A Brilliantly Captivating Story & Narration🎧

I loved everything about this brilliant romantic suspense, from Tap Bauer’s wonderful writing style to the fabulous characters and storylines to the perfectly cast narrator who brought it all to life from the pages to my ears. Tal Bauer masters not only the suspense element in this book, he also masters the crime drama and the handling of the murder investigation and tracking down a serial killer, and to make it even more interesting he adds in a second chance romance in to the mix. This story grabbed my attention right from the start and captivated it straight to the end, it is the type of book once you start you can not put it down. The characters are realistic, easy to relate, connect with and care about. The Governor assigned Dakota Jennings, a Texas Ranger, to run the investigation of what appears to be a mass murder in West Texas, his hometown and a place he left broken-hearted thirteen years ago and has not been back since. Arriving at the scene, he sees the last person he expected to see, maybe even wanted to see, Shane Carson, the one he fell in love with, the one who broke his heart. Shane had big dreams after he graduated high school but he did not include Dakota in those dreams, but nothing went as planned and his dreams fizzled out and he would up back in Big Bend, his hometown and currently he is the Chief Deputy Sheriff and the person Dakota will work with. Shane has been engaged to his fiancé for five years, but he is living a lie and when his past comes back into his life, he knows how much of a lie it is. His feelings for Dakota never died, he has lived with his regrets for the past thirteen years and it is time for him to come clean whether he is too late. Both men lived different lives, but it eventually brought them back to each other. I loved how everything played out this book, the story is brilliantly plotted with plenty of drama, twists and turns, mystery, thrilling suspense that takes you to the edge of your seat, heartfelt emotions and a meant to be romance. Also loved how you are kept guessing who the perpetrator is and just when you think you figured it out, you are proven wrong. Tal Bauer you are a genius, thank you for this amazing novel and the thrilling and emotional rollercoaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 And for the amazing narration, John Solo is a fabulously talented narrator and a versatile voice artist. He had a complete understanding of the characters he portrayed, giving each a voice that fits that character’s persona to a tee, sounding believable in every role he played and just as I pictured the characters to sound. He set the perfect tone for the story, captured all the character’s emotions and projected them into his performance. John Solo is an entertaining storyteller and his narration enhances an already exceptional story to another level. Thank you for another brilliant listen, it is always a pleasure to listen to your work.

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Tal Baur is a master storyteller

This was the review I did for the digital book:

I wish I was better at expressing myself about what I get from reading books from this author.

From the first few lines Tal draws you into his books. The descriptions of the Texan desert takes you right there, and though I'm not a fan of country music, I found myself looking the songs up and smiling and actually quite liking them - Take Me Home Cowboy and Shameless had me crying, they were so right for these two - Dakota and Shane.
He weaves a beautiful, heartbreaking second chance love story around the mystery of 6 bodies found in the Texan desert. I must admit to having a bit of an idea who these bodies were going to lead to but it did not detract from me fully engaging with the story.

I loved this and wish I could give it more stars and truly hope that an ensuing series could last more that two or three books.

I think, in all honesty I preferred reading the book rather than listening to it. I always heard younger voices in my mind, so John Solo's voice for these two didn't work quite as well for me.

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After Thirteen Years A Second Chance At Love

It's been thirteen years since Dakota and Shane parted ways in an emotional breakup, but neither one of them has moved on from that moment. When a mass grave is discovered with connections all the way to the Texas governor's office, Dakota and Shane are brought back together. The mystery is full of twists and turns with a lot of tense and suspenseful moments. The climax especially was action-packed and had me on the edge of my seat. The romance was a bit whirlwind - these two men have been stuck in the past for thirteen years, and although there are some angsty moments where they figure out how to reconcile with each other, they soon dive headfirst into a deep and intense relationship. The writing, the plot, and the characterizations are all well done and make for a great book. I'm excited for the next book in this series.

John Solo puts on a masterful performance with his narration of the audiobook. Five stars for his great performance and the well done audiobook production.

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Wonderful

My favourite Tal Bauer book!

I decided that my second read of Never Stay Gone would be via audiobook and I wasn’t disappointed. Having never really listened to audiobooks or used Audible before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. John Solo’s narration was brilliant, the story was (of course) excellent and it made my daily commute a very pleasant experience. My only issue was whether my car was soundproofed or not when John read the steamy bits!

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The Best MM Second Chance Romance

🎧 John Solo conveyed the yearning, longing and regrets of our MM pairing. He then added in a joyous, effusive note when they got together again. His hoarse, hesitant almost whispered turn for Shane was golden - a convincing depiction of a man worn down by life's vissicitudes. JS' emotional acting fed power into the romantic dialogue while the raunchy scenes were especially entertaining!! One star removed because, for a story set in Texas, l was hankerin' for accents. Sigh.

📚 The original romance was on page and our teen protagonists' connection believable. It was written to my taste as l otherwise cannot abide reading about the sex lives of young'uns. Our present day Dakota and Shane are grown but the writing maintained their traits and childhood wounding so their thoughts, words and actions were logical and consistent: l loved the character work around this so much. There was also a perfectly fine criminal investigation, a loving depiction of Texas | Texans | Rangers and yes, l was moved to YouTube that song by The Chicks!!

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Romantic thriller

Really enjoyed this one.
The author perfectly captured the heart of Texas in it's depictions of a beautiful, desolate place that grabs ahold and never lets go.
The suspense and action of solving the mystery was wonderfully played out.
It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat as I raced through to the ending.
The romance and heartache between Dakota and Shane has definitely made them one of my favorite couples.
John Solo did an amazing job of depicting these hard scrabble men's emotions and I will definitely be relistening to this one.

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Enjoyable Story

An enjoyable mystery thriller that is well written with likeable characters. Narration is very good

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amazing

this is my second book by this author and it was well written loved every minute of it John solo brings the characters to life I hope there is going to be a book two ❤️

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Brilliant - super exciting and heartbreaking!

I've been a mystery and thriller fan for a very long time and "Never Stay Gone" is my first audiobook by Tal Bauer. Since I've heard a lot about him as an author, I was totally excited.
The audiobook was extremely good, no it was fantastic. It totally hit my reading taste. I listened to "Never Stay Gone" in just two days and now I need more from Tal Bauer immediately!
I love his pleasant, easy going writing style that had me hooked from the beginning.

Dakota and Shane are two great characters - both are law enforcement officers, both have broken hearts, and in flashbacks you gradually learn what happened back then. It was heartbreaking!
When Shane discovers several bodies that died at different times, Dakota is sent to assist in the investigation. Dakota, of all people, with whom Shane shares a past that is as sweet as it is sad. I've read a few books around second chances before, but Tal Bauer really knows how to flesh them out magnificently and keep the reader or listener rooting along.
However, as much as I enjoyed the budding romance, I liked the crime element. It was well done and the plot was well thought out.There were some suspects and I also enjoyed puzzling along and there were some twists and turns, but I never would have thought of this ending.
The setting was well described and I liked it immensely.

The audio book was exciting with angst - my poor heart! - but it was also immensely enjoyable and a very entertaining listen.
John Solo did a fantastic job narrating the story emotionally and bringing the story to life with different voices of the characters.

I love the mix of suspense and romance. A fantastic audiobook, highly recommended!

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Absolutely loved it

Great fast paced, with a mix of crime/mystery, and second chance romance all wrapped up in rangers and sheriffs! John Solo’s performance is brilliant - and really makes you connect with the emotions of each character. Great listen.

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