One Giant Leap

by Kay Simone, Greg Tremblay (Narrator)

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Houston we have so many problems...

Curtis "Launchpad" Larkin's career as an astronaut has had its share of ups and downs.

Alternately lauded as the single-handed savior of NASA and condemned as a reckless, hot-headed bully, Curt has been through the wringer of public opinion and come out on top. When he embarks on his final mission with NASA, Curt figures there's no curveball that life has left to throw him.

But when the role of spacecraft communicator is passed to a young engineer back in Houston who he's never met, Curt's mission takes on a new trajectory.--- "CAPCOM to commander. Do you read?" ---Patrick Harte's life is turned upside down when he's called to fill in at mission control, working directly under his hero, Curtis Larkin.

Falling for Curt is just a small step for Patrick -- but it's one giant leap to think that the astronaut could ever return his feelings.---
"The more I talk to you, the more I know that we understand each other." --- After Curt connects with Patrick from worlds away, he can't imagine life on earth without the other man... Despite the fact that he's never laid eyes on Patrick. And their problems won't stop once he's cleared for landing.

The bad-boy astronaut is no stranger to controversy -- but will the genuine and soft-spoken man of his dreams be able to keep up with the trouble Curt seems to stir everywhere he goes?
---
One Giant Leap is a slow burn m/m contemporary romance novel with a May-December theme, lots of humor, medium angst, medium heat, and a happily-ever-after ending -- plus a sexy bonus chapter.

      

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Audiobook, LGBT, Disability, Slow Burn

10 pages, Audible Audio

First published June 23, 2017

Reviews

[Tanu Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could, I would give this book a 100 stars instead of these meager 5, this book was that amazing for me. As I just told my friend Kavita, this book has effortlessly surpassed my devotion for my most favourite book of all time, Axel's Pup by Kim Dare. And that is not a light statement coming from me: as so many of my good friends on GR can attest, my love for that book has been incomparable, ever since I first read it. No other book has even come close to touching the spot I had allotted to that sweetheart.



But this story has actually gone a mile past that and is pulling me into indulging myself right now, after I am done reading the main book and the bonus chapter (the link to which was, blessedly, provided at the end of the story), by reading it again. And again. And again!





And so, I believe, that there are no words right now that will do my appreciation and love for Curt and Patrick and the temporary satisfaction of my ever-present curiosity and fascination with everything "space" any kind of justice. I saw so much of myself in this book that I was enchanted as I read it. It was as if someone cast a spell on me, making me feel as if there was a little part of me thrown in just to tease me, and I couldn't break it. Rather, I simply didn't want to. I doggedly kept my sleep at bay last night, which ended up making me go to work all bleary-eyed, hardly able to keep my eyes open, just because I indulged myself by reading about the bestest characters I could get to read about, in the bestest setting that I could ever have gotten.



I would like to thank my darling GR friends who dropped Beau and The Beast on my radar, which made me go look up the author's profile and then get a copy of this book. You guys are the best! :) xo

[Gigi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prepare for sugar-shock! This one is sweeter than honey. If you are looking for an impossibly sigh inducing romance, this one is for you. It is low, low, low on steam so don't expect any sexy time. I didn't miss it and I'm a BDSM loving, dirty talking, wall-sex enthusiast.

I was ready to give this one 5 stars but the last 10% pushed me into diabetic shock. It played on every cliche imaginable and didn't really match the mood of the rest of the book. It was a little too perfect, you know? But that is probably my mood.

I can absolutely recommend this book to my GR friends. Curt and Patrick are downright adorable.

[~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

UPDATE:

After I wrote my original review, my OCD kicked in hard, and I forced myself to keep reading. I skimmed from 46 to 70 percent. Once Curt lands on earth, and he and Patrick finally meet, I became more invested in the outcome.

The first time Curt and Patrick set eyes on each other is magical. It's a moment worthy of a Hollywood sunset and champagne. I really did like that part and the getting-to-hold-you moments that followed.

The ending here is pretty damn sweet and almost makes up for the drawn-out middle.

As expected, save for kisses and a frantic hand job, there's no steam in this book. However, you can follow instructions at the end to download a free bonus chapter, which contains one sexy scene. I enjoyed the bonus chapter, but for the life of me I don't understand why sex in a romance novel is a "bonus." This chapter should have been included in the book.

I think it was essential to see the MCs connecting on a physical level, since emotional attraction does not always translate to sexual chemistry (I speak from experience).

Anyway, I'm torn on my rating. The majority of the story didn't fully keep my attention and there were a few editing issues, but I appreciate what the author was going for. Some of the descriptions of life in space were pretty cool.

I'm going with a 2.5, rounded up because of the bonus chapter.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

~DNF @ 46%~

No rating.

I am clearly in the minority, but I couldn't take another minute with this book.

This story is SO BORING and so long. I actually fell asleep reading this last night, and the last time that happened I was in college and trudging through my economics textbook.

The narration is present-tense, third-person, and I have to admit it was handled fairly well, but it's still a narrative style I dislike.

There was so much filler: news reports in flashback (I think; mostly I was just confused); long conversations between secondary characters that went nowhere.

Reviews warned me that the steam is MIA. I can see why, considering one of the MCs is in space nearly the entire time, but knowing there would be zero payoff did nothing to make me want to continue.

The book begins with an epilogue of sorts, so there was no tension, and even halfway through the sexual chemistry was non-existent.

[Meags · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

Well, I've just officially found my favourite M/M read of 2016. This story was absolutely wonderful.

Curtis "Launchpad" Larkin is a soon to be 40 year old world-famous (and infamous) astronaut, on his last mission in space, when his usual CAPCOM (the person back on earth who holds main communication between flight control and the astronauts) falls ill and is replaced by 27 year old Patrick Harte. The two get off to a rocky start, but over the course of the mission they form a fast friendship and a great working relationship (that saves lives), and after some deep, soul-baring conversations, that occur late at night with no one around, the two slowly fall in love.

The whole idea of two people falling in love without having met face to face is a concept I enjoy very much and I feel was expertly executed here to perfection. Patrick has worshipped Curt from afar since he was 10 years old, when Curt was the youngest astronaut to ever go to space. Curt inspired Patrick’s dreams of one day working for NASA, so once he’s finally there in Houston’s mission control centre, working in direct communication with Curt himself, Patrick finds it overwhelming but completely unsurprising when he develops very real feelings for the astronaut. Curt on the other hand has never really been lucky in love. He publically came out as bisexual some years ago, but had only had a string of meaningless flings with women since. Yet, from the beginning, Patrick seems to effortlessly understand things about Curt that Curt has keep under lock and key for years. For Curt, talking to Patrick is a pleasure that he’s never experienced before with another person. Patrick gets him and he gets Patrick. The fact that Curt has never laid eyes on Patrick holds no power over his unwavering decision to fall head over heels for the younger man. After all, Curt is a man of action, so when he decides that Patrick is the one he wants there is no holding back.

