This was a beautiful book and narrator Robert Nieman was a big part of that. I loved the way he moved between Daniel and Rex though it took me awhile to pick up the difference, ie the drawl he gave to Rex. The gift in this book is how we get to know these two characters in more and more depth as they fall for each other.

Daniel is closed off, and Rex is isolated. They have instant chemistry but the chemistry only takes them so far. They have to open themselves up to trust someone else and to care about each other. The latter comes naturally to Rex, he is a caretaker. Cooking healthy food, providing a home, going out of his way. All this he showers on Daniel. Daniel turns round one day and asks himself what he gives to Rex - sounds simple, but the self-involvement that absorbs most people, especially people who live in defensive mode, the care Rex showers on him, it's a revelation to Daniel, and he starts to include Rex in his life.

Daniel blooms under Rex, and Rex is kinda 'rescued' by Daniel.

No one does this sort of thing better than Roan Parrish, who has a real sensibility for these angst ridden characters. I was surprised to see this was her first novel, released in July 2015. She's since published 19 novels!

Her empathy with her characters shows up in subsequent novels. But I also agree with another commentator here that In the Middle of Somewhere is a bit too long, and a bit over the top. Luckily I listened to the talking book and didn't notice all those "um" utterances in the dialogue. That would have driven me crazy too.

The audiobook is 13.5 hours, which is way too long and it could have done with some judicious editing of some overly long angst laden sections. A few sub plot lines, such as with Daniel's gay brother, or the young skateboarder, were left dangling, but perhaps they are picked up in other books in the series. ( )

Overall a pretty enjoyable book, but the writing is a bit too awkward at times and kind of... over the top, plot-wise (e.g., Daniel and Rex's first two intimate encounters) at a few points to earn that fifth star for me.

It started off a bit... off-putting. I really dug all the angst in Daniel's backstory, and that helped get through the rather awkward opening first person perspective. It doesn't help that it feels like certain chapters were written without rereading others? Like we were reminded of some things twice? Like Daniel explains one of his academic things, to himself, twice, like he's explaining it the first time. And that happened with two other things and I was just like... okay? Also, how did Daniel handle paying for his wrecked rental?

In other ways the writing was just... oh it got me. There was one section concerning Colin near the end of the book that - and this isn't a criticism - I just had to put the book down and go do something else. It's like Parrish was reading my brain, but changing the pronouns, and it just got to me. So much of Daniel's admission of his understanding of Colin and his feelings towards Colin... like the way that section is written is just almost word for word how my relationship is with my sibling and it just... it was rough. Very good, wonderfully written, but oof.

I adore Ginger. Rex is sweet, but I wish his territoriality was dealt with a bit better? Some writers handle it by pointing out "I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions about who I date, and if you feel uncomfortable, we need to talk about it", but this never did? It wouldn't be as big of a problem if the book didn't seem to learn towards "the territoriality is a bit of an issue", but then kind of hand waved and said "yeah, it's just his way of showing concern", since both Daniel and Rex have it. I guess maybe it's a turn on for some but personally if my SO was getting territorial about my interactions with people I might otherwise date if I wasn't in a committed, monogamous relationship, I'd be pretty pissed. If it's just a turn-on thing, though, well, it's just one of the things in here that aren't for me, and that's fine, because by and large the rest was pretty good. I liked the switch dynamics for Daniel and Rex. That was good.

I went into this thinking that I'd finish it, but probably wouldn't read book 2 in the trilogy. Now that I'm done, I'm going to give book 2 a shot, because after those first few chapters and a couple sort of hiccups, the book is pretty good. ( )

Even better on a second reading. ( )

I found Daniel’s character compelling (if not entirely believable as a PhD graduate), and Rex is just too sweet. I would say it’s low angst, as it lacks that formulaic big misunderstanding/complication that separates the MCs for a time, but the author more than makes up for it with sad or infuriating FOO issues.

Stars: 3.5 Rounded up ( )

This is more erotica than romance but was an enjoyable read.

I agree with other reviewers the 'uhm' was irritating but I just ignored that. The characters and story were good.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars was the repetitive sex scenes (exact same wording used at times and felt cut and pasted) and unnecessary friend backstory that I skipped to get back to the actual story. ( )