA was gonna come in when I was at 90% and them motherf***ers hadn't spoken to each other in months? Hell yes. Okay, so maybe I was on an emotional rollercoaster. lol
When the characters meet, Chauncey was an already established triple-threat entertainer (singer/rapper/dancer), while Ava worked as a bottle girl/waitress praying to make enough money to afford her bills and studio time. They met in an unsavory situation and his way of trying to correct the situation backfired. It wasn't until he saw a video of her singing a cover of his song that the relationship bud begin to blossom. When he offered her the chance of her dreams, I knew it wouldn't be long before the word friends would be tossed out the window. They gave it a real fight though. Glad they gave it and the drawls up! LMAO I loved them as a couple when it was just the two of them. Those moments were so beautiful to hear bloom. But of course there has to be some kind of adversary when everything seems like flowers and candy.
There were a couple of secondary... and perhaps tertiary characters that I probably would have fought and swung a bat to their skull in this read. Bianca and Draymond were necessary to the plot, but their existence in Chauncey's life was too long for the BS they brought to the table. He was too kind for too long, in my opinion; especially with Dray. And the little bomb towards the end that Ava discovered before Chauncey did about his so-called best friend... Skull meet fist ASAPtually.
Part of me feels like I got more backstory on Chauncey's family and friends than I did with Ava. Yeah, I know she came from a 2-parent household in Miami and her friend-circle was more like a period. However, the rest of her storyline outside of Chauncey & friends was a lot less memorable. If there was a drawback, it would be that, in regard to the storyline.
Because my ARC was for the audiobook, I do have a couple of icks about it. While I loved the narrators voices, there were several times where both of them put emphasis on the wrong part of the sentences they were reading which can sometimes change the connotation of it. Some people may not pick up on that or care, but it was something I feel should be worked on to ensure what the expression is supposed to be in the scenario. I will say that I LOVED that Winston was able to use his Jamaican accent in the scenes with Cedric.
Since I listened and read this book, which originally came out in June, I could tell some of the wording was changed and things were added before the audio book was done because the ebook didn't match completely. They weren't drastic changes where it changed the plot of the book; merely a change to enhance the file. I enjoyed those updates/changes to the book and hope this will be updated in the ebook version as well for those who don't listen to audiobooks.
I want to thank the author for allowing me to receive an advanced copy of this audiobook for an honest review. I look forward to reading more of you work in the future.