I love, love, love a good slow burn romance and this one takes the cake! Witnessing these two falling for one another in such unique circumstances was an absolute joy. Sure, they didn’t actually meet until around the 80% mark, but that had zero negative impact on my love for this story. The build up to the moment Curt lays eyes on Patrick for the first time and the scene that follows was quite possibly my favourite reading event of the year! I have no doubt that this will be one of those love stories I will continually return to read over and over for years to come and never tire of.

The space themed backdrop is also a completely awesome and original idea. It was well researched and surprisingly educational; so hats off to the author for doing the grunt work that enhanced the quality of this whole reading experience. The passion and reverence that Curt and Patrick (and the author) have for space exploration and the importance and impact such continued expeditions have on the future of the human race, is perfectly apparent and easily spilled out of the pages and infected the reader with the same wanderlust and excitement that the characters themselves were experiencing.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. There were definitely moments when I questioned the author's decision to structure the story the way she did. I wasn't particularly sold on how the story jumped back and forth between present time on the space mission and back to showing segments of the TV interview broadcast that aired before the mission. I honestly didn't find much entertainment from the interview segments, but I still get why those moments, and the character information we gleaned from those moments, was vital to the overall development of the story.

What I did love unconditionally were the characters. Curt and Patrick were fantastic main leads and I could have easily followed their story for a good long while after I finished the final page and still been happy as Larry. Their story is one I enjoyed immensely and I won't be forgetting anytime soon. This was my first time reading Kay Simone's work and it most definitely will not be the last time.

If I had to compare this to other books I've read and loved, I'd say this was a cross between The Martian and The Truth About Riley (both fantastic reads if you haven't read either!).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

I HAVE to try this one!!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read January 2023

I forgot how much I loved this. Bumping it up to 5 stars.

And the audio is to die for.

----------------------------------

This was just adorable! I loved this.

I loved how the romance unfolded while Curt was in space and Patrick on earth. They fell in love by just talking to each other.



They do finally meet at 80% and it was wonderful and everything I’d hoped for.

I did really dislike the interview parts at the beginning of each new chapter. I skipped all of them.

But other than that I really loved it. It was super romantic.

[Simone - on indefinite hiatus - · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook: ***4 Stars***
Story: ***2 Stars*** so beware of dissenting opinion ahead!

Holy Milky Way, this was loooong!

Umm, the book, not the space mission. Although, listening to the audiobook felt like experiencing this mission in realtime...

I loved the characters, I really did. And by that I not only mean the main characters, even if Curt and Patrick were absolutely adorable, but also each and every side character (well, maybe except for Wolfe). I'm still not sure if I should buy their love story, since Curt and Patrick only met in person at roughly 80% of the book, but I can't deny that they were cute together and the ending was really sweet, too. But that's it pretty much.

The topic was interesting and something I never read about before and you can tell that the author did a great job with her research. The story itself, though, was way too wordy for me, too descriptive and sometimes too technical. And I would never tell somebody what and how they should feel, but the astronauts's pining for food and other things they were missing while being in space would have been believable for me if the mission would have lasted for at least half a year and not only three and a half weeks. The last thing that bugged me where the flashbacks. The TV interview scenes pulled me out of the story every single time and they took place quite often.

On the plus side, I got an extended version of the joy of listening to Greg Tremblay's voice and by doing an amazing job as always, he made me finish this story, which I would have given up on pretty soon otherwise.

[juli✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 “𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗽𝗮𝗱”・★

❝patrick harte,❞ curt says. ❝do you have any idea how much this asshole in space missed you, kid? ❛nice to hear your voice❜ does not begin to cover it.❞

first things first, go HERE for some true mood music.


secondly, i cannot believe i allowed my past self to give this book less than the five stars it deserves. and while perusing my old review i can't help but admit some wrongs.

❝CAPCOM to mission commander, do you read?❞
❝sweeter words have rarely been uttered,❞ curt says without hesitation.
patrick chuckles. ❝nice to hear your voice, too, commander.❞

first, my hatred? or complaint over the lack of face-to-face interaction. this time around, i didn't even notice, nor care, about it.


if anything, it's what makes one giant leap so good. the lack of interaction allows patrick and curt to fall in love in the purest sense. plus, in a world of alleged slow burning books this one actually walked the metaphorical walk.

❝i’m pretty sure nobody has ever liked me as much as you do,❞ he admits. ❝i guess that's why i don't mind — about the kiss on the tarmac.❞

okay now, let's talk about my ménière's disease complaint. looking back, the complaint was sorta valid … if you squint a bit. however, after rereading i want to redact that entire section.


see, here's the thing … as a subplot it actually didn't come out of nowhere. there are hints peppered throughout the first half of the book. we hear/witness patrick stressing himself out, not getting enough sleep, and eating like crap. we also get little hints that patrick wanted to become an astronaut but never did.


if anything, the ménière's disease reveal serves as an answer to a subtle mystery that patrick himself put forth.

❝no, and i wouldn’t expect it to be. not with anyone. but you are incredible, patrick. i feel like you must not be told that often enough.❞
❝i don’t know if anyone has told me that.❞

all in all, one giant leap is one of those books that truly makes me nostalgic / yearn for something that i never had. moreover, the romance is a perfect mix of insta-love and slow-burn. thus, i am so glad i decided to kick off my reading new-year with one giant leap.









[original review _ 4/21]
★・・・4.25 "Launchpad" Stars・・・★

“He’s um. I haven’t known him very long. We met through work but we haven’t met met. It’s… a long distance thing.”

.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆ the intro ⋆｡˚☁˚｡⋆.


The saying "third times a charm" greatly applies to my journey of attempting to read One Giant Leap . I downloaded this book on Kindle Unlimited three separate times with the intent to read it. The first two times I gave up, but I just knew if I forced myself to read it I'd have a blast. AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW, this book was so freaking sweet and I f*cking loved it. The characters were amazing, the plot was so cool and inventive, and I mean come on, its setting was NASA and the moon.

✦ ☾ the f*cking moon, people ✦ ☾

Honestly, anything to do with NASA immediately peaks my interest and I automatically become invested. The only thing that would've made the NASA setting better is if the book had been set during the Apollo era, than my inner history nerd would've died happy.


.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆ the plot ⋆｡˚☁˚｡⋆.


ONE GIANT LEAP basically chronicles the longest long distance relationship in the history of ever. After a sudden incident - a stroke - leaves the previous CAPCOM commander side-lined, NASA engineer Patrick Harte must step up and fill the role. Patrick is stunned and unsure, especially considering he must work with his idol, famed astronaut Curtis "Launchpad" Larkin. At first things are a bit bumpy, the crew - namely Curtis - are unsure about Patrick, but after a while things between Patrick and Curtis evolves from mutual respect, to a deep friendship, to a strong love. Can a love connection created in space truly become something more on earth?


