A.

Fantastic narrator, and Lori Foster never disappoints!

Revisado: 04-13-25

I’ve been a Lori Foster reader for something like 20 years now. I always know she’s going to deliver. Her books are never poorly written, don’t try to force any agendas on anyone, allowing you to just enjoy a good story, and are always thoroughly edited and proofread before release.

This particular story is very sweet. There are lovemaking scenes, but they are not super explicit or excessively drawn out. The intimate scenes are purposeful and drive the story forward. The story and character development is the major focus of the book, as is typical of a Lori Foster book. There is emotional and physical tension between the main characters, though. There are no major conflicts between the two main characters that make you question their emotional maturity.

It is very easy to see why these two characters love each other beyond physical attraction. Tanner is strong, caring, masculine, helpful, kind, and generous. Callie is strong and kind, and wants to know she’s able to take care of herself, but is also happy to accept Tanner’s help when she really needs it. Their relationship feels realistic and normal in the best way. When you’ve been reading a lot of niche romance (dark romance, sci-if romance, etc) sometimes it is really nice to go back to something cozy and realistic to cleanse the literary palette.

The side characters in the town are very enjoyable, good people you’d love to know. They even experience personal growth, though there are times you might not enjoy them so much at first. They are so very human - flawed but still worthy of love.

The narrator does a truly fantastic job switching between the voices and speaking cadences of all of characters in each scene - whether male and female, or whether young or old, or somewhere in between. She’s truly talented. I generally prefer when there’s a male narrator for male POV and a female for female POV - or duet narration - but this one does a great job on her own. She’s definitely a narrator worth taking note of.

I absolutely do recommend this book for the person who is looking for something sweet and story-driven.

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Very good, but ends on a cliffhanger.

Revisado: 03-06-24

I wish I’d realized going in that this book ends on a cliffhanger. I really prefer romances to not be in multiple parts. BUT this is a very good story that held my attention. There’s pregnancy, FMC caring for MMC’s young child, FMC held in captivity by MMC, multiple threats, and the steamy scenes are not excessively long and drawn out and overly detailed like so many authors do these dates, which is a huge plus for me since that drives me crazy. Rather than feeling like it’s a series of steamy scenes held together by story, this is a good story that happens to have steamy scenes that further the plot. That alone made me enjoy the story much more because I’m here for story, not for steamy scenes.

Very well done by the author as well as the narrators. I don’t love cliffhangers, but if I have to have a cliffhanger story at least the story itself is interesting enough that this was not a wasted credit. I do recommend this audiobook!

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Unnecessary politics and snubbing noses at God

Revisado: 11-27-23

I mostly enjoyed the first book and was looking forward to hearing how the story ends. Now that I’m a few hours into book 2, though, I just want my credits back. I don’t mind the things that people want a trigger warning for. I knew what I was signing up for as far as that goes. What I didn’t sign up for is listening to the author’s political and religious views left and right. This author repeatedly brings his or her opinions into the story when it’s completely unnecessary. Yes, we get it, the guys Zade meet harvest organs that go to people who really need them. Fine. But now I have to hear about how the “characters” feel about death with dignity and our healthcare system when it was unnecessary to go that far into it. I get it, the author/characters’ faith or lack thereof is questionable, but I don’t need to hear God referred to as a female and as a “she devil” or a “phantom in the sky” over and over again in both books. I don’t need to know the author’s feelings about feminism, religion, healthcare, or anything else. I read and listen to romance novels to escape reality and immerse myself in the happiness of characters falling in love, whether it’s a sweet story or a dark and gritty story. I don’t listen to them so authors can force feed me their personal opinions. If I am listening to a story with main characters involved in politics for a living, sure, touch on a few subjects. But it’s completely irrelevant here. I don’t even want to finish this story at this point, because the author’s lack of respect for his or her readers has turned me off so much that I don’t care about the characters enough to find out what happens with them anymore. I will not buy another book from this author.

Regardless of my feelings about the content, I will say both narrators did a fantastic job in both books, and I love the narration style of female narrator reading female characters and male narrator reading male characters. I’ll listen to either narrator happily, as long as they aren’t reading a book by H.D. Carlton.

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A very sweet story

Revisado: 09-19-23

The characters were very real and likable. There are no huge misunderstandings where the H/h have a blowout fight or anything major. There is a major thing that they have to overcome, but they both mostly behave maturely. This is mostly a clean book that is story-driven. It’s not explicit, and sexuality is kept to a minimum. It focuses on their feelings for each other and their experiences and connection rather than relying on sex to keep the story going, so if you’re sick of scene after scene of graphic descriptions of sex, then this is likely a good story for you.

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Good as Hail!

Revisado: 06-20-23

This one was really good. I get frustrated with stories that have tons of long, graphic sex scenes (yes, sex is great, but I know how it’s done and really don’t need explicit details about every single thing that happens every single time the characters do it. I’m here for the story, not the sex.), but while this book contains a good amount of sex, it didn’t get to a ridiculous point. I didn’t have to skip anything. The story itself was good and well thought out. I liked the characters. Overall I’m very happy with this use of a credit.

