Hands Down

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at the ‘exes-to-lovers’ setup—until *Hands Down* floored me in the second round. Zapata’s strength lies in her ability to make silence *mean* something. The audiobook’s pacing mirrors a real boxing match: methodical early rounds (Bianca and Gus circling each other with barbed small talk), explosive middle acts (their past colliding with the present), and a final stretch that leaves you breathless. Callie Dalton’s narration is *chef’s kiss*—she nails Bianca’s sarcasm without overdoing it, and when the character’s voice cracks? You’ll feel it in your ribs. Chris Brinkley’s Gus, though, is the sleeper hit. He doesn’t *perform* the role; he *is* it, especially in the training scenes where his exhaustion and determination bleed through the mic. That said, this isn’t a flawless bout. The side characters sometimes feel like placeholders (I still can’t tell you a single thing about Bianca’s coworkers), and the boxing terminology, while immersive, occasionally bogs down the rhythm. But the critiques fade when Zapata lands her emotional hooks—like the scene where Gus teaches Bianca to wrap her hands, and the audiobook’s production *lets the silence linger* just long enough to make your throat tighten. It’s those moments—raw, unpolished, *real*—that make this more than a romance. It’s a story about the fights we pick, the ones we lose, and the rare second chance to step back into the ring. Bring tissues. And maybe a stress ball.