Erin

(NO SPOILERS)
OK, the end wasn't nearly as heartbreakingly disappointing as that of the Inheritance Quadrilogy, but I found myself asking the same question (see headline). The last couple of chapters particularly seemed rushed, almost an afterthought. I sincerely hope Justin Somper will return to this in a couple of years and wrap it up properly. Fortunately, there are enough loose ends to allow for that.

There were a lot of good things, definitely worth the listen. Daniel Philpott is great as usual, and, overall, it was a good book in a great series. So, this book gets 3 stars because of the disappointment of the meh-ending, but I would still give the series 5 stars.

As an aside, whose "brilliant marketing strategy" was it to NOT sell Vampirates book 5, Empire of Night, as an audiobook in America? Every other book in the series is available as an audiobook in the US. I shake my head and wonder what possible reason they could have for alienating a huge percentage of their customers AND missing out on all our lovely $$.

OK, the first 30 seconds almost killed it for me, but I gave the story a chance, and I ended up actually liking it. The narrator's voice is SO Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, that it made me laugh during sex scenes when (in my warped mind) whatever he was saying became something like, "The strength of the cheetah's sinewy thighs are proven essential when it's time to mount his mate ...." The female voice he does is what a guy making fun of women might sound like. In fairness, I blame the publisher, not Mr. Foley, for this mess. He has a great voice, just not for this type of book. I have no doubt that he is FABULOUS in more of a documentary or educational type of book and I sincerely hope that this was his one experiment with female voices and romance and that he has decided against doing so again.....EVER

In spite of that, if you see it on sale, the story itself is actually is an interesting one. I even found myself listening a second time, but I can understand those who gave up early. In cases like these, I try to pretend a well-meaning relative is reading at my sick bed and run the narration through my the-way-it should-sound filter and deal.

Sorry to say it is not worth a credit unless re-recorded with a new reader, but I kind of hope they do just that and release the next books in this Scanguards series because I'd like to know what happens next.

I find myself going back and relistening to this series when I'm in between new reads. There is a good amount of comedy along with the drama and action. Yes, there is some sex, but it isn't the main focus like an erotic novel with a bit of action between sex scenes. It's more like a Percy Jackson or Harry Potter type fantasy world series for grownups who aren't offended by some heat between the sheets and adult language.

I hope there are more installments ahead. I also hope that the novellas will get recorded since they are a nice tie-in. They're inexpensive as kindle purchases on Amazon which I felt compelled to get as a little appetizer while awaiting this book to be written. I listen to audiobooks because I do not generally have the time to read, but I made an exception because I just love the Elder Races world.

Start at the beginning with Dragon Bound. The whole series is so worth the credits!!

As much as I disliked Hunter and Kata in book 4, I loved Logan and Tara in book 5. I got the connection between them that I just never got in the last book. This series is basically lots of hot sex and a bit of good guy/bad guy action. I love Lexi Maynard and hope she continues to perform these. The only negative was that there weren't many updates on past characters, but Logan and Tara were more than enough to hold my interest.

Well-written story with good narration. This is a nice stand-alone historical romance with a little intrigue and suspense. I will definitely look at other books by this author.

Another great listen from Lora Leigh and Clarissa Knightly. I am really liking this series, and Maverick is Micah's story and takes place during a mission following Nathan/Noah's story from Wild Card, Book 1. This is another example of a great story with all the heat you expect from LL's writing. You also get a little better acquainted with the other members of the team and updated info on Noah. I hope these all come to Audible.

Great story, action, romance and sexy writing. This was a nice surprise in that it wasn't predictable and had some twists and turns that made it interesting. Lora Leigh books are always hot, but some have editing problems and can seem too predictable. This is, IMO, her best one yet.

Shayla Black's Wicked Lovers series is overall very good, but I just didn't like this one. The best parts were the cameos by previous characters in the series and the excellent narrator. The story itself was so unbelievable that I found myself rolling my eyes a lot and finally listening on double speed just to get through it so I could say I have listened to them all. I wanted to slap both main characters because Hunter was an insufferable bully, and Kata had no spine. I found very few redeeming qualities in either of them, and should have heeded the reviews I read on Amazon and skipped this one. Having said that, I still look forward to the next installments on Audible because the first 3 books were great, and I will listen to those again.

I liked the description and wanted to like it, but I had a hard time getting into this, and I'm not sure if it was the story or the narration that was confusing. I am going to set it aside for a while, but I'm thinking getting through a 2-hour story shouldn't be this difficult. It seemed like the kind of thing that has some potential but definitely needs to be polished....

Got it on sale and figured I'd give it a try. I ended up staying up way too late to keep listening. It's light and cute, no life-changing lessons learned, but it was just a lot of fun to listen to. I thought it actually had kind of a Molly Harper feel to it as far as the sarcasm and banter between the characters, but that may be just because Amanda Ronconi has a way of bringing "smart-alec-isms" to life. Definitely a fun distraction for days when menial tasks are on the agenda.

The Others series is actually quite good, although there are parts in the first book (One Bite With a Stranger) and even a couple in the next one (Big Bad Wolf) that resulted in cringing and were a bit difficult to get through. I look at it as enduring the growth process of the writer and being rewarded in the end for my troubles. This first book does have some really great stuff, but the sex scenes just miss the mark because they are a little too vulgar and/or a little too long and/or written in a way that makes what should be very hot kind of ... meh. Good news: The author does eventually figure it all out and achieves the right balance. Bad news: This starts happening in Book 2 and continues to improve in her later books.

HOWEVER, as far as the non-sex-related rest of the story goes, it is definitely worth the listen to get some background info and better understand the relationships of the characters as the series builds because you will see these people again in future installments. Also, you do have Kate Reading who is an amazing performer and one of the best narrators out there.

As an aside, I originally read Wolf at the Door because it was mistakenly listed as the first book in the series (though it is Book 8 or 9 actually), and I liked it enough to go back and listen to the earlier ones. Because of the bad reviews on OBWAS, I skipped it and got Big Bad Wolf before finally giving this one a try. Since I am not sure I would have stuck with the series if I had started with this one, my advice is either to start with this first book, knowing that the writing gets much better as the series progresses, or to just get the one that most interests you, as I believe they will all make enough sense to stand alone, and then see if that leads you to want to hear the entire series.