Joyless

Alabaster Penitentiary, Book 2

De: Nyla K

Narrado por: Sebastian Grove, Silas Hart, Melisandre Verte

Correctional officers get a bad rep. But in our case, it's fully justified. We're not good people. We're guard dogs. As twisted as the inmates we patrol, courtesy of the monster who created us. Prisoners ourselves on an island of manipulation, we've spent years drowning in vices to dull reality. If these walls could talk, I'm telling you, they'd scream.

They call me Velle, but that's Officer Chevelle to you. Hands dirtier than my mind, I have no qualms with staying ruthless to keep these creatures in line. And I'm not alone... Joy Jameson is my partner in crime, and my ex. Together we rule Alabaster Isle like Bonnie and Clyde, only prettier and far more dangerous. It's the two of us against this wicked, secluded world. Until he shows up...

Although we need him, the rookie is a problem. Flipping me upside down, using my own hidden desires to tempt me. Rook... with his green eyes and country boy smile... He has no business luring me into something that will get everyone hurt. Let it be known, denying myself while dominating this role is my default setting. But with him in the picture, I'm struggling to keep it intact. The mask is slipping, control I can't lose wavering as we welcome our newest psycho to the roster. Let's hope, for all our sakes, Inmate #101 doesn't do anything stupid.

**Joyless is the second book in the Alabaster Penitentiary series. It is a dark M/M/F romance, with HEA. Each book in this series is technically a standalone, though they are interconnected, so it will be recommended to enjoy in order. Joyless is intended for mature audiences and open-minded listeners. Detailed list of CW's can be found here: authornylak.com/joyless-content-warning

©2021 Nyla K (P)2023 Nyla K

Velle, Rook and Cherry

"𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨..." 𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚. "𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙩. 𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡."

Alabaster Penitentiary is a wild and twisted place where the unexpected happens at every turn and no one, not even the guards, are unaffected by its craziness.

John Chevelle, aka Velle, can not believe when his almost one-night stand, Harley "Rook", shows up on the isle as the new prison guard. Joy can tell something is going on between Velle and Rook and as she works her magic to get them together she gets pulled into their orbit.

WOW!!!! It has taken me a while to finally get the words together to write this review. I am blown away again by this place. I went through every emotion listening to this book including shedding tears. After the first book, I couldn't give you two cents for Velle but he was redeemed completely. The chemistry and imagination Velle, Rook and Cherry have together is unreal. I can not wait for more from Alabaster Pen.

Sebastian Grove, Silas Hart and Melisandre Verte are all brand new narrators for me and I loved all three of them. All of them did an amazing job of bringing the characters and story to life while perfectly conveying all the emotions of the story.

Get ready for... mmf, dark, workplace, first times, interracial, law enforcement, BDSM, told in the first-person multiple points of view.

Content... see the author's website for a complete list.

5 Maple Leafs / 5 Flames / 4 Tears / 2023 Top Read

DO NOT SKIP BECAUSE THERE IS A F WITH THE MM

This is a series, and if you try to skip the previous books, you will be lost. If you skip this book because there is a female MC, you will miss so much.
If you've gotten this far you in the series, you know how captivating it is! Trust Nyla and you wont regret it. Besides, Joy isn't a typical FMC. You NEED this book to learn more about the relationship between The Ivory and the guards, especially Velle. You NEED this book to learn Joy and Rook's backstories. You NEED to read this book so Nyla can convince you he isn't a villain 🤣. You NEED this book to see other prospectives of what was going on with Dascha!!! You NEED this book to learn about, and visit 🥰, the other prisoners.


If you aren't swayed and need extra reassurance, continue reading below. It's a little spoilery in regards to spice, so I will try to leave enough space that you have to scroll.
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Joy is basically a dude. A strapped 😘, VOYEURISTIC dude! She is an important part of the story and relationship. Most of the spicy time is MM. It is MM based EVERY TIME! Please give it a chance 🙏. I want everyone to be able to enjoy and appreciate this series as much as I do 💗.

P.S. since we are in the spoiler section of this review, I will address another reason I've heard for people skipping this one. Joy does NOT die, so far in the series anyway. Nyla has 2 more books to release, but I would hope she wouldn't do Cherry like that 🤣.

OH MY GOD 🙌🏻 fave book of August!

This series is altering my brain chemistry! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND GET THE AUDIO! Jesus, my ears were on fire. Such a fantastic performance! I could listen to this over and over again. All the pieces coming together. More clues being revealed.

Velle and Rook??? 🥵🥵🥵
Joy is the coolest chick ever… SO JEALOUS OF HER! 👀😮‍💨

Book 2

I started listening to this then realized it was book 2. I stopped and listened to book 1 first. Whereas it’s not necessary to read in order I’m glad I did.

I don’t even know where to start! This is a MMF between the guards of the penitentiary. There is so much more to the story than three people falling in love and how they got there. That’s what made this story so compelling. I couldn’t stop listening. There were many parts to the overall story and the way it all comes together as well as how it sets up for the next is fascinating.


