Redemption

The Penton Vampire Legacy, Book 1

By: Susannah Sandlin

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

For vampire Aidan Murphy, life has never been so desperate. The vaccine used to treat a global pandemic has rendered human blood deadly to his kind, leaving them on the brink of starvation and civil war. In tiny Penton, Alabama, Aidan establishes a peaceful community of vampires and unvaccinated human donors. He dares to hope they can survive - until his estranged brother descends upon Penton and begins killing the humans. Determined to save his town, Aidan kidnaps an unsuspecting human doctor…and finds himself falling in love for the first time in nearly four centuries.

Dr. Krystal Harris thought she was coming to Penton for a job interview, but Aidan Murphy has other plans. Infuriated by his high-handed scheme to imprison her in the small town, Krys can’t ignore the attraction between them. But is it love? Or does her dangerous, charismatic captor want only to bend her to his will?

©2012 Susannah Sandlin (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Enjoyable Read

I enjoyed this series starter and was happy with the ending but definitely ready to see what happens next!

Out of Nowhere...

I read a few book related websites and blogs and often know about upcoming books months before they hit the virtual shelves of Audible, but I must admit, this book came out of nowhere. I'd never heard of this series nor the author. I saw it in a sale a while back, liked the synopsis and thought I'd take a chance. Usually when this happens, I get a reasonably decent romance, but nothing to crow about. This book, however, was a quality piece of paranormal romantic fiction read by a marvelous narrator.

I didn't recognize Angela Dawe's name when I bought the book, but I sure recognized her voice. She was the fantastic narrator that brought Nalini Singh's Psy-changling series to heart pounding life. She pulls off some of the sexiest male voices I've ever came across from a female narrator. Combine her emotive voice with excellent pacing and flawless delivery and you get a truly marvelous audiobook experience.

The story line itself fits well within the paranormal romance genre, but it does have a nice twist to the vampire tale. The history behind the story is this: The world is struck by a pandemic, killing millions or humans as well as the vampires that drank from those infected. Following the pandemic, a vaccination is created and the vast majority of humans are vaccinated. Unfortunately, drinking blood from vaccinated humans has the same effect on vampires as drinking from the humans who were infected with the disease, making food supplies impossibly low for vampire-kind.

Our hero Aiden is trying to do his small part to rebuild the decimated vampire population, particularly those vampires in his inner circle of friends. He's done this by essentially buying a small Southern town and moving his vampire friends and their willing human blood donars (called fams) to this town. He finds more unvaccinated humans from the impoverished and addicted in the cities and offers them a second chance at life if they are willing to feed his kind.

The community aspect of this book is one of the elements that sets it apart from the herd of vampire fiction out there. The symbiotic relationship between human and vampires notwithstanding, there's a feeling of something a bit more than community, but not quite family, and Aiden is the leader, the founder and the cornerstone of it all.

After the town's physician, the human mate of one of the vampires, is killed, the town needs a new doctor, and our heroine, comes to Penton to fill this role. Expecting a quiet country life caring for the locals, she gets way more than she's bargained for.

All the elements are here. A brooding hero, a troubled but brilliant heroine, trusted sidekicks, unfaithful betrayers and a truly evil villain. Give it a try. It's a fantastic read on it's own, but it's also a promising start to a new series. I will be eagerly be looking for more work from this author.

Surprised

Any additional comments?

I really liked this book. I was surprised, I thought that it was going to be a train wreck. The plot was original and entertaining. Can't wait to read more from this author.

Very Average

This story hit all the points of a fine story but nothing more. Overwhelmingly, it was just uninspiring and without any degree of intensity. The author tried to create angst and included aspects that would normally deliver on some intensity, but for some reason, they didn't add any bang to this story.