.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆ the good ⋆｡˚☁˚｡⋆.


✓ CURTIS AND PATRICK ✓ were the perfect leading men. At first glance Curtis and Patrick seem to have nothing in common. To start, they have a pretty substantial age gap (about 13 years), there's a bit of hero-worship going on (Curtis is why Patrick wanted to work for NASA), and they seem to have nothing in common. Curtis is the bad-boy astronaut who both got fired and single handedly saved NASA from bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Patrick is just an engineer who never dreamed he'd be directly involved with an actual space mission. And yet when you strip away all of those things Patrick and Curtis are pretty perfect for each other.

“I’d almost forgotten what it’s like having a CAPCOM. You’re there every second I’m awake and then, when you’re not, it’s like I’ve lost my left arm or something.”

These two men share a deep deep love of the stars and have a real passion for space exploration. Simply put, they get each other. A great example of this is when Patrick guesses correctly when Curtis asks him this question -

“Well, why do you think I moved there? To Quanah. Why Quanah?”
“For the stars,” Patrick says without hesitation.

Before the start of this book Curtis was fired from NASA and he ended up leaving Houston, Texas to live, in well, the middle-of-f*cking-nowhere-rural-USA. Nobody could really figure out why Curtis choose Quanah, but Patrick sure did. Patrick proved time and time again that he saw Curtis for the man he is and not the man the public perceives him as. Likewise, Curtis treats Patrick with immense respect and such warm adoration you cannot help but audibly sigh in contentment.

"… you are incredible, Patrick. I feel like you must not be told that often enough.”
“I don’t know if anyone has told me that.”

To put it simply, I became wholeheartedly, body + soul, I-N-V-E-S-T-E-D in Patrick and Curtis's story. Their journey was a quiet subtle one but a journey worth following nonetheless.


✓ NASA, SPACE, THE MOON, ✓ and anything having to do with the fictional HERMES-1 mission Kay Simone created. I didn't realize how into NASA and space travel I was until I read this book. Seriously, after reading ONE GIANT LEAP I've become a bit of a NASA fan-girl. I've always loved learning the history behind NASA (the Apollo missions being my favorites) but I think this book has inspired me to actually keep up with NASA circa. 2021. so thanks for that KAY SIMONE. What I loved about ONE GIANT LEAP was how much NASA and the mission itself felt almost like a completely separate character.

Not only did this book have me invested in Curtis, Patrick, and the rest of the crew, but it also made me care deeply about space travel and the mission as a whole. The setting in this book was utilized perfectly and I came away from this story with a greater appreciation for NASA and space travel.


✓ THE ROMANCE ✓ between Curtis & Patrick was top notch. Apart from the space setting the best thing about this book was the romance. I adored the way it developed. It was both insta-love and slow-burn at the same time. This book took place in the span of two weeks (don't quote me on that though). Yet, due to the way ONE GIANT LEAP was paced, it felt like so much longer. I am a huge fan of when authors really take the time to develop a romance. That means starting out as strangers, developing mutual respect, becoming friends, then slowly turning that friendship into love ❤︎

We got to see the deep moments -

“Y’know, you said in an interview a while back that sometimes you can’t relax because every minute you spend doing something that won’t further the purpose of space exploration feels like a wasted moment.”... My parents could never understand that I’d dedicate my life to doing something that wouldn’t make me rich. But I read that statement and it was like… being understood, you know? For the first time, I felt like someone understood me.”
“I made you feel that way?”
“Yeah. You did.”

Their moments of light and fun -

“So I suspect I’ll be responsible for a full report on this burger when I’m back at my desk?”
“Perceptive as always, Patrick. Enjoy your lunch.”
“Anything for you, commander. Signing off.” ...
“Oh my God. Please tell me you took notes. Please tell me I’m hearing the sound of cheeseburger notes.”
“You’re hearing the sound of cheeseburger notes.”

And at the center there was a deep love born from mutual respect and adoration -

Of all of the billions of lives that had crossed the surface of the planet -- as insignificant as the cells of any single organism, living and dying in the relentless cycle of the planet -- of all the chance encounters, trajectories, years, and epocs, the two of them had found each other.

Basically, I am now daring any book to top my love of this amazing long-distance relationship. Seriously, I will now laugh in the face of any other book character who complains about their long-distance relationship. If your S.O. isn't in space then I don't want to hear it.


.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆ the (not so) good ⋆｡˚☁˚｡⋆.


✘ THE LACK OF FACE-TO-FACE ✘ time between Patrick and Curtis. As much as I adored the concept of Patrick and Curtis falling while separated by space I kinda, sorta, really wish we got more time of them together. . . on earth. Now this is not a knock against KAY SIMONE but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the page length. This story clocks in at about 400 something pages. DUE TO THAT, why was only about thirty percent of the book dedicated to Patrick and Curtis actually being face-to-face.

Seriously, why? As I stated, I loved the delicious slow-burn, banter, and long-distance aspect of Patrick and Curtis's relationship. HOWEVER, I also wanted to see their relationship develop face-to-face. I wanted to see them getting to know one another in real life, and if I'm being perfectly honest. . . i wanted more steamy moments as well. Because Curtis and Patrick are only reunited at the very end, we as readers don't get to see their relationship really develop past the initial "honey-moon" phase. While this wasn't a true deal breaker for me I can see why it bothered a lot of readers.


✘ THE. . . PLOT-TWIST (?) ✘ and/or reveal that Patrick has Ménière's disease. FIRST, I want to be perfectly clear, I liked that Patrick's character had Ménière's disease. I always appreciate when authors incorporate things like disabilities, lesser-known diseases, a racial identity that's not caucasian, and everything in between. Seriously, I love it. It's always great to see characters who are different from yourself falling in love. What I don't like though is when diseases, mental illness, disabilities, etc. are used as "plot-twist". I'm honestly still not sure how I feel about the way Patrick's disease was introduced. On the one hand I like how it's pretty true to life. If someone is living with a disease, mental illness, or disability it's just there. It's not their only defining quality, but instead it's simply one aspect of that persons self.

Every day after that he had an attack of vertigo. Sometimes reacting to it was as simple as grabbing something to steady himself. Other times, he fell. Hard.

The same could be said for Patrick. For him living with Ménière's disease is his normal. It's apart of his everyday life. In addition, it's the type of chronic illness that ebbs and flows. It may not always be very severe and he doesn't constantly suffer from the symptoms. So, when he did experience a debilitating migraine and vertigo attack it does make sense that it would come in the middle of the book. On a side-note: i've experienced vertigo before and it is horrible. my heart sincerely goes out to anyone living with this disease on a daily basis.

