Valentina

Romance, humor, and intrigue with Nina and Roman

Revisado: 05-27-23

Nina agrees to give herself in marriage to the Pakhan as payment for her father’s embezzlement. Six months with the Bravta’s strongest leader? Sure, the spirited, good-natured artist Nina can do it, and she plays her role, literally, hilariously to the grumpy but quickly to become infatuated, Roman. In fact, their affinity blossoms into warm and then spicy attraction making this story comfortable and romantic interspersed with bouts of comedy, spice, and the underpinnings of Bratva business. Not to be forgotten: the many humorous roles Nina enacted to make their engagement, love affair, and “impromptu” marriage believable in an incredulous way; and the bellowing, bristling chef who only spoke Russian and tried to teach Nina how to cook. Even if, unfortunately, it suffered the too common and irksome “third-act breakup” and separation, it was still a great story with a possessive, dominating but indulgent Pakhan besotted with his lady.

The voice actors gave great performances, the actress stronger than the actor. She carried more range in her intonation, as well as ease of shift from male to female characters and dialogue to prose. Distinct and different voices. She didn’t, however, elicit the same humor and personality I felt in my book’s reading where Nina felt more lively and carefree fun. The actor represented Roman well with an overall grumpy undertone and patience with Nina, but at times, in rendering a grouchy tone, it missed stronger vitality, sounding somewhat linear at times, due to the homogenous cadence, pitch, and voice. His changing to other male characters was easier to distinguish since his tone, as I experienced it, sounded less uniform, more multidimensional as to generally recognize different male characters. His shift from male to female and vice versus was great even with his rather deep voice. Both of their rendering Russian accents were okay. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the listening experience and would love to listen to more stories in this world with a variety of favorite voice actors and actresses.

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Every girl needs a Kage

Revisado: 03-19-23

Duet narration audiobook with amazing voice acting. Troy Duran 😮‍💨 has range, and from gravely bass to playful baritone, he exemplified the strong, enforcer and second in command Kage as well as the side characters. Michelle Sparks and Brooke Daniels played the heroine and side characters equally as well.

A spicy, Bratva tale, it featured a completely devoted, touch-her-and-die underboss, Kage (Kasimir). (Listen to Troy bring Kage to life with a Russian accent ❤️‍🔥.) Add a confident and likable heroine, her easy-going “guard” dog, Moto, and a saucy best friend, and this love story was compelling, humorous, and action-packed. Lots of heat, twists, and all-encompassing love combined with great writing and voice stellar performance created an excellent romance.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

short and spicy

Revisado: 03-18-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Two friends become lovers in this short and decidedly spicy romance. Whitney, recently broken up -- her call -- and afraid of commitments, acquiesces to a trip with long-time friend in a fake relationship. But make believe becomes real for these two players and Whitney's relationship insecurities re-emerge.

What I liked about this story:
- mature adults, confident in their sexuality
- the natural rapport between the two main characters, no games
- their attraction, so tangible that when the spice arrived -- and it arrived early and often, they were explosive
This story was hot!

What I wasn't so keen on:
- the constant reminder that Whitney was bisexual as if to say look how worldly and open she is.
It also wasn't dealt with naturally, as equivalent to her liking of men. Instead, the reminders of her bisexuality seemed reduced to just sex and her sex with other women.
- Whitney's fear or reluctance toward relationships.
I understand the character element, but I didn't feel the book delved into any of her rationale for her fear. It felt like a manufactured conflict. It was hard to empathize with Whitney, especially liking Gavin.
- long separation that wasn't necessary
A plot element that is so common it's frustrating. Also, given how well Whitney's maturity was depicted, a separation wasn't very credible. I guess I was supposed to attribute their hook up to just a fling, remembering that Whitney was relationship-skittish?

Voice performance were great, both actors narrating women and men and distinctions in side characters well. The sound and tenor of male voice actor do not personally appeal to me, but his rendition skills can't be denied.

Overall, a fun story that while, short, was well-round. Great pace and dual, first-person points of view. Entertaining side characters.

