Code Red

By: N.R. Walker

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Maddox Kershaw is the main vocalist of the world’s biggest boy band. He’s at the top of every music chart, every award show, every social media platform, and every sexiest-man-alive list. He’s the bad boy, the enigma, the man everyone on the planet wants a piece of.

He’s also burned out and exhausted, isolated and lonely. Not in a good headspace at the start of a tour.

Roscoe Hall is Maddox’s personal manager. His job is high-flying, high-demand, high-profile, and he loves it. Maddox has consumed his entire life for the past four years. Roscoe knows him. He sees the real Maddox no one else gets to see.

He’s also in love with him.

When the tour and stress become too much, when the world begins to close in, Roscoe becomes Maddox’s lifeline. But as Maddox knows already, and as Roscoe is about to learn, the brighter the spotlight, the darker the shadow.

©2021 N.R. Walker (P)2021 N.R. Walker

Reading this book is a Code Red!

Wonderful characters that were not petty or overly dramatic! They were real, struggled, laughed, loved and supported each other. The author showed the downside of fame- the suffocation/isolation that can occur. Even with the anxiety and isolation the band remained grateful and loyal to their fans and each other. If you like books about friendships, love and living the life of a rock star then this book is for you.

Nick J. Russo brought the characters to life. It was easy to understand who was speaking and just get lost in the story. Fantastic job!

I hope Walker comes out with another book in this series following some of the other band members. I want more! ❤️

Not a romance story

I love N.R. Walker. Specially red heart. However, the romance for this one was not very good. Instead of the central attention being the couple, the central attention was given to mental health. I really liked the book, dealing about the repercussions of burn out and mental health issues. As a mental health book, this is great. As for Maddox and Rosco, I saw no romance. I saw a caregiver, and someone needing that person. But there was no romance development because the center was all Maddox, which would be ok if the couple was already established, which in this case it was not. So, I am a little disappointed because I wanted a romance.

First book by N.R

I actually bought this audiobook strictly bc of Nick J Russo. God I love his narrations. He's very authentic and so good with all the emotions and sexy as hell with the steamy parts if I'm being honest. And as always, he was amazing in this book as well. Now the story, I became an insta fan of her writing and I'm off to look for a next one of hers when I'm done here. Maddox broke my heart throughout the novel and Rosco, I fell in love with his character. But Maddox wasn't a damsel in distress, he protected Rosco too. I loved their love. Ms Walker, ..Bravo!

4.25 Stars 🌟

I'm already a fan of N.R. Walker and this book definitely did not let me down. We get to meet the men from the hit band Atrous and are introduced to Maddox, who seems to be the band member that gets the most attention. Then, there is his manager Roscoe. Roscoe has been with Maddox for about 5 years and has had a crush on him for the last two. What Roscoe did not know was that Maddox was feeling the same attraction. What nobody knows is that Maddox has been steadily falling prey to anxiety and panic attacks and things are only getting worse. Roscoe becomes the only one who can pull him out of these attacks and who can be the one to settle him when they start coming on. Of course, Maddox doesn't want anyone to know about this, and by anyone, he meant the band members and management.

The way this relationship developed was fun to follow along and read/listen to. I did my usual of alternating between listening and reading and I REALLY loved the narration by Nick J. Russo. I think he did a fantastic job.

I also liked the way that Ms. Walker gave us a backstage and up close view of the pressures that these band members were under and the difficulty of constantly living your life in the public eye and having virtually no privacy.

One thing that did bother me and ended up kind of pulling me out of the story at times was the repetitive use of the exclamation "Christ". It was not the actual word itself, it was the fact that it occurred WAY too many times. Seriously, it felt like every other paragraph it was used as an exclamation. I think, to be fair, that it wasn't as much as it was used in Code Blue, but it still was quite a bit more than warranted. There are so many exclamation choices, seriously, a plethora to choose from - but again, that's probably just me.

I really enjoyed this first book in the series and immediately after finishing, I went to find the next book in the series - Code Blue.

enjoyed it

📖 Story comment: Good pace, likeable characters, nice flow, relatively low drama.
I enjoyed the glimpse into what the pressure must be like for those musicians who are under contract from a young age.

🎧 Narrator comment: I enjoy Nick Russo as a narrator, he suits the characters, has good timing, inflections and intonations and it's easy to distinguish the characters from each other. Overall an enjoyable performance.

-------
How does it rate on my NR Walker "feels" scale:2.5
{😁1:Henry[TWOIA] | 😊 | 🥲 | 😢 | 😭5:Shelby [RDH] }

📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough [3⭐] • 5 enjoyed it [4⭐] • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator [4⭐] • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]
-------

Phenomenal

Loved this book so hard!!!! This is my first read (listen in this case) by N.R. Walker although I have several of her books in my library. Her writing style is so so good. Her fantastic dialog exposed the characters immediately and pulled me right into the story. They were real and endearing. I love a good rock star romance and this was one of the best! I love Nick J Russo as an audio performer and he is almost an instant click...so it is always fantastic when he narrates and even better when the book matches his level of expertise! In this case it was a perfect collaboration! I will be reading everything I can get my hands on by N.R. Walker and have already purchased Code Blue in Kindle and am anxiously waiting for the audio to be released! Don't hesitate to purchase this audio book!

Really enjoyed this one

In the classic NR Walker style, this was a great romance and an enjoyable read. I liked how this novel felt heartier to me somehow then maybe her past books have, but I did miss the back and forth style she has used in the past. Would have loved to hear more from the other main character’s perspective but still really enjoyable.

LOVED IT

THIS AUDIOBOOK WAS REALLY GOOD. I LOVE THE BAND. MADDOX AND ROSCOE ARE SO GOOD TOGETHER. I LOVE NICK RUSSO VOICE NARRATING THIS BOOK.

A Must Read

I have to admit in the beginning I wasn't sure about this book, but I literally listen to the whole book in one day. I couldn't put it down.

Enjoyable!

Fun story with a fulfilling end. I have very few gripes with it overall. Loved the narrator. 4.5/5!