Meniere’s disease, he was told, isn’t a well-understood disorder. It meant that he would spend the rest of his life dealing with vertigo and hearing loss. The hearing loss, the physician said, would come and go — but it was likely to get worse the older he got. He would probably eventually lose the hearing in his left ear. He would probably experience migraines.

I guess what I felt a little iffy about was the way it was suddenly brought up to add drama. See Patrick in all his infinite wisdom never disclosed that he had Ménière's disease to his employers, which was. . . not a great move. When he ends up suffering a particularly nasty attack he winds up worrying they'll pull him from his job as CAPCOM. To me, this felt like the Ménière's disease was introduced to cause drama, and I say this because after talking about it for a chapter or two it's not really brought up. . . which again, I'm not sure how to feel. As I said, I like that the Ménière's disease is something Patrick just has. Yes, it effects his life, but it doesn't dictate it. But at the same time I wanted to see the way in which it would effect his life going forward. . . gah, idk, you guys leave your opinion and let me know what you think!


✘ THE INTERVIEWS AND SUCH ✘ at the beginning of each chapter. They were. . . fine.

They did give a bit of insight as to why Curtis had the reputation he had, and gave the reader the necessary background in regards to the HERMES-1 mission. In addition, some of the interviews were kinda fun and they were almost like an alternate timeline of American History. HOWEVER, I'm just not a huge fan of this type of thing in general. Flash-backs, interviews, fan-fiction posts, poems, etc. at the beginning of every new chapter tend to - in my opinion - slow down // make said new chapter come to a grinding halt. I read some of the flashbacks, but in general I skipped most of them. I thought they were cute but personally I'm just not a huge fan of this sort of thing.


.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆ the wrap-up ⋆｡˚☁˚｡⋆.

ONE GIANT LEAP had no right to be as cute as it was. Seriously, this book came out of nowhere and demanded I drop everything and read it. The characters were endearing, the setting was out of this world (i'm sorry i had to say it), the slow-burn was delicious, and the romance melted my somewhat cold dead heart. While it took me a while to get into once I got twenty percent in I was hooked. I highly recommend ONE GIANT LEAP to anyone who happens to be a fan of NASA, romance, slow-burn, May-December romances, and character driven stories. I'm so glad I decided to give this book another a third shot!

"Is that something you'd like, Patrick? A ranch in the middle of nowhere and a million stars overhead."
"Are you kidding me? And you'd be there? That sounds like something out of my wildest dreams."

[⚣Michaelle⚣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

This story, with its low heat and practically non-existent sex content, will not appeal to everyone. It did, however, hit all of my other buttons. It was touching, funny, sweet, romantic...and all built around a subject very near and dear to my heart (space exploration and NASA funding).

It was also very clever with its made-up celebrities (Neil deGlass Bryson, Bill McCann the Science Man) and television shows; I really liked how the book used footage and articles to weave the current state of affairs with previous events and helped build the blossoming relationship by giving us this complete picture of a very anti-hero Hero in Curtis. (I can't help it...I know how the cover and details described him but ISTG I kept getting flashes of Bruce Willis - as Harry Stamper in Armageddon - and it didn't bother me one bit because, yeah, that kind of anti-hero Hero.) (LOL there was even a mention of the Last Chance NASA Hero plot device a couple of times so I think the comparison is highly apropos!)

A big deal was made of the age-gap here, but I didn't find it that overwhelming. 13 years isn't much...IMHO it's more the life-experience divide - including how Curtis was Patrick's first crush at 10 & his inspiration for wanting to be an astronaut - that make this more interesting. Curtis is one of those Good Ole Boys that never seems to grow up and kinda acts like he's Patrick's age (or younger) most of the time anyway.

And the supporting characters? GAH! I loved each and every one of them, and this book wouldn't have been as good, as complete and touching, without them. I'd TOTALLY read a story about the lesbian astronaut couple...and I'm kinda wishing there was really a television special on Casey (KC? I listened to this so I have no idea how things are actually spelled). She seems like the kind of KICK ASS pilot & commander that more girls need for inspiration. In fact, ALL of the women characters were strong, competent, smart and holy shit do we need more of that in all facets of fiction.

Also, Greg Tremblay (once again) killed the narration. There were interviews and news bits where he imitated President Obama and I died. It was so well-done. All of the voices he provided for the audio book were perfection.

This whole book felt like a love letter to the space program in a way...and I adore that. Honestly, I can see myself listening to this time and again, it was that good.

[Drache.... (Angelika) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stars (interesting, beautiful romance) rounded down to 4 stars because of incorrect context and implausible decisions in the storyline.

I loved both Curt and Patrick, their characters, the storyline around their falling in love.
I loved how the plot evolved.
I'll list everything I loved after some criticism.

What bothered me (because I can't tell my brain to shut up) were a few central aspects to the story.
It's the first time I had an author representing historical facts in an incorrect way. Why rewrite history and make up decisions by the Obama administration, just to justify your plot? I had to interrupt my reading several times to check if the things the author attribuited to Obama and Romney could have been true but couldn't find anything on the internet (Obama severly cutting NASA funding), on the contrary, the Obama administration it seems expanded NASA fundings, from what I could find.
The other thing that bothered me (because it was very central to the plot) was how both MCs had so very important senior roles (astronaut/commander and CAPCOM) and I severly doubt the NASA would employ people with both their medical backgrounds in their specific roles, one being an alcoholic (Curt) and one (Patrick) suffering from a disease that could have catastrophic repercussions on his job keeping the space crew safe.
Many of the decisions both men took seem totally farfetched and not plausible at all, given their roles in the NASA.

What I enjoyed most (since that's more important than my nitpicking, right, Nicole? 😉).
But, mild spoilers ahead..
Patrick was lovely, at the beginning overwhelmed with his new responsibility, but he tried so so hard to be the best CAPCOM possible for the team. I loved that he cared so much for all of them equally. He had been part of their family long before he even felt he belonged.
Patrick's love for Curt was very private, as was Curt's love for Patrick. It was beautiful to watch them fall in love without knowing the other felt the same.
Curt was awesome. He was (not without reason) very self assured, a rock for the team including Patrick.
The day they finally met and Curt saw Patrick for the first time was delightful and so so sweet. I loved how Curt reacted. It was lovely to see how he was absolutely sure of their love and never questioned the direction he had chosen.

So, 4,5 stars for the romance, adjustet to 4.

Thanks Nicole for challenging me to read this! ❤️

[Courtney Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why did I wait so long?

I’ve had a friend telling me for months that I needed to read this. I finally got around to it, and she was right - I loved it! Funny and sweet, intelligent and romantic, it kept my attention from start to finish. I enjoyed the bonus chapter, too!

