Kd

Disappointed! Disappointed! It may just be me, but I'm clueless as to why there's so much fuss about this book. I fell for all of the hype and purchased this book. But I could barely finish it, was so happy when it was over, and quickly removed the two sequels from my wish list b/c I don't care what happens next. The only reason I finished it was to find out more about the history of the main male character, the reason for the book title--which I do with all books--and my unflinching hope and belief that the book had to get better. Apparently it didn't. The author repeatedly and without fail refers to female sexual parts as "down there" while also repeatedly referring to sex using the f word; this makes no sense. It felt and sounded like the only dialogue that the main female character included "oh my," hot," "my inner goddes," and "so bossy." She sounded like a very young, immature child doing very adult things and, supposedly, engaged in an adult relationship. That pseudo adult relationship was a one-sided adult experience. I don't know if the immaturity was just the writtend dialogue or the narrator's take on the dialogue or both. I'm leaning towards the latter. But the dialogue is where I put most of the blame when I think of how disappointed I was in the book. It was hard to understand the main male character's attraction to the main female one other than seeing her as a submissive. Considering she sounded like she was 11, his assessment might be understandable. But he confused immaturity with submissiveness. If I never hear another girl refer to anything sexual as "hot" or a female say "oh my" it'll be too soon! To refer to a male sexual dominant as "bossy" seemed dumb and too obvious. Duh! And the same female main character seemed to be unconvincing in her fear and concern about BDSM. The book was too long and not worth all of the hype. The sex scenes are explicit but the language didn't always coincide, so it's difficult to really call it erotica. Though it's certainly past the general romance genre. I don't know. Overall, if I had any idea, if I knew before what I know now, I certainly wouldn't have purchased it. If you can get it free, from a library or something, save your dime, IMO.

If you like romance and sensuality, then you'll love this book. I've listened to all of the Brethren Guardian books, and this ends the trilogy by giving you all the answers, which is nice. But it focuses much less on the action and mystery and much more on the relationship and romance, which sooooo worked for me. The only reason it's not 5 stars for me is that the sex could have culminated sooner, but maybe the wait is also what made it sooooo delicious! I don't know. I'm torn. And I don't know how memorable it will be, how long it will stay in my head afterwards. Some other books I've listened to have resonated with me longer, and I've dreaded ending my time within the story. So this one is not quite 5 stars, but it's very close. I have given very few audiobooks 4 stars, and I've purchased over 1000 audiobooks. So I mean it when I give it 4 stars. And the narrator is great, as she always is. I think the two main characters were also my favorite of this series. Who doesn't love the suffering and messed up guy who gets right for the love of a woman. And Elizabeth's lack of sight bound with great strength makes her a wonderful heroine. So the story worked on all parts. Enjoy.

The story is a detailed view of a male, the mate of course, pursuing and revealing to a female knowledge of her unknown paranormal characteristics. There are some attempts at humor showcased most often in the barbed responses of the main female character and less often in the responses of her grandmother. And the approximately one-and-a-half sex scenes was hot but not explicit or raunchy. The romance might be considered hot by some, but it lacked a degree of sensuality IMO. And they were brief. The action was okay but also brief. Most of the story was teaching her about her past and herself, which just didn't work for me. And one comment was off-putting, which makes this author undesirable to me. She wrote that one desire was like a fat kid wanting cake. That comment was insensitive and ignorant, at the least, and prejudicial at the most and entirely offensive. It might have been another one of the author's attempts at humor, but it failed miserably and put a bad taste in me for any of this author's future works I come across. Finally, the story didn't hold together completely. I know this is paranormal fiction, but it still needs to be plausible and make it seem like "this could really happen. The author failed at that. For instance, the main female character, who is half-female and half-amovo, was able to perform paranormal feats that full-blooded amovo couldn't do. And she achieved it with no training. Now really! It just didn't fly, thereby calling everything into question. I was happy to get to the end of this book.

