Caz

Fantastic story, terrific narration!

Revisado: 01-03-23

In this nail-biting, action-packed and sexy romantic suspense story, former SAS officer Jack Reardon and Ethan Blade – one of the world’s most deadly assassins - end up striking the devil’s own bargain when they’re forced to work together in order to survive a trek across the hostile Australian desert while evading a s**t-ton of mercenaries in the pay of a dangerous mob boss. It’s a brilliantly structured dual-timeline story told in chapters that alternate between “Then” – Jack and Ethan in the desert – and “Now”, the events of exactly one year later

I was absolutely captivated by the story from the very beginning and remained pretty much on the edge of my seat the whole way through! Sometimes in dual timeline stories, I find one storyline more compelling than the other, but that wasn’t the case here at all; L.J. Hayward has structured the story so well, creating a series of (mini) cliffhangers between chapters that dovetail together or mirror each other in such a way that the transitions never jar. The plot is incredibly clever, but what makes the novel so special is the central relationship and the characterisation of the two leads. Jack and Ethan are like different sides of the same coin – a fact that doesn’t escape Jack – in that they both kill for money, but they come at it from completely different ends of the legal and moral spectrum. Both of them are clearly carrying around a significant amount of emotional baggage, Jack from his time in the SAS, and Ethan… well, there’s still a lot we don’t know about him. Their relationship is superbly written, too, a wonderful, sexy mixture of opposites attract, enemies-to-lovers and sizzling slow burn that culminates in love scenes that are hot, sensual and organic to the story, serving to build intimacy and illustrate the shifting feelings the two men are developing for one another. And those feelings are extremely well articulated even though the story is told entirely from Jack’s PoV; this enables Ethan to remain something of an enigma, but the author does a fabulous job of showing us Ethan through Jack’s eyes, revealing a surprising vulnerability that Jack doesn’t always see. The story ends with a promising HFN,

I admit to being a little apprehensive whenever I try out a new-to-me narrator, but this turned out to be one of the times when an unknown voice proved to be a pleasant surprise; Rowan Scott delivers a strong performance, and as the story takes place in Australia and most of the characters are Australian, I was really pleased to hear an Australian narrator had been used. His voice is easy on the ear, his performance is well-paced, he differentiates fairly effectively between the large secondary cast, and his portrayal of the two leads is excellent. He captures the dynamic between them really well, and the English accent he uses to portray Ethan is accurate and consistent throughout (and ridiculously sexy, too!). The interactions between the pair are well-timed and the ever-changing emotions between them nicely played. Best of all he’s emotionally engaged with the story in a way that communicates itself to the listener and definitely added to my overall enjoyment.

The plot is complex and twisty, the central characters are compelling, and their relationship is just the sort of messed-up and angsty that I tend to enjoy. It’s highly recommended – but be warned… it’s addictive. Once you’ve started listening, you won’t want to stop!

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

If only the story was as good as the narration...

Revisado: 09-23-21

I don't know why I keep subjecting myself to LB's books. I suppose I remember when they used to be good and funny, and I keep hoping for more of that. Here, of course, it was the narrators who were the attraction, but they deserve better material than this, a complete non-story with endless mental lusting that bored me to tears.

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If only the story was as good as the narration...

Revisado: 06-25-21

This is only my second experience with this author, but it will probably be my last. Honestly, I picked it up because of the two awesome narrators attached to it, and kudos to them for uttering such corny lines without corpsing.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**


The story is sort of okay for the first half/two thirds. Canyon hates his dad Ryan for "breaking up their family" and leaving his mother for his best (male) friend, Quinn. Quinn and Ryan are getting married, which means Quinn's son Alistair (usually referred to as "Alis") will be Canyon's step-brother. Canyon reasons (and I use the term loosely) that the best way to get back at his dad is to hurt Quinn by making Alis' life a misery. I suppose those thought processes (and I use that term loosely as well) speak towards the total immaturity of the character, because WTF? Alis hasn't done a single thing to Canyon and they barely know each other really, but Canyon doesn't care and is a complete dick to Alis anyway.

That's the "enemies" part - but of course, Canyon and Alis don't stay that way; Canyon has never looked at a guy before either so there's a whole bi-awakening thing going on, but that's just handwaved aside, really.

There's a more serious side to the story - Canyon's mother is suffering from depression and he doesn't know how to handle it or what to do to help her. His wanting to help culminates in her kicking him out; by this time he and Alis are a couple and are shagging each other's brains out as often as they can, but Alis - who does have a heartbreaking backstory - doesn't want their dads to know because he fears Quinn - who is his uncle and his adoptive father - will kick him out.

That's enough drama, right there no?

Clearly not. Alis has a stalker; someone ODs on heroin (not either of the MCs), someone is shot on the doorstep of Alis' home, Alis and Canyon get found out, Alis legs it... there's more, but honestly, it's exhausting. And then in the happy-clappy epilogue set six years later, we discover Alis is in regular contact with his dbag bio-dad, who is into organised crime, but doesn't bring it anywhere near when he visits, so that's okay.