Story: 3.5 stars
Performance: 4 stars

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Short, initially intriguing, but falls flat

Revisado: 02-26-23

Great premise of a brotherhood of bad boys from various dysfunctional backgrounds on a plot of revenge in which the newly arrived Everly is deemed complicit. But Everly is suspicious of her uncle too.

While the attraction between Everly and the boys was well-developed and the characters distinct and interesting, the story overall lacked substance. A lot of bravado about what they intended to do, but no realization. The guys essentially liked Everly, but didn’t want to admit it, yet it was so obvious to the reader. It felt like insincere, planned teasing, and a lack of real darkness made the story lose authenticity. To that end, all their attraction didn’t come to fruition. There was ZERO sex in this book, despite being a reverse harem, or the beginnings of one. A bit of foreplay, sure, but I didn’t intend to listen to YA.

Fast pace and multiple first person points of view, aside from the non-traditional theme of the heroes not being affluent, even if they are popular in the school, I liked the representation with the Hispanic hero. The book touched on themes of Matteo’s being a brown person. On the other hand, there was a lot of fawning of Everly’s pale skin, which felt at odds.

Startling cliffhanger which does make you want to read book two. Overall, good read with some opportunity.

Most voice performances were great, with Hamilton his usual amazing. The other male voice actor tended to recite with a bit of exaggeration. Generally, the actors delivered an intriguing story as well as some range in depicting various characters, accents, and shifts from dialogue to prose. Overall, the voice performances improved an otherwise simply satisfactory storyline.

Story: 3 stars
Heat: paltry 1 star
Voice acting: 4 stars

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Not the audiobook for me

Revisado: 02-04-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Tessa is introduced on the scene at a disastrous breakup with her current boyfriend. Milo, single dad, widower, offers to her quarters to get on her feet. Their relationship evolves with pain from the past (Milo) and interest in a future (Tessa) and their emotional journey to arrive there.

I had difficulty in connecting with the characters, their interest in each other. The story itself was slow to transpire, and I suspect the narration affected the sense of pace and my attention. Both voice performances were recited so slowly and, the actress, over emphatically, though a fair male voice characterization. For the voice actor, there was little distinction between narration and dialogue, and among male characters. Overall, not for me and I found the audio experience and the pacing of the story challenging to maintaining my interest.

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Good until it wasn’t

Revisado: 12-28-22

This audiobook started out so good! The Irish mafia calls, and they send their top guy to “convince you to sell” because you wouldn’t take the deal. Enter the dashing enforcer you remember from your childhood. You are still wildly attached to Finn, but now you have to pay the Piper, or else the Irish mob will release unsavory news about your father whom they believe is your lover. So, a story whose beginnings is blackmail. Great! But this hero finds himself drawn to Aoife. He claims her after their first sex scene.

This book that starts with an edge that goes from intriguing to flat.

The good:
- The strong attraction between the couple; you can feel their connectedness.
- The hugely protective hero; Finn comes to adore Aiofe, and she quickly finds herself in love with the him.
- Childhood ties and rekindling love interest.
- The Irish family backdrop: the commonality of background, the church and their Catholicism, the shared values, the well-narrated accents.
- Good spice (3.5/5)
- The narration, particularly the male actor, was amazing — accents, phrasing, difference in tones changing from dialogue to narration. Jacob Morgan has a beautifully melodic tenor voice.

The not so good:
- Too long and then monotonous: After the initial meeting and establishing of the main couple’s relationship, the story drags. I began to loose interest. I couldn't finish, despite Morgan’s great voice performance.
- What little happens — their meeting, their evolving relationship (which was not even problematic), a rival cartel attack, and their recovery from it — is so drawn out as to not progress the plot.
- The female voice actor’s rendition exhibits some tendency to sound overly dramatic.

Overall, it was just ok, but not very striking to drive interest in the story, especially after its initial grabbing scene and premise.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Okay

Revisado: 10-31-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This story held an element of intrigue but was initially difficult to immerse myself into, perhaps it part due to the storyline itself and a bit due to the narration. The storyline did not pull me in, was a bit direction-less at the beginning until the love interest arrived on the scene, and the hero demonstrated some unexpected behaviors (hinted at in the beginning). The plot line seemed to find its way at that point. Once the society’s secrets started to unravel, the story took off.

