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By a Thread cover art

By a Thread

Written by: Lucy Score
Narrated by: Erin Mallon,Sebastian York
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Publisher's Summary

"Dominic was staring at me like he couldn’t decide whether to chop me into pieces or pull my hair and French kiss me."

Dominic

I got her fired. Okay, so I’d had a bad day and took it out on a bystander in a pizza shop. But there’s nothing innocent about Ally Morales. She proves that her first day of her new job in my office, after being hired by my mother.

So, maybe, her colorful, annoying, inexplicably alluring personality brightens up the magazine’s offices that have felt like a prison for the past year. Maybe, I like that she argues with me in front of the editorial staff. And maybe, my after-hours fantasies are haunted by those brown eyes and that sharp tongue.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be the next Russo man to take advantage of his position. I might be a second-generation asshole, but I am not my father. She’s working herself to death at half a dozen dead-end jobs for some secret reason she doesn’t feel like sharing with me. And I’m going to fix it all. 

Don’t accuse me of caring. She’s nothing more than a puzzle to be solved. If I can get her to quit, I can finally peel away all those layers. Then I can go back to salvaging the family name and forget all about the dancing, beer-slinging brunette.

Ally

Ha! Hold my beer, Grumpy Grump Face.

Author’s note: A steamy, swoony workplace romantic comedy with a grumpy boss hero determined to save the day and a plucky heroine who is starting to wonder if there might actually be a beating heart just beneath her boss’ sexy vests.

©2020 That's What She Said Publishing, Inc. (P)2020 That's What She Said Publishing, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Romance

What listeners say about By a Thread

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best office romance!!!

The best office romance/enemies to lovers story I've read!! It's is full of chemistry, angst, banter, laugh out loud moments and heart-wrenching parts. Ally is a struggling 39 year old woman who is holding down multiple jobs to cover her ailing father's nursing home care, while living in a run down home with barely no heat, nor food. When she meets 44 year old Dominic Russo, a rude customer who gets her fired, she is at her wits end until Dominic's mother offers Ally a job that puts her in Dominic's war path. What made this story better than most of the same trope is the way the story was flush out. Every chapter had a purpose, I loved how Ally called him Charming and he called her Malificent, how there were several comedic moments and the steam level was off the charts and slowburn in a believable way. Ally is a fierce, strong, prideful, loving heroine. She balances Dominic's broody, angry, closed-off demeanor. I absolutely love it. Thanks to Krystal and Kristen from no smut shaming podcast for the recommendation!

2 people found this helpful

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Just ok

This is an entertaining book similar to the premise of Pride and Prejudice with a modern day twist and too much graphic sex scenes for me. I just skipped those parts.

1 person found this helpful

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Buy it!

Loved the story - don’t care for the soft porn so just skipped those spots - great read!!

1 person found this helpful

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You won't regret this one!

I really enjoyed the banter, of course SY and EM narrating it didn't hurt. Story was good with good pacing.


*spoiler*
My only gripe was with Ally going through with the stage performance in the club. I felt like it was out of character for her to do it and for Dom not to stop her!!!!!!

Otherwise, loveeeddd itttt

1 person found this helpful

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Immature

This reads like it was written by a teenager. Typical and trite. Not with the time.

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A NOT boring office romance, best yet!

For a simple office romance, this sure had heat and spice and everything nice. It left me on the edge of my seat with tension and protectiveness. I also audibly gasped multiple times, quite a few little twists for such a simple premise. The main man has actual flaws, he’s pretty much perfect, but he also has some big issues which makes it slightly more realistic, but still a dream boat. The woman narrator has an amazing voice, as does the man, but the woman’s voice dips down at the end of nearly every sentence - it was very annoying once I noticed. Also, her imitation of a man’s voice made me literally laugh out loud multiple times, it’s ridiculous. If you like a protective man and lots of sex scenes, this book is for you.

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Slow burn that caputures the attention...

This is s slow burn romance that held my attention from start to finish with it's laugh out loud humour, angst and heartwarming insight. It broached some relevant social issues in rather insightful ways.

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just ok

I had high hopes for another lucy score book after loving "Things we never got over," but it fell short in many ways.
Nothing all too exciting happened, it all just dragged, spicey scenes were ok but nothing special, characters weren't that relatable and dom was kind of annoying.
I wish they would have the male narrator always do the male and the female always do the female.. it takes away from the story when you have a woman doing a man's voice.. especially in this book. Dom sounds like an old man not the hot guy hes described as.

