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Sleepless Over You
Brimming with humor and powerful emotion, prepare to fall in love with this modern-day nod to a classic rom-com.
Matt Mazola never expected a popular relationship podcast to change his life, but that’s exactly what happens when he tunes in and hears a young woman share her heartfelt wish that her grieving father find love again. The widower she describes—Hugo James—captures Matt’s attention, and he sets off on a crash course to meet the other man
But Matt soon discovers that he and Hugo are an unlikely match. Matt is a twenty-something city guy who’s still searching for his life’s purpose while Hugo is an accomplished forty-five-year-old Brit living in the Hamptons. Why would Hugo be interested in guy like him? But fate seems to have a plan in store for them, and when destiny steps in, who are Matt and Hugo to stop its irresistible pull?
Matt Mazola never expected a popular relationship podcast to change his life, but that’s exactly what happens when he tunes in and hears a young woman share her heartfelt wish that her grieving father find love again. The widower she describes—Hugo James—captures Matt’s attention, and he sets off on a crash course to meet the other man
But Matt soon discovers that he and Hugo are an unlikely match. Matt is a twenty-something city guy who’s still searching for his life’s purpose while Hugo is an accomplished forty-five-year-old Brit living in the Hamptons. Why would Hugo be interested in guy like him? But fate seems to have a plan in store for them, and when destiny steps in, who are Matt and Hugo to stop its irresistible pull?
6 pages, Audible Audio
First published March 9, 2021
20 people are currently reading
365 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 305 reviews
June 19, 2021
3.5 Stars
For some reason, my YA self loved Sleepless in Seattle, and I watched the shit out of it and pretty much knew all the lines by heart.
It was fun noticing the similarities while this still had its own original highlights. Peppered with some quirky humor and emphasizing the magic of love, this was a very nice nostalgic visit a’la an MM reimagining that took me to my reminiscing happy place and hope it does the same for you!
Available from audible.com only
For some reason, my YA self loved Sleepless in Seattle, and I watched the shit out of it and pretty much knew all the lines by heart.
It was fun noticing the similarities while this still had its own original highlights. Peppered with some quirky humor and emphasizing the magic of love, this was a very nice nostalgic visit a’la an MM reimagining that took me to my reminiscing happy place and hope it does the same for you!
Available from audible.com only
April 20, 2021
Audio - 5 Stars
Story - 2 Stars
Story - 2 Stars
March 10, 2022
This was fantastic!
I have listened to all three Sydney Smyth Audible originals now and LOVED all of them.
This one is an LGBTQ retelling of Sleepless in Seattle.
This is so well done, modernizing the story while still keeping enough bits to relate the two.
They even make a Meg Ryan crack and have a tiramisu joke.
I have listened to all three Sydney Smyth Audible originals now and LOVED all of them.
This one is an LGBTQ retelling of Sleepless in Seattle.
This is so well done, modernizing the story while still keeping enough bits to relate the two.
They even make a Meg Ryan crack and have a tiramisu joke.
March 14, 2021
This is not a romance novel. This is one book about a young man struggling through a quarter-life crisis and another book about a middle aged man healing from grief and neither of them are particularly good or interesting stories. This has none of the allure or anticipation or weight or yearning of the source material, it’s just boring and flat.
December 24, 2023
I absolutely loved this little love story. Hugo and Mattys love story and the story of them finding each other and falling in love with each other too. I can’t wait for another book by this author
July 1, 2021
I'm glad I picked this up from Audible, it was an enjoyable romance with a sweet dog and that's all I needed. I also liked seeing into the life of a famous pet's owner (or their human, as the book says.) I've never thought about famous animals that much, but it makes sense that they get worn out from working and would rather be home with their companion. It was nice how much Matt cared for Bruno and now I want to go pet my own dog at home.
This was an interesting romance in that Matt and Hugo have basically no contact for most of the book. They each know about the other and there's some pining happening, but it all builds up to the big meet at the end. The story was short enough that this worked and it was a fun twist.
This was an interesting romance in that Matt and Hugo have basically no contact for most of the book. They each know about the other and there's some pining happening, but it all builds up to the big meet at the end. The story was short enough that this worked and it was a fun twist.
