Left Drowning

Left Drowning, Book 1

By: Jessica Park

Narrated by: Arielle DeLisle

Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

What does it take to rise from life's depths, swim against the current, and breathe?

Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn't expect - an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she's been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into calmer waters, she realizes Chris is the one still strangled by his family's traumatic history. As dark currents threaten to pull him under, Blythe may be the only person who can keep him from drowning.

This audiobook is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content.

Note: Due to mature content recommended for Ages 17+

©2013 Jessica Park (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

A depressed orphan finds her home and her family.

What did you love best about Left Drowning?

By far, the best part of this book is the depiction of her feelings. The honest look at her depression, and how she moves on from that. The thoughts that go through her head are real. This book does not feel like fiction.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was by far her best friend. I love how they meet, how he takes care of her, how she takes care of him. I love their relationship, and their honesty.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book definitely had me laughing and crying. So many things were unexpected. This book was so relatable and realistic I definitely felt like it was *me* not a character that I was hearing about.

All I can call it is “okay”.

The story was predictable and, I’m no prude, but halfway through the book this became fifty shades’ younger sibling for chapters on end. Regardless, it still did manage to keep my interest through to the obvious conclusion.

I didn't hate it

There were at least 3 chapters devoted entirely to sex, but not in a way that enhanced the story. It was hard to get through after a while and pretty predictable. I'm glad that I didn't waste a credit on it.

Great story

I loved this beautiful story. Couldn't put it down and now sad it's over! Wow

Way More Smut Than Expected

What did you like best about Left Drowning? What did you like least?

First of all, this book is a lot of smut-which I didn't really expect by the description. Not that I necessarily have a problem with smut, but honestly the main driving factor of this book seemed to be the erotic descriptions both in interactions alone with herself and with the main male lead. It didn't really seem to be that the book was one about their emotional baggage and healing with some sex thrown in, but more about all the sex and then the past wounds and interactions that seemed to be side-thoughts to the driving factor-which was sex. So if you go in with that understanding, maybe it won't be so shocking for you.

Also, sometimes the sex scenes would be kind of enthralling and then they'd say something totally bizarre that pulled me entire out of it, so I wasn't very keen on this author's writing style as she just lost me about half way through some of them. I listened to the audio book, but I'm thinking this one would have been better to read rather than listen to, as then I could have put it in my own voice and maybe not been so... Weirded out? Yeah, I was weirded out a couple of times.

Also, it was pretty predictable. I guessed every single plot twist before it happened, this is normal for me, but this time it just seemed too easy to guess where they the connections and turns would happen. So this book gets three stars, the third one just because there were some great quotes that I related to or loved. There was also some good to it, so it did have some redeemable qualities.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Maybe make it focus more on their emotional baggage and the healing than the sex. I know the sex was just supposed to be a part of it, but it really made it feel like the main thing, and the actual story felt like it came second.

What three words best describe Arielle DeLisle’s performance?

I felt like she portrayed the character as best she could.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

More emotion and less sex, and make the sex scenes a little better written.

Hope....

Any additional comments?

All the characters were great. Well written with great peeks that keep you wondering What??? Why??? The Stevens family is so much like a lot of families though out the world and it's great how you can always count on never being in control. Great love scene's and graphic enough to make you feel as if you were there. Jessica Park and Arielle De Lisle both did a great job!

Perfection

I love Jessica Park. She is an author after my own heart, which is why I probably follow her on Facebook and laugh hysterically at 95% of her posts. Truth be told, she writes the way she posts and for me that translates into very real characters who are incredibly flawed and messy and all the more beautiful.

Arielle DeLisle seemed to channel Jessica in her narration. As I listened, I felt like I was really there on the beach or running on campus. Her ability to bring such great writing to life is an incredible talent.

Well done!

Oh, my! This book...

I knew it would be a good story because I'd read Jessica Park before, and I was SO NOT disappointed. I was at once intrigued by the character variety. My own out loud laughter at the humor caught me off guard. I couldn't fight back the tears when the heartache hit. The romance curled my toes. Yes, classically Jessica Park. Of course, I highly recommend this book.

Predictable

I listened to this book on audible because it was 1.99 the book started out well. The narrator was good. The book became too much descriptive random sex taking away from the story itself where the story then became predictable. Ended well though. Overall 3 stars.

loved it minis all of the cussing

I really enjoyed the story, but not all of the cussing.
I think it was a great turn about.