With the story being in the third person and lending the impression of omniscience, the voice performance felt curtailed. The story sounded as if the characters were talking about themselves rather than telling their own story. Also, I wasn't a fan of the voice acting of the male tone and cadence, in particular. Actually, voicing the women roles were more appealing.

Overall, creative fantasy particularly after midway, but I think the delivery would have been stronger in first person and with a compelling grab at the beginning.

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Smokin' hot with thrills

Revisado: 04-04-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The flames burned and suspense built until the explosive cliffhanger leading right into book 3's exciting conclusion. This story is more romantic suspense with a lot of steam than the enemy to lovers pull and push and power exchange. Still loving these characters, especially Stella with the great balance of confidence, feisty, and submission, and Seb who has lost none of his alpha though warmer grounded in his affection for her. The attraction between these two was heady making for some spicy scenes within the mafia backdrop and adventure. While my favorite was book 1 because I liked caustic, enemies to lovers themes, and majorly its more progressive pace, the finale was a worthy read and a satisfying ending steeped in intrigue and steamy romance. Story 3.5 stars

The duet voice performances were simply amazing. These two actors demonstrated talent in projecting diverse characters, accents, and intonation. They performed the story to create a mentally visual experience, which I enjoyed better than my reading it. Voice performance 5 stars

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Zara, Nash, and Alistair 🔥

Revisado: 03-03-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The story starts off with a bang. Zara’s sister and fiancé perish in a helicopter incident and the remaining family – twin sister Zara, future brother-in-law Nash, and father of the fiancé Alistair live, or try to, with the pain of their loss and survivor’s guilt. This book follows the tumultuous and emotional relationship between Zara and Nash and Alistair where Zara is both healer and unintended divider as each deal with loss and their attraction. Even their voice tones resembled – enacted – their characters. Overall, excellent voice performance.

Offered a monetary deal to mend a son, Zara, former ballerina turned exotic dancer, becomes caught between these two Wilde family members – younger son Nash and father Alistair. Nash is impulsive, dark, and demanding with a distrust borne out of hurt; Alistair, giving, misunderstood, successful. Zara and the guys balance their relationship until trusts carry a bigger burden. This was such an emotional story, high angst and burning passion, very characteristic of this author. I was torn throughout the storyline alternately between rooting for individual characters, couples, the group, and meanwhile their chemistry was smoldering – part need, part attraction, part envy.

The character development was phenomenal. What a man is willing to sacrifice, Alistair is depicted so well as willing to do anything for the family, for his son, while forbidden attraction and unresolved pain threated their ties. Yet everyone was flawed.

I was engaged the entire performance as measured push and pull, attraction and love shaped this moving story. And just when I thought I knew the outcome, I was emotionally ravaged from the foreshadowing of more. If there was only one theme I was hoping not to read – character separation, I would have liked to have forgone it. While it worked for this story, it is such a common method, I could predict its coming, particularly as written in other books by this author. Something clever and unique as her style is wont to be would have been welcomed.

Progressive pace and cathartic, this was a poignant, spicy, and rewarding love affair. The voice acting delivered life and visual appeal: Allie’s, Aaron’s, and Jeffrey’s performed with range – female to male, dialogue to prose, and situation, besides being so fitting to the characters they represented.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Stellar voice performance, good story but stalls

Revisado: 02-25-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Book 2 revolves around resolving differences and misunderstandings of past. While Seb and Stella’s feelings grew, and their characters remained appealing – Stella is a favorite heroine, not to mention the steam level was high, I found this book less engaging than book 1. With the dynamics ofthe toxicity of Seb and Stella’s relationship gone, the story felt anticlimactic. It contained blossoming love with some fun characters, but mostly intrigue. The pace was slower, undeservedly, and not much transpired after some of the great reveals until the cliffhanger.

The voice performance was excellent. Again, great duet narration, intonation, and distinction from character to character, dialogue to prose. I also liked the tone of the two actors’ voices, very crisp, clear, and pleasant.

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