March 28, 2021
What a sweet story. I've really enjoyed this author's retelling of movies. Is the writing perfect? No, not at all but it doesn't really matter in this case. The narration was great.
April 26, 2021
Absolutely loved this MM retelling of Sleepless in Seattle - it was just so cute, and so perfect. This is an audio-only story available only on Audible. It's included in their Audible Plus catalog, so if you have that subscription and love adorable romances, definitely add this one to your library!
December 24, 2022
Not as fun as the author's other book, but it was pretty decent. I liked that despite being a rather short book, both protagonists had complex family relationships.
Rep: gay main character, Black gay love interest
Rep: gay main character, Black gay love interest
March 11, 2021
Omg, this was such a funny and sweet queer romance!
July 16, 2021
What a cute story! I have no idea how long this book actually is because it's an audible original and it runs about 5 and 1/2 hours at 1.0X speed, so my guess is that it's between maybe 150 and 200 pages. Because it's a novella of sorts, I did find myself wishing for a little bit more at the end, but as a whole it was adorable. Incredibly cheesy and romantic and pretty darn funny.
It follows a Matt and his dog Bruno, as they end up looking for Hugo. Bruno is a Instagram famous dog and Matt is getting pretty exhausted by all of it and noticing that Bruno is also struggling to keep up with all of their expectations. In order to work on Bruno's health and Matt's sanity, they take a step back from the Instagram world and Matt instead focuses on writing a book. Matt is convinced he doesn't want to fall in love because his parents marriage fell apart. He and his sister listen to this true love podcast where Hugo's daughter, Raven, comes on and tells the story about her two dads and how they fell in love and how her dad Hugo is struggling after the death of her other dad. After hearing Hugo on the same podcast, Matt is convinced that he needs to find Hugo and maybe they can make things work.
Now I know what you're thinking, because I thought it too, this sounds super weirdly stalkery. It honestly kind of is. But it's this weird mutual stalking because Hugo is obsessed with Bruno and takes all these steps to figure out who Bruno's owner is and they end up in this meet cute.
It could have been creepy, but instead because it was mutual, it wasn't?. I think that because this book is a dual POV it works. You read the whole thing knowing that they both have this strange obsession with the other and without both perspectives it would have been super super weird. That being said, it's still kind of weird because there's no way that either one of them could have known that the other was just as infatuated without knowing each other. So if semi-stalking someone on the internet is not your thing, maybe skip this one.
But if Instagram famous dogs, sarcastic sisters, a sassy teenage girl who just wants her dad to find love, and a stupidly cheesy romantic endpoint are your thing, give this one a chance.
Not gonna lie Raven and Bruno are the stars of this book and deserve all the credit 😂🙌🏼
Rep: white gay MC, Black gay British MC
CW: grief, loss of a spouse, cancer, loss of a parent, divorce
It follows a Matt and his dog Bruno, as they end up looking for Hugo. Bruno is a Instagram famous dog and Matt is getting pretty exhausted by all of it and noticing that Bruno is also struggling to keep up with all of their expectations. In order to work on Bruno's health and Matt's sanity, they take a step back from the Instagram world and Matt instead focuses on writing a book. Matt is convinced he doesn't want to fall in love because his parents marriage fell apart. He and his sister listen to this true love podcast where Hugo's daughter, Raven, comes on and tells the story about her two dads and how they fell in love and how her dad Hugo is struggling after the death of her other dad. After hearing Hugo on the same podcast, Matt is convinced that he needs to find Hugo and maybe they can make things work.
Now I know what you're thinking, because I thought it too, this sounds super weirdly stalkery. It honestly kind of is. But it's this weird mutual stalking because Hugo is obsessed with Bruno and takes all these steps to figure out who Bruno's owner is and they end up in this meet cute.
It could have been creepy, but instead because it was mutual, it wasn't?. I think that because this book is a dual POV it works. You read the whole thing knowing that they both have this strange obsession with the other and without both perspectives it would have been super super weird. That being said, it's still kind of weird because there's no way that either one of them could have known that the other was just as infatuated without knowing each other. So if semi-stalking someone on the internet is not your thing, maybe skip this one.
But if Instagram famous dogs, sarcastic sisters, a sassy teenage girl who just wants her dad to find love, and a stupidly cheesy romantic endpoint are your thing, give this one a chance.