I will be finishing this series.

Nyla does it again

I’m extremely picky with my audiobooks and yet Nyla has hit it out of the park with both she has released. These narrators were phenomenal!

A MMF Trifecta! Amazing Story & Narration🎧

Nyla K welcomes her readers and audiobook listeners back to Alabaster Penitentiary with another dark and twisted tale, a super hot MMF romance. I highly recommend starting with the first book “Distorted”, I also recommend avoiding all spoilers and going in blind because the story will blow your mind. Alabaster Penitentiary is not your typical prison and there is nothing ordinary about its prisoners or even those who run it, some may consider it a wasteland of society’s worst. The correctional officers have their work cut out for them, and not only because of the depraved prisoners they supervise. And because of the remote location of the prison, they practically live there themselves, offsite but close enough and only going off the island for leave. Head Correctional Officer John “Velle” Chevelle and Joy Jameson have been a team, they were even a couple at one time. They run the place under the supervision of Warden Manuel Blanco, but they are the ones who deal with the prisoners daily. When one of their coworkers retires, the warden brings in a new guy, Harley Samuels, a former NYPD officer, who they named Rook. Except this is not the first time Velle and Harley meet. They met the night Harley found out his wife was cheating on him, and the two felt a connection then, but it did not go anywhere. Now they can explore that connection, though Harley has never been with a man or felt attracted to one. Velle does not allow anyone to get close to him and fights the attraction, but they can only deny each other for so long. But he has his reasons to stay away, and Joy is there to comfort Rook when Velle bails, well I am not sure I would call it comfort, but she makes him feel better. Nyla K. does an amazing job building their relationship, a MMF trifecta. The writing, plotting and world building are fantastic, as is the character growth and development. Learning their backstories was intriguing and explained a lot. There is never a dull moment in this book, the drama is non-stop, it is high in angst, kink, emotions, some surprising twists and turns. Nyla K., thanks for another amazing story and wild ride. 

🎧📚🎧 And for the fantastic narration, Sebastian Grove, Silas Hart and Melisandre Verte were the perfect cast to bring the characters and story to life. There was a complete understanding of who they were portraying, they gave each character a voice that was appropriate to their role and they were believable in their respective roles. Their performances complemented each other’s and they make a great narration team. They set the perfect tone for the story, captured all the characters' emotions, and had you feeling every single one. These entertaining storytellers are versatile voice artists and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for this terrific listen. 

Loved it

I loved Joyless. First off I’d like to say that if you feel put off because this is MMF, just try it. Joy is basically a man, I swear. She is tough as nails and pegs better than you ever could. She’s really needed in this story to bring the guys together. Plus, I feel like every female wishes they were bits of Joy. Have bits of her personality and definitely could be in her place as the corn beef in a Velle and Rook sandwich.

I love a bi-curious man and lemme tell ya, Rook is IT! He finds out his wife is cheating on him and it doesn’t take much for him to experience his first gay interaction. It’s short lived but it made me laugh and crave more. He was a sucker for Velle the second he laid eyes on him. I don’t blame him though, we all would be. He’s such a cute lil cut cowboy.

Velle. Veeellle. Ugh. He is hot! Covered in tattoos and piercings. Confident af. Ahole. You know the type. I love that I got to know him better after the first book. There’s a lot more to Jonathan Chevelle than anyone would’ve guessed. He’s honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place. His story broke my heart then stitched it back together. I cried for him. I really did. Luckily he has two amazing people there to help him get through the secret mess that is his life.

As always Nyla picked the perfect narrators for her book. They’re amazing. They really bring the characters to life. Never annoyed or bored me. Kept me invested in the story. Definitely enjoyed listening to Joyless and recommend it.

Some plot set ups here for other books!

There were parts of this one that were interesting and some parts that made me laugh, but I definitely enjoyed the first one better. Velle was holding on to a dark secret the entire story, so it was interesting finding out exactly what that was about. Each of the MCs had their secrets. The romance kept taking one step forward, two steps back for a bit, but toward the end it became pretty sweet. I enjoyed the set up for a couple other story lines. I am very excited for the next and have a feeling that more will come up for The Ivory. It seems each book is really building up a storyline for him, and I’m looking forward for when it all comes to a head! I honestly don’t think I’d listen to this one again, but I am glad I did, even if only for the bits of plot for the other books.

Absolutely wonderful

I absolutely love this series. I love the mystery of the island and the people that unravels with each book. I absolutely love it when someone that has been presented as bad is shown to have good traits after all . The romance is wonderful and the sexy scenes are very well written. I wish I could find more authors like Nyla K, ones who know how to write an interesting story and keep me coming back for more. Truly wonderful series. It is going to be maddening waiting for the rest in the series. I will have to break down and try to find time to read them before audio comes out because I can stand the wait. Narrators were perfect, I felt like they were the actual characters. I highly recommend the series be read in order as suggested. You won’t regret using credits on these books.

Out of the park

Another great book from Nyla k. I can’t wait to start the next book in this series.