**listened to May 2021 and I was just as enamoured the second time around! Greg Tremblay does an AMAZING job with the narration, as always**

[Katrina Passick Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I was provided with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

It's not a secret that I enjoy Kay Simone's writing, as I've read and positively reviewed her previous works. I'm guessing that anyone who enjoyed her two previous books will probably enjoy this one, as well. That being said, there are a few things I took issue with.

Simone's technical prowess is still not up to par if she wants to compete in the top tier of m/m romance authors. She has issues with commas. Not as bad as a lot of authors I've seen in the last few years, but there are still important areas where commas aren't used and they're needed. Necessary. Then there were spots where I think malapropisms were the issue (hard to tell if she used the wrong word on her own or if it was some kind of well-meaning autocorrect fiasco). She kept using quotation marks around titles instead of italicizing. Yes, I know these technical issues are small for some readers, but they get under my skin and highlight the importance of an editor.

So that stuff can be remedied with an editor, and like I said, it needs to be if Simone wants to up her game. However, the technical aspects do not detract overmuch from the overall quality of the work itself. I enjoyed reading this, and it's probably a book I will eventually reread. It is not, however, one which I'm itching to revisit, and that means it's not going into my pile of romance favorites.

See, my favorite books are always ones where I can't stop thinking about them for a day or so (at least) after I finish reading them. It's not unusual for me to immediately flip back to the beginning and start rereading my favorite parts. The characters haunt me, and I see them as real people, even going so far as to imagine scenarios for them after the ending of the book. That didn't happen with this book because I couldn't invest myself that completely in the story. The romance, while sweet, was almost an afterthought, tacked on as a complement to interstellar rumination. Curt and Patrick are, on the surface, interesting characters, but Simone missed a chance to capitalize on their individual merits and really help the reader get to know them. We were told Patrick felt this way, and Curt felt that way, but the slow build to a literary friendship with either man was just impossible for me, overshadowed as it was by the (admittedly) soft science of space exploration. They didn't appear to have all that much interaction before they began talking about being in love with each other, and that lent a feeling of unreality to the romance. I couldn't believe they were in love because I just didn't see it happen. I saw the beginnings of it, then we seemed to skip to the end. Then, after Curt was back on Earth, their "getting to know you" scenes were compromised by exhaustion and outside influences, so I still had very little opportunity to get to know them as a couple.

But...I find myself unable to give this less than four stars. Because while it could use a little more character development, the tone was great. This is where Simone's writing always confuses me. I really enjoy it, but I feel somewhat cheated. Perhaps this is just an unfortunate situation where Simone's writing will always strike wonderful chords with some readers while leaving me feeling slightly bereft. Whatever the case, she deserves some praise for the work she puts in. I may not be able to appreciate it all, but she certainly has talent.

[Kaity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread/Relisten: January 2024

Still loved it as much as the first listen. I think that whenever the interview parts came up it took me out of the story, but I still very much enjoyed this!

Highly recommend if you want an astronaut/nasa worker book with low angst!


Original Read/Listen: Nov 2021

Audio: 5 stars, it’s an older Greg B/T book but still just as great as his current stuff
Book: 4.5 stars

I will say that the interview that kept breaking up the first couple chapters was annoying, but the relationship and how Patrick was with the crew of Hermes I was everything I didn't know I wanted.

Even though this was very much a "Love is Blind" situation, I really enjoyed this book! I honestly couldn't put it down, I was procrastinating on work to continue this book! Something about the way that this was written as well as the narration was addictive and I enjoyed every minute of this. I will definitely be rereading this in the future.

Greg Tremblay (aka Boudreaux) did an amazing job like always. I highly recommend this book!

[Eugenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Left me in orbit a little too long.....

I liked this book. But the more I read, the more I realized how long I was spending reading it. It was long. And then, it was longer still.

I loved the premise of an astronaut falling in love with his unseen communications officer. I love the idea of that officer being younger, and seriously crushing on the famous astronaut. I loved the camaraderie of the flight crew and how they took to their new officer.

Normally I love the slow burn, but this one was so slow that I almost gave up. There are some great lines and moments in here, but it could have been been done more succinctly. And then, when I’ve read over 400 pages of this book, the wedding is just a mention. The sex is a short paragraph. Sure, there were feels in this book, but the more I read, the less I was impressed.

So, what began as a 4 star read for me, steadily declined to a 3 star.

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Two guys falling in love before they even meet - so very romantic! Lovely slow burn and an HEA you can believe in. The astronaut theme was a fun twist (and somewhat unique) although be prepared to suspend your disbelief a little about the workings of a NASA mission. As the author herself indicates, this is more along the lines of a fairy tale!

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

I'm very torn about this one.

I liked the characters as individuals, and I liked them together. I really enjoyed the dislike to friends dynamic and thought their philosophical discussions were interesting. The book was long and slow but the timeline is pretty short, however I did actually find it fairly believable as the high-stress aspects for me lean well into the whirlwind romance.

What I didn't like was pretty much every decision they made work-wise. They were both selfish and unprofessional. I feel like such a grinch saying this but this entire romance would be a colossal waste of taxpayer money. The illicit calls at night, staying an extra day on the ISS, Curt absconding at the end.

It is so unbelievably irresponsible for Patrick to lie about his health issues, especially when it ended up that there were accommodations that could be made. I was so angry about that entire plot element.

Curt's issues with alcohol were way underplayed. I guess it was supposed to be nice that he didn't have a drink at their BBQ at the end, as if now his life was complete and he suddenly no longer had a toxic relationship with alcohol.

There was also a lot of waffling in this book. I did enjoy the philosophical aspects but this could've gladly been shortened by maybe 25% and not suffered at all from it. In fact, I think all the news exposé segments could have been dropped, I found them confusing and not particularly enlightening. It felt like padding and this book did not need padding. The vaguely dissembled celebrity-scientist names were excruciatingly cringe.

I also thought the political aspects are a bit heavy handed. While I did sympathise with the desire to keep an amazing programme like this running, I am not American and already feel like I inadvertently consume too much American politics, I don't need to read this much about it in romance novels on top of that.

The sex scenes were oblique and this often frustrates me. Like the author wants to keep it "clean", as if sex is wrong or dirty. If you're not comfortable writing about sex, then you can just not, that's completely fine and IMO preferable to having weird, vague scenes. What frustrates me even more is that the author offers a steamy bonus scene; on principle I did not subscribe to read it and I think it should have just been in the book to begin with.

After stating all of these negatives, I have to say that I still liked the romance itself, and at the end of the day that's what I read romance for. It was a novel premise and I'd gladly read more books like this, I'd still recommend it to those who are curious about developing a relationship at long distance and who enjoy some philosophising.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Audiobook, mm romance - and I sure know how to pick romance audiobooks (I keep trying, but I always pick duds). Between a NASA astronaut (in orbit) and the NASA communicator on the ground, and it seems to be highly rated and very popular and the scenario was interesting... I heard the audiobook, narrated by Greg Tremblay who was great at it (he has read many many books, it seems, this was my first, likely will not be the last. Good reading).