Teddy and Greg are awesome - Greg is especially good as Alis - but they deserve better material than this.

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Expertly narrated sexy fun

Revisado: 01-21-21

The marriage of convenience trope is a difficult one to pull off in contemporaries so you'll need a fair amount of suspension of disbelief for this, in which the heroine decides to get married so that her dying grandfather can walk her down the aisle, and the hero needs a fake girlfriend to get his father off his back about growing up and settling down.

Said H/h - Ross and Violet - have actually known each other for years (Ross' sister Abby is Violet's best friend), since school, when Ross used to tease Violet mercilessly about her "chicken legs" and Violet hid her crush on him, giving back as good as she got. As adults, they've not had a lot to do with each other, but when Violet's fiancé dumps her two weeks before the wedding, it's Abby who has the idea of getting her and Ross together because they're - kind of - in the same boat.

What follows is sexy and fun as that long-ago attraction on Violet's part re-surfaces, and Ross finally comes to his senses and actually sees Violet for who she is and falls head over heels. Along the way, they've got to convince both their families that they're in love and getting married for real - which turns out to be surprisingly easy because with each day that passes, they're falling more and more deeply for each other.

The spoke in the wheel and ensuing drama near the end is a bit over the top, but doesn't go on for too long - which kind of made it all feel rather inconsequential, really.

I admit I picked this one up simply because of the narrators; Joe Arden is someone I really enjoy listening to, but given most of his output is in a genre I don't listen to all that often I don't listen to him much; Carly Robins is one of the few female narrators out there who doesn't make me want to gnash my teeth and run away screaming. Both give excellent, performances, differentiating effectively between leads and secondary characters, and doing a good job voicing characters of the opposite sex. They're both highly accomplished romance narrators so the sex scenes are really well done (Joe + dirty talk = *fans self*) and they're also great at conveying the quieter emotional moments, too.

Not something I'll be rushing to listen to again, but it made a change :)

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Dull, uneventful story :(

Revisado: 08-05-20

A gently moving, character-driven romance between two perfectly "nice" people with little conflict, past secrets that were easy to guess and which was, in the end, rather dull and unevenful. I appreciated the author's attention to detail and her grasp of the history and traditions of the period, but I'm afraid I was bored.

Also - what has happened to Alex Wyndham?! This is the second of his narrations I've listened to lately (the last one was the previous book in this series) and he's adopted this weird kind of "half-whisper" for narrative and character voices that means these recent narrations are not a patch on some of his earlier work on books by Lucinda Brant and Stella Riley. I hope it's just a passing phase.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

No romance, no comedy and serious production issue

Revisado: 07-02-20

As others here have said, this m/m retelling of one of the greatest Rom Coms ever is lacking in both "rom" and "com". I lilked the friendship the author created between the two Harrys, but the serious lack of any chemistry made it hard to believe they were actually attracted to each other, let alone falling in love.

Teddy Hamilton is a favourite narrator and always reliable; Malcolm Young wasn't bad (although there were some inconsistencies between their interpretations of some characters), but the production quality of his sections was TERRIBLE. It sounds like he was recording in a bathroom; the sound is tinny and treble-y and i can't understand how it got past post-production. Given this was a third person narration, I have no idea why two narrators were used anyway.

Ultimately, this was a disappointment. The story started well but started to fizzle out around the half way point and honestly, I got bored. :(

Also - PLEASE STOP putting music into audiobooks! It's bad enough when you get it at the beginning and the end, but between chapters?! Nope. It drove me nuts.

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esto le resultó útil a 18 personas

You won't be able to put this one down!

Revisado: 08-02-18

All the books in Rachel Grant's Flashpoint series are terrific. High-stakes, action-packed plots sit alongside a steamy romance and her central characters are always fully-rounded and well fleshed-out. In Firestorm, Sergeant First Class Cassius "Cal" Callahan, and CIA agent Savannah James get their chance to shine; they've been striking sparks off one another since book one (Tinderbox) and I've really been looking forward to their story.

Savvy is tasked with getting information about a Russian-backed would-be dictator who is rumoured to be planning a coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the only way she'll be able to get it is to get herself into an exclusive party being held aboard the yacht belonging to one of his Russian backers. There's no way she'll be able to get an "in" on her own, though, which is where Cal comes in. She wants him to pose as a businessman who deals in stolen artefacts, while she'll go along with him as his sex toy. Cal isn't wild about the idea - he's got his own reasons for being distrustful of the CIA, and although he is strongly attracted to Savvy (and she to him), he doesn't like her methods and her single-minded ruthlessness when it comes to getting the job done.

I won't spoil the plot, which is superbly constructed and executed; the pacing is excellent, the romance is sweet and sexy by turns and the central characters are compelling. The author never fails to impress me with the amount of research that must go into these books, and the scenarios she comes up with are frighteningly realistic!

Narrator Greg Tremblay is, quite simply, one of the best narrators I've ever heard, and his performance here is outstanding. All the characters are clearly differentiated, his female voices are excellent - never too high-pitched - and he gets right into the swing of things, whether it's in an action sequence or one of the more romantic moments.