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Wonderful book

The storyline caught my attention from start to finish. The narrators were perfect and made the book even more enjoyable.

I highly recommend the book.

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A Delightful Audiobook! 👍🏼

I'm a fan of Lucy Score's funny and quirky stories, and this one was such an enjoyable listen. No one else could've narrated Dominic's part as brilliantly as my aural crush, Sebastian York! Erin also did a great job as the bold, headstrong and lovable Ally. This story had so many funny parts and the sex scenes were 🔥🔥🔥. Dom's heartfelt apology emails gutted me. Sebastian York♥️♥️♥️ Loved it.

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  • Cami Cole
  • 2020-07-01

DNF

This is my second Lucy Score book...I enjoyed the first one and thought I’d give this a go. I’m certainly not opposed to an “enemy to lovers” trope but this one is just not for me. I’m several hours in and am struggling to keep going. I love a longer novel as I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth compared to the 4-6 hour books (especially series when you’re asked to spend more and more money for the next installment...but if I’m hooked, I’ll do it anyway)...with this one, I find myself exacerbated, irritated and bored. I think the fact that the heroine is my age, 39, and the hero is 44, has something to do with it. The maturity level is zero, and something I might deem acceptable for main characters in their teens or early twenties, if I’m being generous. Where I left off...The MFC has just stripped at her best friend’s club on amateur night to make money she desperately needs (no judgment there)...but she makes this big deal about how awful it is doing it and states more than once that her BFF would have just lent her the money. Then when the H steps in and tries to give her money (because he overheard the call she made to her best friend and realizes what she’s doing) she is holier than thou/too good to take his money and won’t accept any assistance from him or explain the reason she’s in this mess. The whole thing is just stupid imo. Beyond frustrated. Wondering how much bad has to continue taking place in the hours left in this book before anything normal or positive or exciting happens. Not worth a credit imo. Total disappointment. Read at your own risk.

52 people found this helpful

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  • KLW
  • 2020-06-28

Slow Burn, Totally Satisfying

I feel satisfied and complete after listening to this one.

There's a lot in this book, not only do you have the main characters who are fun and multi-faceted, but they have complete lives and back stories, they are not one note characters.

Sebastian York as Dom - you love him and want to smack him. Like most men you know :) He has a large heart and is so scared to show it, to give it. It takes a strong woman like Ally to pull him out and show who he is inside and out. Erin Mallon was definitely the perfect choice for this strong independent woman.

The book has romance and comedy - oh the comedy. The one liners. I really wish I would have written some of them down as I went. I was laughing and smiling through so much of their banter. I love the wit and the smart back and forth of these characters.

These two had a lot of heart break and sadness in their lives, they needed to find each other and fight for each other.

It was a long slow burn, but I was never bored, I was totally invested. From the snark, the sweet, and the strip club, I was all in.

27 people found this helpful

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  • CzekMart
  • 2020-06-24

Fantastic narration of phenomenal book!!!

Ally and Dominic are MAGIC!
By a Thread is romantic comedy set in New York fashion world and it stands alone with a spectacular HEA.
The narration by Erin Mallon and Sebastian York is absolutely perfect. They bring Ally and Dominick to life, provide a theatrical experience and make you feel like part of the story.
Ally and Dominic, aka Maleficent and Charming, just became my favorite romantic couple EVER, and there are so many things I absolutely ADORE about this phenomenal story.
Dominic is a brooding, grumpy alpha with the heart of gold, and the more we learn about him and his upbringing, the more we fall in love with him.
Ally is a strong, lovable heroine, whose family obligations have her running full speed in several directions and managing multiple competing priorities.
By a Thread has a multilayered captivating story line that will pull at your heartstrings and make you laugh out loud; the character development and an amazing cast of secondary characters is simply extraordinary.
We first meet Ally and Dominic as he arrives at a pizzeria where Ally is his server. Their epic banter commences at the very beginning of this amazing story and never seizes to entertain.
“Sir, are you here for STD panel results or hemorrhoids?” she shouted in the vicinity of my cell’s microphone.
Once I started reading, I could not put this book down and finished it in one sitting.
Talk about couples goals - #ALOMINIC♥️♥️♥️
By a Thread has it all - steam, swoon, witty banter, love, heartache, laugh out loud moments and the very best cast of characters I’ve read in a long time!!!
It’s a definite must listen/read and highly recommend from me!