It was all awfully teen girl, and I am saying that as somebody who was a teen girl, and is very touch still with that side of her (new Holly Black novel next week if you want to see me go all teen fangirl). Except it has the worse characteristics of being a teen romance fantasy, without any justification for it - I was expecting to read about adults with important careers, not this infatuation-crush auto love thing. The couple dynamics are very old fashioned m-f type up to our young non astronaut being ill and needing care, and then giving up his career, except maybe not but the older guy actually asked him to move away to a small town somewhere so they can live together. No real negotiation or discussion and the "love" just does not make sense (their talks seemed like friendship building if anything, but OK it is love, and special love at that, they are so lucky the universe is arranged so they met. Also, if Curt has never seen Patrick, how can he vivid dream a scene with Patrick, I mean how would be recognize the face?) and with special confiding in a friend dynamic (via earth to shuttle communications...) and found family (literally, the word is used) and (seriously) special eyes his irises are twin nebulas of the brightest pale green with a dark rim the color of the ocean (while our MC2 is blushing, because of course he is that type of heroine...). Their love affair gets huge media attention, and it is not even credible they would be the most mediatic couple of that space mission!

Not helped by the crazy jumps in timelines, it starts right up with a sirupy preview of the epilogue, and then jumps back and forth through Curt's career, without real need. And we get back to the syrupy HEA which just goes on and on. (Incidentally sex scenes are almost fade to black, and very euphemistic, and added to the teen-fantasy feel).

The bits about NASA and the astronaut program are a bit all over the place - some details are just bad (no, you can develop a whole new shuttle system in a few years. It would be nice though, Ok, I will give it a pass as my kind of wish fulfillment fantasy), but there are fantastic details now and then, even if it all does not fit right (communicating to Mars will always be limited by the speed of light, I pedantically feel obliged to comment).

This is a very ostensibly woke politically correct book, where our cowboy-personality (why does he have a Texas accent if he is from North Carolina? Did he went to college or flew fighter jets before becoming the youngest astronaut ever?) makes earnest speech (through interview format) and "Old white guys like me have had their chance, and I cannot wait to see what this next generation of space explorers makes happen ", so it was bit unexpected to me that I think the book was not very fair at presenting women as being competent or focused astronauts. It loudly proclaims there should be more women in the space program, but then has a (cis) woman behave totally unprofessionally and emotionally over something minor Carmen is emotional because she is leaving her girlfriend, as planned and known from the start in the ISS and aww, she needs an extra night, to say goodbye, in the ISS, so hard, lying and rule breaking and so on.

In all, it did not work for me at different levels.

[Manfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

After just reading this for the second time I can say that this book is as good for me now than it was when I wrote this review after my first read.
Very often I can relate to one of the main characters very well, maybe because the book is written from his POV, or because of the way the story is told.
In this book, I liked them both so much and it absolutely felt as if they were perfect for each other.
Even without (almost) any sex scenes and most of the communication taking place via intercom this was absolutely romantic and just amazing!
In order to get a 5-star rating, a book needs me absolutely hooked.
If I think about the MC even when I am not reading and wonder how the story will go on, that`s definitely a clear sign. If I am getting really worried when noticing the book is slowly coming to an end, it means that it might even go to my all-time favorite shelf.
All of the above happened here.
In the beginning, the story needs a little getting used to it, or maybe more the writing style than the story. But once I adapted this was so much fun.
Patrick is a young engineer working for NASA. When the so-called "Capcom" (the person responsible for the communication with the space shuttle) suffers a stroke, he is called in to replace her, as he worked on the communication system for the "Hermes" mission.
So he gets to work with his astronaut hero "Curt" Curtis Larkin who leads the mission to ISS.
Through their conversations, they grow very close and without ever meeting each other they slowly fall in love.
Before meeting back on earth they have to overcome not only their personal doubts and insecurities but also health problems and a major incident on the shuttle that could easily turn the whole mission into a disaster.
The scenes where those two talk during their mission were absolutely wonderful. I absolutely enjoyed reading this story, I loved both MC a lot and even if the end is maybe a little too "sugarcoated" as another reviewer put it, this is easily one of the best books I have read so far this year!
Definitely 5 stars and yes this book is going on my all-time favorite shelf, no doubt about it...

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing set up and completely grounded in reality, this was a perfect romance amidst the background of showcasing great efforts towards propelling humanity forward.

Newly minted communications officer Patrick is in way over his head. He's overwhelmed with nerves and anxiety, and he can barely keep it together as he realizes that he's in charge of coordinating the entire mission. Lives are depending on his abilities and smarts, and it doesn't help at all that he's secretly had a crush on the head astronaut Curt Larkin since he was in the 5th grade!

Curt, brash and brilliant, slowly warms up to the new guy after quite the rocky start. Their uncanny connection, similar philosophy, and love of all things space, is the starting point to delve deeper and develop a friendship that quickly turns into something more in a matter of weeks. He's a bit surprised by this new development, but for once in his lonely life, he contemplates an actual future that has more meaning and appeal than working amongst the stars.

Thousands of miles separate Patrick and Curt, but somehow they connect over and over, and it is filled with silliness, humor, revelations, and intimacy. It was also equally another love story calling out to the wonders of space and its infinite possibilities in bettering and understanding our place in the universe. Impressive message indeed.

So overall, this was seriously sweet and wholly romantic, with a little sexy. It simply made me feel good and smile at such a fabulous love story.

[Christelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alert : dissecting opinion !
The story is quite unique : it takes place during a mission in the space. It's full of characters : the astronauts making that flight, among them, Curt, the captain, a veteran and quite a character, and the NASA personnel on the ground, more specifically Patrick, who has just been promoted as the communication officer between earth and the spaceship just after the launch.
The story is about how the program got stopped and then reactived, about the space travel, and then about the return on Earth. Fan of space and astronauts, you’re going to love it as I believe the author made lots of research and gives a glimpse of all of it in a fiction way and in a very original writing style, alternating between the fashion of TV interviews when explaining the circumstances occurring before the launch and the POV of the MCs during the flight.

The writing is great and the context really interesting, and that’s what made me go through the whole story. That and all the protagonists involved and their relationships.
But when it came to the “romance” between Curt and Parker, well, I didn’t buy it at all and it frustrated me a lot, to the point of boredom. It’s almost insta-love between Patrick and Curt while Curt has never met the guy, only communicating through the NASA channels. Don’t get me wrong, it’s sweet, but a huge fairy tale IMO : virtual relationship (and should I say long-distance one maybe ?!) are not easy to come up with for me. And if you’re looking for any steam, turn around, there’s none the MCs only meet each other at 80% and there is only one quick sex scene.