Not gonna lie Raven and Bruno are the stars of this book and deserve all the credit 😂🙌🏼
Rep: white gay MC, Black gay British MC
CW: grief, loss of a spouse, cancer, loss of a parent, divorce
September 21, 2021
Sleepless Over You
I Picked Up This Book Because: Like authors other works plus needed to get some use from AudiblePlus membership.
Media Type: Audiobook
Source: AudiblePlus
Dates Read: 9/9/21 - 9/10/21
Stars: 3.5 Stars
The Characters:
Matt Mazola:
Hugo James:
Matt’s Sisters, Hugo’s Daughter
The Story:
I enjoyed this Sleepless in Seattle re-imagining. I’ve never actually seen the whole movie but there is enough there to feel the vibe.
Narrator(s):
Great narration.
The Random Thoughts:
I Picked Up This Book Because: Like authors other works plus needed to get some use from AudiblePlus membership.
Media Type: Audiobook
Source: AudiblePlus
Dates Read: 9/9/21 - 9/10/21
Stars: 3.5 Stars
The Characters:
Matt Mazola:
Hugo James:
Matt’s Sisters, Hugo’s Daughter
The Story:
I enjoyed this Sleepless in Seattle re-imagining. I’ve never actually seen the whole movie but there is enough there to feel the vibe.
Narrator(s):
Great narration.
The Random Thoughts:
May 6, 2021
A romance destined to be in the middle of the lives of these two characters who are in complicated stages of their lives.
I would have liked to see a little more of their lives, I think the characters deserved it.
Either way it was a nice and entertaining story.
I adored Matt's narrator
I would have liked to see a little more of their lives, I think the characters deserved it.
Either way it was a nice and entertaining story.
I adored Matt's narrator
March 11, 2021
When will I learn that this author Is just NOT for me? I havent liked any of her books, but thats on me, not her, because they arent bad, just not my cup of tea.
September 5, 2022
Super sweet.
March 17, 2022
4.5/5
90% of the book is the lead up to Hugo and Matt meeting each other so you get to know the characters and their lives before the relationship.
I wish we had a little bit more of Hugo and Matt’s relationship since we only really get the two meeting and the epilogue. Other than that it was such an enjoyable book.
90% of the book is the lead up to Hugo and Matt meeting each other so you get to know the characters and their lives before the relationship.
I wish we had a little bit more of Hugo and Matt’s relationship since we only really get the two meeting and the epilogue. Other than that it was such an enjoyable book.
March 24, 2024
A Silly, predictable but fun romantic story, which basically rips off Sleepless in Seatle.
June 14, 2021
Cute but predictable
April 26, 2021
This was an unusual romance in that both heroes do date / sleep with / flirt with other men before finding their way to each other. There is a lot of online stalking going on (which they all admit freely) and they only really meet up close at the end.
I still liked the story though, especially everything about Matt‘s family and personal development. The dog, Bruno, was a lovely bonus and IMO very well done. I also liked Hugo and his daughter, but was not entirely convinced at the way his profession was portrayed.
So as a romance I would give one star less, but as an enjoyable story about family and the hope that you can be happy again after loss and tragedy, and as a movie retelling, I do stand by my four stars.
I still liked the story though, especially everything about Matt‘s family and personal development. The dog, Bruno, was a lovely bonus and IMO very well done. I also liked Hugo and his daughter, but was not entirely convinced at the way his profession was portrayed.
So as a romance I would give one star less, but as an enjoyable story about family and the hope that you can be happy again after loss and tragedy, and as a movie retelling, I do stand by my four stars.
September 22, 2025
Yeah, I absolutely loved this🤩 The back and forth before they got together would ordinarily irritate me but I loved the rom-com vibes it gave the story.
Bonus points for having a wider cast of female characters that were not one-note (and loved wine haha).
My nostalgia for the Cape Winelands aside🙈 I wish we’d gotten to see what the MCs would be like together. I can take a good guess and I think that’s what the author was aiming for but I can’t help my curiosity either.
Audiobook review: 5 stars
Superb delivery from Teddy Hamilton and Robbie Martino!
Expect
- Age gap
- Interracial romance
- Lots of will-they-won’t-they
- No spice
Audiobook included with my Audible membership.