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THIS WAS SO CUTE 😭

Revisado: 01-31-23

It’s been SO LONG since a book has left me feeling so happy and literally GIDDY. This story was so freaking cute. I can’t even stand it. I loved it.

No major misunderstandings blown out of proportion to create unnecessary drama. There are misunderstandings, yes, but no one has a total meltdown over them. They let the information sink in and then move forward. I love that. Emotionally mature adults. Vera is adorable, and her dramatics are purely comical and not cringy. Kal is so cute and sweet and considerate. I guessed the major plot twist well ahead of time, but it didn’t ruin any part of the story for me. It just made me excited for them to find out - like I was privy on a surprise for someone I loved and just waiting to see their reaction.

The author nailed it, the narrators knocked it out of the park, and the people who added in the sound effects were spot-on - the sounds created an immersive experience rather than distraction.

Ugh. It’s just so cute. I couldn’t love it more!

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Cringe

Revisado: 12-30-22

I like werewolf stories, but haven’t listened to one in years, so I attempted to listen to this one.

I didn’t even get to hear the male narrator because I couldn’t make it past <10 mins into the story. Female narrator has a very pretty voice, and I’m sure she did the best she could with the story she was given to narrate, but yikes. It was not written well. The little bit of dialogue seemed so forced.

Here this woman is, walking alone through the woods in the middle of the night - a bit on edge because teens at the library got her to listen to werewolf stories and the stories got to her - when along comes a wolf. Oh, but, it’s okay. She instantly gets the feeling that this wolf means her no harm, so she relaxes.

-.-

I stopped there. This is not the way rational humans behave. Rational women don’t walk alone through the woods (or dark alleys) in the middle of the night, and if a wolf comes along there’s no instant “oh it’s fine” because she feels like the wolf won’t hurt her. It’s still a wild animal easily capable of ripping her to shreds. There’s taking liberties in story telling, and there’s making ridiculous, unrealistic, “oh, that’s convenient” things happen. Just seems like incredibly lazy story telling.

This one is a no-go for me.

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Virtue signaling and preaching.

Revisado: 12-01-22

Within the first 2 minutes - not even an exaggeration - we are hit with the first bit of woke preaching with the female lead telling a coworker about how not to be ableist. While I’m all for not being a d**che to disabled people, I’m not interested in listening to self-righteous lectures about how to be a good little woke person. On top of the immediate preaching, she pushes the notion that people who are resistant to this nonsense are just confused because they can’t wrap their tiny little brains around the concepts.

The fact that it’s shoved down your throat so fast really makes it feel like the female lead is only disabled so the author can preach and virtue signal rather than her being a great character who happens to also be disabled.

I went straight to the reviews to find out if the entire book was going to be this way, and of course it is. It’s one of those books where the actual point was to preach, virtue signal, and be self righteous, and the rest of the story was written to fit that narrative. What a shame - it seemed like it could have been a cute story, but my eyes are still rolling after only 2m 15s into it. No thanks. I’ll pass.

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Cute story

Revisado: 08-26-22

***WARNING: Review contains spoilers***

I wanted a break from the typical alpha male stories I read and listen to most of the time. This was a very nice listen to achieve that.

Ed is a sweet guy who is not a weak pushover, but he also isn’t characterized as a gung-ho, macho, alpha personality. He’s protective of Clementine like you like to see in an alpha, but also seeks her consent and actively thinks through whether or not he’s taking advantage of her in her vulnerable state. He wasn’t unfair toward her regarding their messy history (which she can’t remember), and also reasonable about letting it go without holding it over her head the entire time.

Clementine is my personal ideal balance of being a self-rescuing princess who doesn’t need or want to be coddled, and being able to enjoy when he was protective (even when she didn’t feel she needed protection) and that he’s a bit dominant and rough in the bedroom when he wants/needs to be. She’s intelligent, though a bit… naive? That’s understandable, though, considering that she doesn’t really know any of these people anymore. She’s never catty, even when she’s got reason to be.

The minor characters were all written in a way that gives you a feel for who they are without going into painful detail. The story itself manages to strike the perfect balance of being descriptive, but concise. Details are given where needed, but there’s not a lot of filler story that keeps it dragging on and on long after you’re ready for it to conclude.

Overall, this was a very solid story, with interesting, likable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was also the first audiobook I’ve started AND finished in the last few weeks, if that is any indication that it’s worth listening to. :)

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Young Characters

Revisado: 06-08-22

Narration was excellent. Story was fine. I’m just not at all into characters this young - she’s 22, he’s 23. I was expecting something like late 20s or 30s. Just wanted to forewarn other potential listeners who might feel the same way, before you waste money or credits on a story with an element that turns you off like it does me.

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