I still give it 3 stars because I really enjoy this author and for the original context. But the "romance" part was in the way :-(

[Valerie ❈M/M Romance Junkie❈ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This started a bit slow. I will admit I probably would have DNF had it not been for the wonderful narration by Greg Tremblay. Then something amazing happened. I started getting into the story. I started enjoying the banter between commander and his CAPCOM. There is no steam in this book, but I truly didn’t miss it. I’m very glad I picked up this story, and I will gladly try something else by this author in the future.

reread 11/19/2022 still enjoyable

[Sahitya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn’t even heard of this book or author about a week ago. I was browsing through the Romance package on audible when I found the audiobook and found the premise fascinating enough to try. And this has been such an incredible surprise.

First thing that gets to me is just the sheer amount of research that must have taken for the author to write this book. I obviously can’t be sure that all of the details of space travel, life in a shuttle or even the procedures at NASA mission control are all accurate, but it’s written in a way that makes it believable. The terminology used all across the book can be confusing at the beginning but we quickly get used to it and then it’s an easy ride. The writing also has a lot of whimsical quality to it, with many discussions about the utter beauty of being in space and how humanity is but a small part of the huge universe, and the importance of space exploration. It was all very profound and leaves the reader also to do a lot of soul searching and it was a one of a kind reading experience for me. The pacing is actually slow in parts, especially when not much is happening either in the shuttle or on earth, but there are many lovely conversations. I didn’t particularly understand the need to have each chapter interspersed with old interviews, but they did give an insight to the main character before the beginning of the story. The book is also wonderfully diverse which was a pleasure to see. The audiobook narration is great, and I really appreciate the narrator for bringing slightly different nuances for every single character.

Both Curtis and Patrick are amazing characters - two people who have overcome tremendous hardships in their lives to achieve their ultimate dream of space travel. Curtis is a celebrity astronaut who may have been cocky and arrogant before, but is much more subdued this time around. While his initial introduction to Patrick doesn’t go well, their constant communication is inevitable and they quickly come to love their conversations. Patrick’s dream of going to space was thwarted due to his disability, but his sheer determination to be a good support for the astronauts, both as a spacecraft communicator and an engineer, is amazing. He maybe a bit shy and introverted, but he also understands his team very well, especially Curt. I really enjoyed the dynamics between everyone in the team, and it definitely felt like they would be friends for life.

The development of their friendship which slowly turns into love without Curt ever having laid eyes on Patrick, is beautifully written and I couldn’t help but fall in love with their story. Maybe the story takes place in less than a month, but it never feels like instalove, it just feels completely right and perfect. They connect on a very deeper level and just like the characters, we end up waiting for that moment when they finally get to meet. And what a moment that was.... the sheer joy that they feel on looking at each other is absolute perfection and will remain one of my all time favorite romantic scenes.

If you are looking for some sugary sweet romance that’ll probably give you toothache, you should definitely read this one. It’s a very low angst, low steam, age gap love story that’s full of feels and will leave you with a smile on your face. And it has one of the most unique settings that I’ve ever encountered in a contemporary romance, so I think everyone should give this book a try.

[Daphne · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you know, you know. And Curtis and Patrick both knew - immediately and irreversibly - across the miles. I loved the sweetness and purity of the connection between these two in the most bizarre and unlikely of scenarios while Curtis was orbiting the Earth in a shuttle and Patrick was white knuckling his way through an unexpected promotion to CAPSCOM.

What I loved the most about this story:

Patrick's personality.
Curt's personality.
The secondary characters, including Amal, Carmen, K.C., Wyatt, Laxmi, Laxmi's parents, Allen, Pei - they were all so well developed and nuanced, without being preachy or obnoxious.
Patrick's illness and how it was handled
The phone calls
When they met for the first time
How they just folded into the relationship
No faux angst or game playing
The absolutely sweetness in how Curt and Patrick meshed together adjusting to gravity and real life
How physicality was used to compliment their relationship. In this book, it would have felt cheap to have some gratuitous sex scenes thrown in somewhere
The separate bonus chapter provided by the author with the gratuitous sex scene.

I can't think of anything that I didn't like. This was a completely unexpected happy surprise for me.

Read this one - it will warm the cockles of the most recalcitrant hearts.

[Chris, the Dalek King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Just Wow. This was great. I've been kinda wanting this story for a long time. I love space and science and they whole astronaut things so I was a little sad to see that no one had written a book that takes place in contemporary times that deals with all that. Not that I'll ever turn a good scifi down, but there are a lot of really cool things that happen now (or even in the past) that would make really great stories. And I'm really glad someone finally did it. And did it so very very well. I loved how well researched this is (and man it must have taken a lot of time to research) but that it doesn't feel like we are getting constant info dumps. These characters live and breathe this stuff and you can totally tell from the way it is written. And thru them we get to experience it.

I love when authors trust readers to hang on for the ride like that.

The interview sections did feel a bit odd, since they where transcripts of something that really should be seen, but I found they grew on me. And even with the way it flashbacked, it didn't disrupt the story the way I thought it would.

I highly recommend this. And this author is gonna be getting more of my business in the near future, I can tell you that.

[AngelFire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, this book wasn't my cup of tea. Not enough happened and the whole vibe felt very immature in terms of what the characters did and said to each other. The low angst, the high focus on romantic angst, the high focus on identity politics, the high school level drama and the unrealistic lack of professionalism by all MCs made the story feel like it was YA rather than an adult romance.

The Positives:

+ There were tons of vivid, interesting details regarding NASA operations, the space mission and life in space. The author clearly did A TON of research into even the tiniest detail regarding how things work in space and how things work at NASA, which was great.

+ I loved the beautiful contemplations by Curt and Patrick about why space exploration is important and how insignificant humanity is in terms of the universe as a whole.

+ The age gap was handled well. Patrick being mature, competent and somebody who Curt and the team relied on made me root for them as a couple, despite age gaps not being my thing.

+ The fire situation was really cool (even though Patrick being the only one to figure out what was happening shoved him into Gary Stu territory)

+ Patrick's medical issues related to Meniere's disease were done really well.

+ Laxmi's friendship with Patrick was great and I loved that she roped her parents into helping to take care of Patrick when he was dealing with his medical issues. Laxmi's entire family was amazing and I wish we had spent more time with them. I especially liked the natural way the author incorporated Laxmi's parent's culture and their personalities into the few scenes we saw them in.

+ Half of the story involves two timelines: the space mission in the present (in 2015) and a longform TV documentary/interview with Curt that's airing in the present but discusses events that happened from 2010 to the present. I found the setup a bit confusing at first because the TV segment doesn't include clear dates of what they're talking about and it's in script format, but I ended up liking it. It was a really clever way to tell readers more about Curt's personality and his background without just info-dumping the stuff into the story. It was a unique storytelling idea that worked really well!