All the books in this series are must-listens for fans of romantic suspense.

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Fabulous balance of mystery and romance

Revisado: 12-18-17

Another thoroughly entertaining, sexy story featuring the cop and the (ex)cat burglar. Rook can't stay out of trouble, and Dante can't do other than help him out of it... With lots of relationship and character development, plenty of snark and humour, great secondary characters (gotta love Manny, Hank and Archie) and a tender, sensual central romance, Tramps and Thieves is a delight. Greg Trembay's outstanding narration makes it even better; he captures Rook's prickly vulnerability, and his portrayal of Dante is just perfect.

Highly recommended.

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A superbly paced, action-packed, sexy thriller!

Revisado: 03-28-17

Rachel Grant's Tinderbox is a fabulous, edge-of-your-seat story set in one of the most politically unstable regions of the world, the Horn of Africa. Doctor Morgan Adler has been contracted by the Djibouti government to undertake an archaeological survey of the proposed route of a new railway, but when she is threatened by a local warlord, she heads for the US military base at Camp Citron hoping they will be able to protect her and her finds - one of which could well be the archaeological discovery of the decade. Or the century.

Master Sergeant Pax Blanchard is assigned as the head of her protection detail so that she can continue her work; the attraction between them is intense, but he's adamant that pursuing a relationship with Morgan would be unprofessional and tries to keep his distance...

As Morgan continues work on her dig, it becomes clear that the threats she has received may be related to more than her archaeological finds. Someone who had worked in that area previously has disappeared and is presumed dead, Morgan is being targeted... . I’m not going to reveal more about the plot which is complex, incredibly satisfying and very topical, other than to say it’s brilliantly constructed and utterly compelling – this was an audiobook I found very difficult to put aside.

Greg Tremblay is a new-to-me narrator, and I was really impressed with his performance, which is excellent on all counts. There is a large cast of - mostly male - supporting characters, and he does a great job of differentiating between them all using a wide variety of pitch, tone and accent - and his female voices are superb. I really hope he continues to narrate books in this series, and I'll definitely be seeking out more of his work.

Tinderbox is a great listen - I didn't want to put it down!

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Another well constructed, well-narrated mystery

Revisado: 09-14-16

When a beautiful young marchioness is found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent, Sebastian is asked by Lord Jarvis, the Regent’s cousin, to investigate. Sebastian is suspicious; Jarvis is a manipulative, powerful man with connections and influence at the highest levels of government and society, and is no friend to Sebastian’s father, Lord Hendon or Sebastian himself.

The viscount is reluctant to become involved at first, but when he sees that the woman is wearing a necklace formerly owned by his mother – who died when he was eleven – he is driven to discover the truth, both about the murder and the necklace. It’s an investigation that will lead him to uncover some painful secrets about his past as well as into danger when he uncovers a plot against the Monarchy.

This is a solid second outing for the viscount-turned-detective that reunites him with characters from the previous book – the street urchin, Tom (now Sebastian’s Tiger), former army surgeon Paul Gibson, actress Kat Boleyn and magistrate Henry Lovejoy. The mystery is well-constructed, and the secondary characters are well-drawn, especially the elderly marquess who was clearly devoted to his young wife. There’s also a nice helping of political intrigue; the revolution in France took place within living memory, there’s war on the Peninsula and the English monarchy is deeply unpopular; and there are those willing to take action in order to effect drastic change.

There’s also trouble ahead for Sebastian in his personal life. We learned in the previous book that the woman he loves was pursuing her own agenda, and it seems as though the secrets she is keeping are soon to be exposed. I can’t say I’m warming to Kat as a character, although she does actually help Sebastian with his investigation this time, rather than withholding information from him, so I suppose that’s a step in the right direction. But I can't buy into their relationship and don't feel any sense of connection between them; each says they're very much in love, but it's a case of telling rather than showing. Other than the fact that she's beautiful, he's handsome and they had a relationship six years ago which was thwarted by Sebastian's father, I don't know why they are together. I also found Sebastian’s persistence in wanting to marry her to be rather short-sighted on his part. Neither of them cares much for society’s opinion, it’s true, but he gives no thought to any children they might have, who would be social pariahs through no fault of their own. Here, Kat is the more clear-sighted of the two of them, even though she is tempted to give in from time to time. The other really annoying thing in this book was the number of times Sebastian’s “feral” /“extraordinary yellow”/“amber” eyes were mentioned; I stopped counting after the first ten, but surely this should have been picked up in editing.

Even so, I enjoyed the story and I like the way Ms. Harris is gradually unfolding Sebastian’s family history. I imagine this continues throughout the books, which probably makes it difficult to read or listen to them out of order, or as standalones.

Davina Porter’s narration is excellent once again, with age/station appropriate vocalisations for each character and clear delineation between them. I know that this series was recorded out of order; I believe books 7,8 and 9 were recorded first and that the first six followed later (along with recordings of books 10 and 11) – so I’ll be interested to note, when I get to book 7, whether there are any differences in her character portrayals. My favourite of all her interpretations is undoubtedly that of young Tom – he always makes me smile.

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