HOLLOW (Neighbors of Sapphire Valley, Book 2), by M. L. Burns | Free Audiobook
Stepbrothers at fourteen, strangers at twenty-six, and one cabin with thin walls
Ayden can trace the wreck of his life back to a specific afternoon, but he knows the real starting point was being fourteen and having Keoni made his stepbrother by a piece of paperwork. Twelve years and one accident later, the two of them end up in the same place again: their parents' cabin, one roof, and no way to avoid a conversation they have both been not having since Ayden's graduation party.
Keoni has a different version. He was always certain that Ayden was his, that the stepbrother label was a punishment he had to endure for the sake of other people's happiness, and that the mistake he made that night is why Ayden has kept away for a decade. Now that they are shut in together, both of them are carrying things they would rather not say aloud, and the walls of the cabin are not going to be thick enough to keep the fire out.
It is a stepbrother book with the taboo left on the table rather than softened, and it earns the darkness by making both men guilty of something before it starts.
What separates this from the pile of forbidden-romance releases is the symmetry of the blame. Ayden narrates his version, Keoni narrates his, and neither of them is the wronged party they believe themselves to be: Ayden has spent twelve years reading silence as rejection, and Keoni has spent the same twelve years deciding that one bad night explained everything. The cabin forces the two accounts into the same room, and the book is honest about how ugly that is before it is romantic.
M. L. Burns writes the wanting as a problem rather than a vibe. These are not two people who fall into bed and sort out the ethics later; the stepbrother history is the thing standing between them, and it is treated as a real obstacle for most of the thirteen hours. The dark label is also accurate in the sense the publisher means it, so check the content before you start.
Five narrators is a bold choice and it pays off. Andi Eloise and Savannah Thomas handle the female voices, Anthony Palmini, Liam Dicosimo and Sean Masters split the male ones, and the effect is closer to a full-cast drama than a dual narration. With this much interior monologue, the change of voice does a lot of the work of keeping the two perspectives distinct.
It is book two of Neighbors of Sapphire Valley but the couple is new, so you can start here, though we would start with the first volume if you prefer order. Content warning, and it is the publisher's own rather than mine: this is a dark MM taboo romance with explicit material and themes of grief and obsession.
The first volume is HEAVY, and if you want another dark romance with a lead who is very bad news, Vicious Prince is the other one I would hand you.
HOLLOW is the second Neighbors of Sapphire Valley book by M. L. Burns: Ayden and Keoni, stepbrothers since they were fourteen, are forced back under the same roof twelve years later by a tragedy neither of them wanted to face. Thirteen hours and fifteen minutes, with a five-narrator cast: Andi Eloise, Savannah Thomas, Anthony Palmini, Liam Dicosimo and Sean Masters.
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It is an Audible exclusive. For mature listeners: the publisher flags this as a dark taboo romance with explicit content. The first volume, HEAVY, is on the site if you want to start at the beginning of the series.
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