I really, really enjoyed listening to this story. It is essentially a love story between a male FBI agent and a male drug informant. Both are masculine men though I wouldn't call either Alpha males in the way they were portrayed in the book. I liked that they weren't Alpha but just rather regular, common-type guys. The story also had a criminal element, but it was not the focus. The dialogue is good, and the situations and reactions were interesting and logical. Everything could happen, I thought, which added to my delight with the story. I absolutely loved the trials and angst. I like stories that indicate that life is not easy and people's choices are not either, and everything has consequences. The narrator did a good job with the story. The only reason I didn't give the performance 5 stars is that the differentiation between the male characters was so slight as to make it hard to know who was talking. And the story and overall scoring resulted in 4 stars because I like a bit more raunchiness in my sex scenes. But they were still great and just numerous enough. They were, by no means, overdone and always fit the story and time. Overall, the story is more romantic than erotic but still very good. I won't tell you if there's a HEA. You'll have to listen to find out.

Yes, this is erotica, and some of the erotic scenes--though brief--are common and detailed adequately. And the narrator performs them okay.
The problem is the rest of the story in between the sex scenes and how the narrator reads them. The storyline didn't hold together entirely due, in large part, to at least one inconsistency in retelling an act of voyeurism as the first time and afterwards rehashing another act of voyeurism from childhood. The biggest storyline problem is the logic or rationale--as indicated by the internal thoughts and dialogue--that rides almost entirely on acting in double-standard mode. Finally, the narrator over acts some of the parts, in my opinion. But she doesn't have great words to work with, since she's trying to act bewildered and hurt by her husband when she's living out a double standard for her own behavior with little to no sense of self-awareness. Just all in my humble opinion (IMHO).

Narrator ruins it. The story was a good idea, had a good premise. But the narrator sings her words, so that she draws them out unnecessarily, which detracts from any degree of sexiness. And sexiness is important for erotica to be considered good. Plus I wouldn't want to hear this narrator read anything. The singing, drawing out of words is distracting and irritating regardless of the genre she reads. The level of erotica is mild. So altogether, just very mediocre overall. Finally, unfortunately, there were a few corny lines. So....buyer beware.

When less than 30 minutes seems too long, you know you've chosen the wrong book to listen to. The story was boring, though it seemed plausible overall. Narrator was good albeit a very slow tempo. But I like the tenor of the narrator's voice. But the story was not really erotic to me b/c there was no explicit language. There was more of an explicit romantic type of language used but not erotic, not raw. Didn't work for me. I'll no next time. Avoid.

This is the one if you like humor, sex and a paranormal plot. This is not for you if you have any problems with raw, sexual language—though I’ve eagerly listened to more and, thus, find the amount here not much—and humor through snide interplay or insults between characters. For some, the heroine could be irritating b/c she’s very, very snide and so determined to appear bigger in nature, what some would call a hard a**. But I enjoyed her. It’s also a love story that’s plausible. I was sad to see there are no other audible books by this author. I really enjoyed this book, including the narrator. Her work was not the best I’ve heard, and I’ve heard a looooooooot of books. But she worked well with this content.

Please buy this book if you’re into non-plausible, convoluted gangster stories interspersed with, non-story-related, unfunny mini-jokes, and quick, unsexy sex scenes all done with an irritating overdone Brooklyn accents. I didn’t know how quickly the overdone accent would get on my nerves, but I quickly realized my error. For the first time ever in the 1000+ books I’ve purchased, I wished there was less plot and more sex b/c the so-called plot or story line was so, so, so very bad. In the future, I will run, run, run very fast from any book associated with this author. I had to fast forward to the end just to hear the ignorant outcome. I couldn’t take it any longer, and I figured life is just too short to spend it being miserable listening to yuck when I don’t have to.

Something just didn't work for me. By the halfway point, I was ready to be finished. As oppose to looking forward to the story, I saw it as a task to complete b/c I bought it and needed to know whether I wanted to buy anymore by this author. Altogether it was not bad; it was just underwhelming, very mediocre. The narrator was ok, but she had poor pronounciation when saying some words. And that really turns me off. And, though I believe in love--as in desire--at first sight. Falling in love over a weekend, especially after essentially spending less than 48 hours together and due to good sex, was just too much of a stretch for me. And ther reason for meeting just fell away from the story with no outcome even addressed. That just makes for a bad story, though it was just a side aspect. But it made the story seem even less realistic. The sex telling was okay and had some hotness, though I wouldn't put it at erotic level. But some people may be turned off by the raw or earthy sexual language, though it was seldom enough. I love it, so I can't really speak to that. Overall, I won't be seeking anymore by this author but neither do I wish I didn't buy this story.

Three stories too short, lacking detail, and semi-bored narrator. Of course, the narrator didn't have much to work with, but still.... DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!