Charcoal Tears

Seraph Black, Book 1

By: Jane Washington

Narrated by: Laurel Schroeder

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

"You see, there is safety in simplicity...in a life of simple peace, where the electricity doesn't dance across the backs of my eyelids, and the sparks don't slither over my consciousness. Only asinine peace, where my paintings don't seem to paint themselves, leaving me with terrible feelings of premonition and a chill beneath my fingernails."

Seraph Black used to think that she was prepared for anything. She could last days without eating and she always walked away from the violent altercations with her father relatively unharmed. She survived working at the club and the drive to school every day in her mother's rust-bucket of a car...but it all changed when Noah and Cabe came bulldozing into her life, careless of the precious secrets they picked apart in their quest to take over her world. She was even less prepared for the mysterious Miro and Silas, and nothing could have prepared her for the bond. The connection. The reason for it all.

Someone wanted her to stay away from her new friends, but she wasn't willing to do that.

Everyone had secrets.

She wanted to know theirs. They wanted to own hers.

And the stalker?

He seemed to know everything already.

©2015 Jane Washington (P)2017 Jane Washington

too slow moving and confusing.

I spent most of the book confused. Also the narrator had a monotone and choppy way of reading that almost made me feel anxious. Not a terrible story, just wish it had been better executed.

Great book!

I really enjoyed this book. It is addicting. Can’t wait to start the next book.


The narrator was a bit annoying. She starts talking really fast for no reason and then slows back down again. I moved past it pretty quick because I enjoyed the plot!

My favorite series

This is my first time listening to this story. But my 4th time reading the book. I love this achingly good series. If you love plot twist, characters that have faults but have huge character development. This is your book. I am actually going to purchase a physical copy of this series so I can have it forever. Thats how much I love it.

interesting and compelling.

My Kindle kept telling me to read/listen to this, I kept putting it off bc I thought it would be another teen angst book.
I was shockingly and happily surprised that it was a book with maturity in the characters and a wonderful, vibrant story line.
Even though there wasn't really any thing sexual in the book other than a few kisses and the mention of sex, some of the subject matters really are for older teens/adults.
I'm glad I finally listened after months of Kindle suggesting it lol.

Yea

It was a great read really cool and I liked it a lot thanks much

A little more YA than I was thinking

This ended up being a little more young adult than I had anticipated, but the over arching story, over all 4 books, was amazing. It also didn't end up being YA by the end. I really loved the characters and the world that Jane Washington has created here. I actually picked it up because of another book series that Jane Washington had written with Jaymin Eve. I was looking for the level of humor that the other books had, and did not find it here. That's not a bad thing. I loved every moment of it and listened/read all 4 books in 5 days because I simply could not put them down. I had to see what happened next.

The narrator has a couple of odd habits that would occasionally pull me out of the story. Pausing over-long over commas between adjective in description chains is one of them, and the overall angst-y downturn to her voice as she ended sentences, but she does well with accents, and while I could not tell a specific male character from another through her voice changes (except Silas) her male voices did not annoy me the way that some female readers do when doing male voices.

loved it

at the start of the book the narrator almost had me stop. but I didn't and I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the next

A gripping start to a series

This book pulled me in from the first chapter and had a wonderful pace to the story. Seraph’s introduction to a side of the world she never new existed, her connections to the guys, and the mystery following her every step draws the reader/listener in until the final page. I am glad there was not a crazy cliffhanger, the ending leaves you wanting to continue to unravel the mysteries surrounding Seraph. I just downloaded the second book and am jump in!

I enjoyed the narration throughout the book and thought Laurel Schroeder’s performance really added to my experience of Seraph’s journey. I do recommend listening to the sample if you are unsure, I tend to listen to all my audiobooks on an increased speed which changes the experience.

A utterly addictive read!

A hard, cruel life...
Spent surviving and protecting...
Forming and forging a bond with certain someones...
Learning who you are and what you are...

Seraph has led a hard, cruel and abusive life along with her brother. My heart breaks for them. A protector for her brother, always shielding him. I admire that but my heart breaks for what she had to endure all these years.

Overall, an absolutely fantastic tale of danger, desires, fear and attraction.

Full of abuse, Zevgheri, secrets, mystery, suspense, stalkers, attraction and a hint of romance.

Perfect for readers of urban fantasy romance/thrillers.

It was an okay, good and enjoyable listen. I really loved the narrator's portrayal of Sila's accent - loved hearing it!

The Story is Great, the narrator has an annoying habit

So I’m really enjoying this story, and the narrator does a good job with the voices. However she has this annoying way of reading lines where she will stop not even at the end of a sentence like a petulant teen. Just extending the word out on a sigh. I would have zero complaints if she didn’t stop in these weird spots to elongate words that don’t need to be elongated.