Bonus points for having a wider cast of female characters that were not one-note (and loved wine haha).
My nostalgia for the Cape Winelands aside🙈 I wish we’d gotten to see what the MCs would be like together. I can take a good guess and I think that’s what the author was aiming for but I can’t help my curiosity either.
Audiobook review: 5 stars
Superb delivery from Teddy Hamilton and Robbie Martino!
Expect
- Age gap
- Interracial romance
- Lots of will-they-won’t-they
- No spice
Audiobook included with my Audible membership.
August 24, 2023
WELL THIS WAS DARLINGGGG!
April 13, 2021
This is a fun beach read (or anytime really). The story of Matt and Hugo finding each other is so sweet and the narrators did an incredible job bringing life to the characters.
October 14, 2021
Yeaaaah this was ridiculous
January 9, 2023
Another great story from Sydney Smyth. My only nitpick is we barely got any time with the two main characters interacting. It's harder to root for them to get together if we don't get to witness their chemistry.
January 15, 2023
2 stars. i think i’m not too into corny (awkward and lowkey embarrassing) romantic novels. felt predictable and basic. some very sweet lines made it more enjoyable though.
February 11, 2022
Again, this was so fricken cute! And again, only reason it’s dropped a star was because of how fast the ‘m’ word came up at the end, but oh my god I loved this story! The familial relationships, the near misses, the connection the two MC’s shared, I loved this! Sleepless in Seattle is always one of the Rom-Com’s I’ve wanted to watch, because I’m a romantic at heart, and I definitely need to check it out now I’ve read this! Loved loved loved it!
September 3, 2021
DNF. One big unenjoyable cliché
March 18, 2021
Audible Review
Overall 4 out of 5 stars
Performance 4 out of 5 stars
Story 4 out of 5 stars
So sweet!
This was such a sweet and fun listen, a take-off on Sleepless in Seattle. I liked getting to know Matt and Hugo individually, they each had compelling stories in their own ways. Hearing Hugo's back story had me tearing up. I just wish more time had been spent with them once they finally got together, though. There was so much build-up and background, which I did enjoy, but we really only got about 5 minutes of them as a couple. It was definitely a case of insta-love, which isn't bad by any means, and the epilogue was cute. I just wanted to spend time with them as a couple.
Teddy was terrific, per usual! He never just reads the story, he really does perform his parts. His voice is so well suited for characters in their 20s and 30s.
Robbie Martino is a new to me narrator. He was wonderful as Hugo, but his other characters weren't as strong.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable listen.
Overall 4 out of 5 stars
Performance 4 out of 5 stars
Story 4 out of 5 stars
So sweet!
This was such a sweet and fun listen, a take-off on Sleepless in Seattle. I liked getting to know Matt and Hugo individually, they each had compelling stories in their own ways. Hearing Hugo's back story had me tearing up. I just wish more time had been spent with them once they finally got together, though. There was so much build-up and background, which I did enjoy, but we really only got about 5 minutes of them as a couple. It was definitely a case of insta-love, which isn't bad by any means, and the epilogue was cute. I just wanted to spend time with them as a couple.
Teddy was terrific, per usual! He never just reads the story, he really does perform his parts. His voice is so well suited for characters in their 20s and 30s.
Robbie Martino is a new to me narrator. He was wonderful as Hugo, but his other characters weren't as strong.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable listen.
March 29, 2021
cute or kinda crazy stalkerish? Romance??
Okay, so I've never watched Sleepless in Seattle so I had no premise going into this. FYI, the couple doesn't even meet until over 75% of the story. Shouldn't a romance actually have two people that have had an actual conversation??? Age-gap story. Matt kinda stalks Hugo. Didn't really understand the attraction between them (as they never met!).
Would have returned if not for being free via audible plus.
The narration was fabulous as expected but not worth the bad story.
Okay, so I've never watched Sleepless in Seattle so I had no premise going into this. FYI, the couple doesn't even meet until over 75% of the story. Shouldn't a romance actually have two people that have had an actual conversation??? Age-gap story. Matt kinda stalks Hugo. Didn't really understand the attraction between them (as they never met!).
Would have returned if not for being free via audible plus.
The narration was fabulous as expected but not worth the bad story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 305 reviews