The Negatives:

+ THE STORY STARTS WITH THE EPILOGUE!! In a story where the WHOLE POINT is that the two MCs don't come face to face until nearly the end, THE AUTHOR RUINS THE ENTIRE THING BY STARTING THE STORY SHOWING THE MCS LIVING THEIR HEA AND BEING TOGETHER!! Why?!? It ruined every bit of anticipation and tension that I went into the story with. This is one of the dumbest writing decisions I've ever seen.

+ There's barely any conflict and the main conflict (a medical emergency happening to the CAPCOMs) was done twice. The story was very low angst and barely anything interesting happened.

+ The huge focus on identity politics was annoying, especially because it was so heavy handed and it focused almost exclusively on LGBT stuff. The space crew consisted of one bi person (Curt), one trans person, one lesbian, one straight woman and one straight man. Everything about this clearly indicated that the group was chosen for their sexual orientations, which is absurd and that's what made it feel forced.

+ The frequent left-leaning political ranting was really off putting because it was just the author virtue signaling and forcing words into the MCs mouths when they didn't fit their personalities and histories. Curt saying multiple times that it was time for straight, white, cis-gendered men to basically GTFO out of the space program and make way for others was ridiculous. When he notes to himself that the sole white straight guy in their crew was in the minority for the first time, the observation sounds gleefully aggressive, which makes no sense for Curt's character. Of course, one of the very few straight, white cis-gendered men in the story is rude, aggressive and overall a nasty person with no redeeming characteristics. All of this was ham-fisted and clearly done to cater to a specific political ideology instead of a desire to portray society in a realistic way.

+ The unprofessionalism of the space crew and most of the NASA people left me disgusted. These people acted like they were in high school instead of on a billion dollar space exploration mission. They gossiped and they got overly emotional and whined to each other about their romantic problems constantly. They also whined and complained way too much in general, considering their mission was only 3 weeks long. Ridiculous.

+ Curt talked like a teenager instead of a 40 year old man. My favorite example:

"He [Curt's dad] would call me a 'homo'-- which, like wow, real creative, Dad."

This guy is 40 years old. Forty! Not 14 years old. His constant angsting about his feelings for Patrick were also absurd, considering the man was in the middle of a space mission. Doing the whole 'does he like me just as a friend or does he like-like me?' isn't something a professional, 40 year old astronaut is going to be focused on in the middle of a 3 week mission when he's the team commander.

+ Patrick mis-using NASA equipment and breaking regulations multiple times to have secret phone calls with Curt (once when Patrick was drunk) was so stupid that I stopped taking him seriously as a professional, which was too bad because Patrick's professionalism had been one of things I loved about him and why him being so young yet being one of the senior members of the NASA mission control team felt realistic.

+ The space crew banding together (with Patrick) to lie to their superiors, disobey orders, mis-use equipment, create extra work for everybody on earth, waste tons of taxpayer money and put all their lives at risk just because the two female astronauts wanted a few more hours together prior to being separated was so ridiculous that I nearly DNF'd. This is the type of thing that young readers would find very romantic but as an adult reader, I can't ignore the realities around such a situation. Not only was this ridiculously unprofessional and it made the story seem absurd but it also made the two female astronauts look really bad. Many industries (including NASA) had spent decades using the excuse of women being too emotional in order to prevent them from being allowed in those industries and this author decides to have two of the female astronauts break multiple rules because they can't keep their emotions in check? Beyond ridiculous.

+ The author's humor didn't work for me. Calling the book 'One Giant Leap' and having Curt's nickname be Launchpad were only the tip of the iceberg. There's a space scientist named Neal Deglasse Bryson. There's another scientist called Bill McCann the Science Man. The public crowdfunding website is called 'Come Fund Me'. Some readers probably found this hilarious, I just found it distracting and dumb. Making this worse is that the author includes some real people like Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney so why make up stupid, immature names for other people who are clearly replicas of their real-life counterparts?

Overall, this wasn't my thing. It was marketed as an adult romance and while the subject matter was interesting, almost everything about it was handled in an immature way that didn't match what I was expecting.

[Alexandra]

DNF for now. It couldn’t hold my attention with the shattered storyline. I loved the idea- the astronaut falling for his communication commander but the story jumped 3 different events in every chapters, it was distracting. Maybe another time 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Ula'ndi Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall book rating: 4
Audio Book: Greg Tremblay - 4
Book Cover: 3.5

I really enjoyed the whole astronaut thing. I enjoyed the majority of the story, although the ‘romance’ aspect between the two MC’s maybe could have had a little “more” to it when they finally met.

There were times I wasn’t really sure if I liked-liked Curtis or just tolerated him, but I’m leaning towards like.

Again, the idea of the story was something else and I had fun with that. Also, Patrick was sweet. I liked him.

It didn’t blow my mind but it was a good read/listen.

[Jo * Smut-Dickted * · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful discovery (thanks Roger!). A great novel of realizing attraction and just going with it - in the most unlikely of places. Patrick, who has had a crush on Curt for ever (literally!) and Curt realizing that Patrick can be his everything.

This is very slow burn. It's not UST either - just growing via amazing dialogue and gradual understanding into each other as a couple. I loved the convo's, really enjoyed the NASA components (live about 1 1/2 miles from NASA myself...so felt very connected!) and the science mixed in. Though there were tense moments it was really about the characters here - they all played well together and brought a lot to the story. It didn't really drag but I can say after 30% I was so invested I didn't want to put it down.

Note: In spite of no tags or any other information on the page or on amazon there is a disability theme that runs very strong in this one as Patrick has Meziere's Disease which is a chronic disease that usually causes full hearing loss in one ear . I wish others would indicate that this has a character with disability 1. Because some folks like the tag and would be drawn to (or not) the content and 2. Because in the MM Romance Group we are playing a Scavenger Hunt game as it needs to come up as a genre on the front page - meaning people have to shelve this on a "disability" shelf in their My Books. Just sayin'

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of Audible edition
Narration can make a story that you love, fall in love even harder all over again. Greg Tremblay was amazing in his narrators role. He captured the essence of both MCs in all their intimacy and breadth.
Kay Simone wrote a beautiful novel. I wish it was twice as long or even a series that follows these guys through their whole lives.
I loved this audio book so much that I purchased it for a friend. This is a book I will reread and relisten to many times.

Review of text book:
4.75 stars. This story really captured me. I love space, older/younger pairing, falling for someone's mind as opposed to their body, combining recent history with fictional characters, lovers slotting/meshing together. It was all glorious. Not a lot of sex, but I enjoyed what was there. Author has a free chapter for what happens after if you join her mailing list. I truly want to read more of her work.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This. Was. Awesome.

It's a totally different type of story from anything I've ever read and I loved how Patrick and Curt fell in love. The whole NASA aspect was super interesting and now I'm going to go watch every movie I know about space exploration! Loved this and now I definitely want to check out more from this author.