20 people found this helpful

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  • Cheryl
  • 2020-06-26

A fantastic slow burn enemies to lovers, but...

I really liked this book... in fact it would have been a pretty solid 5 stars up until the HEA. This was just how the ending was stereotypical and I just felt it didn’t fit with how I felt personally.

But let’s go with the very very good. The chemistry between Dominic and Ally was insane. The banter was fantastic. I quite enjoyed how they resisted each other while simultaneously communicating how much they want each other.

I also liked how they were older than most romance books and how Ally, at 39, was just trying to do her best with the hand that she was dealt with. I related to her in more ways than I expected and that was quite refreshing in a genre where trope laden fantasies are almost always at the forefront.

Dominic at 44 was also great and age appropriate even though he had to deal with issues stemming from his parents. It’s a real thing to be affected by your parents even as you get older.

That’s not to say the tropes were not typical here, but relatable elements were nice to have (well, until the HEA).

The narration was great and I really enjoy the combo of Erin Mallon and Sebastian York. If I had any say, gif is pronounced with a hard g. I said what I said!

14 people found this helpful

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  • Joshua W. Young
  • 2020-08-11

Giant disappointment

Wow, was this ever a huge disappointment. There were so many good reviews so I was really looking forward to listening to this book. The readers were kind of meh, with the male reader being so so and the female reader on the bad side of average (why do half her statements have the inflection of a question). Still, they were the best part of the book. It was a very slow start followed by predictable plot line that never really developed. The lead characters were also incredibly unlikeable. The male lead still blamed his personality and bad choices at 40 years old on his daddy issues despite growing up stupid rich and having a loving mother. The female lead was (I think) supposed to be a strong independent woman but she was perfectly fine letting the man take care of everything as long as he didn’t ask first. Seriously, I’m not even much of a feminist and this annoyed me throughout the whole book. I only kept listening because I convinced myself it was eventually going to get better. Sadly, it didn’t.

10 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jennifer A.
  • 2020-07-14

Love,love,love this!!

I enjoyed this book so much! There were plenty of laugh out loud moments and it gave me all the feels. Lucy Score is a new author to me and after By A Thread I will definitely be interested reading/listening to more of her books! Ally is a strong, independent woman and Dom is a man with a big heart despite coming off as a grumpy a-hole lol I enjoyed these characters so much and their story.

9 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Lisa Foster
  • 2020-07-05

Slow read

This was a very slow read. The chapters became monotonous. The beginning and end were well done. The audio performance was great and that alone encouraged me to keep listening and finishing the book.

7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Kindle Customer
  • 2020-08-01

Well written and wonderfully read

The characters had depth, the story was fresh, both male & female readers were perfect for the story. The ending was just a little to perfect but the characters deserved to be happy.
First book I’ve listened to or read by the author but will def. seek out more of her work.

5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Mercedes Carnero
  • 2020-11-24

A MUST READ!!! FUNNY, SEXY, & ROMANTIC

Absolutely loved this book. It was very entertaining. Kept me wanting more. I could go on hours reading it. Definitely a page turner

4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Taylorpriziola
  • 2020-08-09

Laugh out moment...

This was my first book by Lucy Score and I really enjoyed By a Thread. I needed a rom com book after reading my last book that was filled with so much angst. By a Thread had me laughing out loud several times. The story was funny, sexy and it had a whole lot of hot chemistry! The back and forth bickering will have you smiling. Ally took no crap from Dom and that Itself was Refreshing, since nowadays these FMC seem to be complete doormats.. My only complaint I had was the MC’s ages, they didn’t really fit the description I had in my head. Ally and Dom seem more in there early/mid 30’s rather then in there 40’s, Overall the book was good, definitely long tho, but worth the read.

Audiobook review: 5 stars for Erin Mallon and Sebastian York again for doing a fabulous job!

3 people found this helpful

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  • Phuong
  • 2022-03-22

Fun!!!

Ally and Dominic banter and sexual tension was everything. Had so much fun reading this book.