This was a good paranormal, vampire story essentially about Aidan (a vampire) and Krys/Krystal (a human medical doctor) getting together as mates. But it was a bit mild, too straitlaced for my taste. There was no rough language (Aidan said s*it & hell once), very little gore or explicitness in the action, the fights, the blood feeding, and the narrator was as ho-hum as the story. I’m not sure which contributed to the blandness more—the story or the narrator. I think it was, primarily, a bad combination of the two. Some stories would work with this degree of sterility, but a story of battling vampires isn’t one of them. A vampire who enjoys draining humans and is more than willing to kill his brother would not likely be one who used pristine language. Over the 8+ hours of the story, there were two sex scenes that included some detail but only enough for you to know that sex was occurring and for you to get the gist of what was going on. I think the goal was more romance than eroticism or sensuality, and to some listeners that goal might have been attained. But it was too little to me. The passion revealed was a 4 on a 1-10 scale.

The author did a god job of showing the relationship’s progression, even though there was immediate attraction between Aidan and Krys. And they didn’t jump to talking about love, though it was muttered w/in a month. And the characters were ok, but Krys did two dumb things near the end of the story, about 2 hours until the end, that detracted from the story and her character as a smart and strong woman. They were manufactured dramatic moments that weakened the story. And Krys accepted knowledge of vampires a bit too easily or quickly. She had questions and was curious, and there was a bit of a struggle but very little. And there was little struggle in coming to terms with her feelings for a vampire too. The author also didn't have everything in the story turn out well for everyone in the town, which added some realism to the story. That was good. But the drawn out fight between Aidan and Owen, which was a 2nd major theme in the story, didn't quite make sense. It could've been over with at their first encounter. The author tried to explain this, but the justification was a weak one and continued to weaken as their battle lengthened.

The narrator did not do the voices as described. For instance, Owen, Aidan’s brother & enemy, was described as being about 2 months out of Dublin, Ireland. Yet, there was no obvious Irish brogue in the narrator’s depiction of Owen. And all of the males essentially sounded the same. It was impossible to distinguish among them. This was also true for the females.

Wanted a faithful selfless familiar. Must be...

Willing to serve selflessly.. This has the chance to be a good dark vampire series. Provided the author can keep the edge on. At times the story goes a little soft but their are characters with demons that are riding them which have the potential to propel this series up to the level of the breeds and the BDB. It is worth the credit. Angela Dawe who does most if not all of the narrations for Nalini Singh is okay. She wouldn't have been my first choice. Adain and Chirs have enough chemistry to keep you involved as the story progresses.

Great listen/read!

Have you listened to any of Angela Dawe’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling Series. I really like Angela's vocal range. She is able to make both the male and female characters unique and fitting to what I imagine the character is like.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I liked being able to read this while driving back and forth to/from work. 2 hours per day and when I just couldn't stop, then I continued while at home.

VT. FAN

Would you consider the audio edition of Redemption to be better than the print version?

No. I only purchase the audio if I love the book. Nothing can compare to your imagination at work when reading a book. I was very pleasantly surprised with the audio. I purchased because of Dawe and the fact the is was a good paranormal romance.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Redemption?

The first meeting.

What about Angela Dawe’s performance did you like?

Angela Dawe is one of the best narrators out there. She can do male, female brilliantly. No one is better at distinguishing the different characters voices than Angela Dawe.

love this series

love this series and the narrator is fabulous. the changes in voice tone and accent make you feel like you are listening to a play. cant wait to listen to the next.

the storyline between aidan and krystal boring

didn't. really enjoy this book for me the scenes in the book is to long the storyline between aidan murphy and krystal harris. they love is not well develop and the love scenes in the book is boring and hardly any sex in this book sorry i don't i can read the other three book left in the series

Surprised!

What did you love best about Redemption?

Great storyline, different approach, Great narrator

What was one of the most memorable moments of Redemption?

When Aiden realised he couldn't fight his attractoin to Chris

Which character – as performed by Angela Dawe – was your favorite?

Chris

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Didn't want to stop listening!!!