Crimson

Of Shadows & Secrets, Book 1

De: Casey Morales

Narrado por: Joel Leslie

Silver Medal winner in the 2024 Bookfest Awards Competition . . .

Will Shaw and his friends are typical college students, enjoying dances and parties without much care for life beyond.

When Thomas, a handsome Naval officer and newly arrived student, nearly stumbles into Will and his friends, Will's heart spins, though he doesn't understand why. Sparks of something new burst within, opening his eyes to possibilities he'd never dreamed.

In the giddy fog of a forbidden courtship and the safety of the campus bubble, the world's troubles seem far away. Until they aren't. German tanks roll through Europe, while Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. There's no safe place left to hide.

Compelled to do their part, young people enlist in record numbers. Will and his friends join the queue. But instead of a bus headed to basic training, Will is thrust into the world of shadows and secrets.

Crimson is a slow-burn MM romance wrapped in a thriller, a first-in-series that sets up many grand adventures to come. Fans of James Bond, Jason Bourne, and author Tal Bauer watch out!

Contains mature themes.

©2023 3Aussies Press (P)2025 Tantor Media

Magnified the life of America during WWII

Joel Leslie did a great job narrating the novel. He invoked the spirit of Will perfectly. His naive but genuine nature. As well as magnifying life in America during WWII. I just wish this was a duet. I felt Thomas should have been narrated by someone else. I couldn't distinguish between Thomas and Will at times. Also loved how he stayed true to Casey Morales indepth research of life on Harvard during WWII.

Crimson Of Shadows & Secrets er t the bom

This m/m actually set in a period of time that people need to remember. My mother lived through bombing of Liverpool. As a result, she was claustrophobic, afraid of the dark and was afraid of heights.
How Mr. Morales weaves his story, is like no author or m/m novels that I’ve read before. I certainly hope he continues this formula when writing future m/m stories.

Boredom from too much narration.

The book reads like an outline of events. Told one after another after another. I had high hopes for this as I love historical fiction but it just doesn’t deliver on much meat and potatoes of the story. The scope is perhaps too big. The time period too long and the ambition too much for this short of a book. It was all rushed through. It seemed to be a means to something else, but in planning this epic adventure, Morales forgot to live in the moment.

I wish this book had more scenes and stolen moments, maybe set up by some narration. Not small scenes of friends or lovers which set up large swaths of narration of time and events. That was basically the whole second half of the book.

Not to pile on, and I hope the other books in the series get better, but the protagonist, Will, has zero original thoughts of his own. He is a blank slate. He is uninteresting. And once Thomas is an established character, he drives more of the plot in his POV chapters. Very disappointing.

Audio was fine, though I think this narrator is better at older adults than teens. Something about his voice. I’ve thought that in all the books I’ve listened to with him. But I get used to it usually. This one it smears more problematic though because they weren’t speaking like young adults. The characters were heady and it constantly took me out of the story.