A Matchless Man

*Audible code provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement. *

Navashen grew up poor, living in government funded housing. He was transferred to a different school because of his intelligence and used that experience to motivate himself to become more. Through hard work, he earned scholarships and grants and became a doctor. He continued working hard to gain experience until he was able to return to his hometown and take a position in NICU. He contacts an old school friend, Brent who is now a real estate agent, to help him find a home. Navashen and Brent hit it off and Brent takes him under his wing. He finds him the perfect house that will allow Navashen's younger brother to live with him. Brent collects people and has a large friend base. He loves to spend time with people and is a matchmaker. He invites Navashen and his brother to many different activities to help them make friends and uses the chance to introduce Navashen to single men. But Navashen isn't interested in any of those men, he's only interested in Brent, although he doesn't see how his busy life will allow for a relationship. Between his busy work schedule, on call schedule, his brother and his very traditional Indian parents, Navashen doesn't foresee any man accepting what little time he can spare.

I really loved Navashen! He was so focused on making something of his life, but not just for himself. He wanted to provide a better life to his parents, but more importantly, for his brother. His younger brother, Akshat, was born prematurely and suffered disabilities due to that, both physically and mentally. He has not reached his potential because his mother treats him like a toddler instead of the 25-year-old man that he is. Navashen has plans and is strong enough to stand up to his mother to help Akshat grow. As much as his focus is on becoming a doctor and helping take care of the neediest of patients, his end goal is to give Akshat a real chance at life. I absolutely connected with this story, and truthfully found myself teary eyed several different times listening to this.

I also loved Brent! He was so outgoing, personable and considerate. He brought Akshat into his life and became friends with him just like he did everyone he ever encountered in his life. Brent was bisexual and has a failed marriage in his past so he's afraid to get involved again. There is a part where Brent isn't the perfect guy anymore, and it's an understandable situation, but it was hard and made me want to yell at him. Well, I was alone in my car, I may have yelled a little at him but he did redeem himself!

This story is narrated by John Solo and I thought he did a great job. His storytelling was well paced and there weren't a lot of blank air space. He did a great job with all the various characters, though I wasn't a fan of the voice used for Navashen's mother. I didn't always realize it was her speaking until I was told. But, otherwise, fantastic job!

A Matchless Man is Book 2 in the Lexington Lovers series, but can be listened to on its own. I really enjoyed this audio, and plan to get Book 1 and Book 2 so I can read them. I really hope there is more to come from the various guys I met in this book. I highly recommend the audio of this book and even though I haven't read it (yet), I would imagine I'll feel the exact same way about the book!

Overall: 5 stars
Performance: 5 stars
Story: 5 stars

Navashen has worked hard to be successful in his life and work. He is now back in his home town and is willing to take on the care of his brother to help him have the best life possible. But he is also ready to be out and to find a life for himself as well.

Brent is an old classmate but is willing to do his best to help put his old friend. I love how Brent wants to help Navashen be comfortable with himself. It was also humorous to see this two men dance around each other. Brent trying to be helpful in setting up dates and Navashen not doing anything to make things work.

3 1/2 Hearts Reviewed by Pixie

When Navashen moves back to Lexington, where he grew up, his first point of contact is Brent an old school classmate and real estate agent. Brent is keen to make Navashen feel welcome and sets about helping Navashen find a social life that doesn’t revolve around his work, and maybe helping him to find a man to spend time with.

Navashen is just happy to spend time with Brent and he loves the way that Brent treats his younger and wishes Brent would look his way for more than just friendship. When Navashen finally gets the courage to ask Brent out things start to look up, until Brent overhears Navashen’s mother and Brent’s insecurities take over,

This is a cute little story of friends to lovers, but I wouldn’t say it actually fit in with the Dreamspun Desire line; it missed its mark for being a romance as there really wasn’t any and I couldn’t feel any romantic connection between Navashen and Brent. Maybe if we also got Brent’s view point I could have seen his true feelings for Navashen but almost from the moment Navashen moved back to Lexington Brent seemed determined to hook him up with someone else.

Navashen does show his feelings for Brent in a subdued fashion, he just doesn’t think that Brent would be interested in him, so it’s actually through Navashen’s frustration that he and Brent get together and we learn that Brent felt the same way. We then have the hiccup with Brent’s insecurities and again it’s Navashen who has to make the effort, it was frustrating for me as a reader not to be able to smack Brent for being such a dickweed.

While I liked Navashen and Brent as characters it’s actually Akshat (Navashen’s younger brother) that steals the show, he is so amazingly sweet and loving and it’s wonderful to see his progress through the story as he finds his independence with Navashen’s help. So while I don’t rate this story very high for the actually ‘romance’ I do rate it highly for Navashen and Akshat and their brotherly relationship.

Reviewed by Meredith for Diverse Reader

Nav and Brent are life long friends and when Nav moves back to Lexington after being gone for a long time, he asks Brent, who's also a real estate agent, to help him. Nav has his brother living with him. Askhat, Nav's brother, who was born a preemie, requires some help. He has asthma and due to his early birth his brain functions differently. He acts younger than he is. Nav is trying to help his brother find his independence.


Brent feels with all Nav does with his brother and work that he needs some fun in his life, and a special someone.


I have to say, I really loved Nav's relationship with his brother. It was written wonderfully and really is the highlight of this book.


I will say I felt disconnected when it came to Brent and Nav and because that really is supposed to be the focal point to this romance, it presented a problem.


Now, this is a friends to lovers story but, for me, it felt like a friendship only; and when we only get but a glimpse of Brent and Nav together romantically it really didn't really show the evolution of their relationship. I wish the author had expanded on them more.


Nav and his brother really made this book and because of them I am happy I read this. Because this was really supposed to be about Brent and Nav and their story into love was written as more of an afterthought made this a bit of a miss for me.

A Matchless Man was a decent read… but that’s where it stays throughout the book. I have to admit this is the first Tachna book that I didn’t rate a 4 or higher – I usually love her writing, storytelling and most importantly, her characters. But in this Dreamspun Desires story, all of if fell flat.

We didn’t really know that Brent was a matchmaker… and when we found out, it wasn’t a big deal or something that would warrant the title of this book. Add to that a lot of time and energy was spent during the house hunt – descriptions of each place, the neighborhood, and so on – that again, had nothing to do with the actual story. I thought for sure something would come back around with the houses or maybe it would have been a great way for the two main characters to get to know each other, but they barely interacted.

Sadly, I really liked both main characters – and wanted to know more about them both. But it continued to stay on the surface without any real depth or emotional attachment. There just seemed to be more clutter than story, and I’m not sure why – I was left thinking I continually missed something (maybe I did? can you fill me in???).

On a positive note, both characters were likable and very kind – I liked them instantly and continued to like them more throughout, even if there wasn’t a deep emotional connection. There was also very little heat – so it could be a good starter book, for anyone new to M/M or looking for a quick light meet-cute read.

Review Copy of A Matchless Man provided by Dreamspinner Press to Alpha Book Club for an honest Review.