The Bad Guy

De: Celia Aaron

Narrado por: Stephen Dexter, Lance Greenfield, Erin Mallon

My name is Sebastian Lindstrom, and I'm the villain of this story.

I've decided to lay myself bare. To tell the truth for once in my hollow life, no matter how dark it gets. And I can assure you, it will get so dark that you'll find yourself feeling around the blackened corners of my mind, seeking a door handle that isn't there.

Don't mistake this for a confession. I neither seek forgiveness nor would I accept it. My sins are my own. They keep me company. Instead, this is the true tale of how I found her, how I stole her, and how I lost her.

She was a damsel, one who already had her white knight. But every fairy tale has a villain, someone waiting in the wings to rip it all down. A scoundrel who will set the world on fire if that means he gets what he wants. That's me.

I'm the bad guy.

©2017 Celia Aaron (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

The book I've been searching for, perfect stalker!

I started off with low expectations; my one complaint is that the title and description did this book NO justice.I almost passed it by because it looked so typical and it was so misleading that a lot of people probably did the same which is a crying shame! It made Sebastian sound like some punk in a motorcycle gang with a bad past in prison or something but this man was on another level of villainy but in a really sexy, unbelievably endearing way. Also, not necessarily a complaint, but I thought it was a tad unnecessary to have another man narrating Link. The two men had two totally different personalities and the man narrating Sebastian was incredible so he clearly could have done both men's voices but I won't complain about more variation. The story, the narration, it was absolutely amazing. The humor that came along with the Sebastian's illness was a nice touch (it also brings up an interesting thought about how this is an illness but isn't treated like one in our culture, instead it's met with a morbid fascination) and I loved the way he reacted to Camille's behavior and generally felt more and more emotion with every passing moment with her. I went to school for psychology and this book had me so interested because it brought to the surface something new and unfamiliar and made it into a fresh new love story. The way Sebastian has a sort of boyish mindset brought a bit of humor into the story and made the intensity feel lighter and made me laugh (audibly, in public, like a crazy woman) when it was needed to keep the story from getting too dark. Then it made me want to cry at the way this man wanted nothing more than to feel, something we take for granted and wish we could rid ourselves of every day, not recognizing that losing the bad also taints the good because we lose that point of reference. And oh, his poor father... what that poor man went through... I loved how he had his dad coaching him on how to be human, all of it was just excellent. It was such a unique story but even though it was far-fetched, it was somehow believable when listening to it because of the complexity of these characters and heck, love makes everyone do crazy things, right? The scenes where the attraction increased between them were enough to make anyone melt and the primitive, predatory way he hunted her, wow. It was just unbelievably sexy and I couldn't help but fall in love with this character myself. This dark knight was something to behold and my utter disdain for Link was great, the way I grew to hate this jerk over the course of the book made me love Camille and Sebastian that much more. The way the author wrote this book was just freaking perfection to me. I look for books like this eagerly and rarely find one that meets [and even more rarely] passes my expectations. It's intense, so beware of that, but the best books always are. This is the book I was searching for: a stalker, a man so obsessed about a woman that he would do anything to get her and keep her, and that woman understanding him and reciprocating it in all their beautiful complexity. I especially enjoyed that they didn't have to be totally broken at the end. Instead, they made one another complete in a way a lot of other books sort of lack. I almost thought this wasn't going to have an HEA but if you're concerned by that misleading summary, don't be. And spend that credit. NOW. Alright, I'm done gushing, but gosh I'm almost sad because it's over and I don't think I'll find another book this good for a long while. I am so glad I gave this a chance, so so glad because like I said before, I almost passed it by because I didn't want to hear another whining male talk about how bad he is for the woman and pushing her away the whole time. 20/10, will certainly read again, very soon (and I almost never ever re-read a book).
PS- I read some of the other reviews and I'm so tired of people rating books low for no real reason. Okay, this was a tad misleading with the summary sure but you had a general idea that this wasn't going to be a light rom-com romance! So, be prepared for some serious subject matter along the way. Also, people need to stop crying Stockholm syndrome all the time like they're psychiatrists. I work in mental health and I can assure you that this is not the case in most of these books, and particularly in this one. In Stockholm syndrome. One of the big parts of that is that the victim forms the relationship while in captivity and don't already have a personal relationship and attraction between them like these two did before anything even happened. Do your research if you're going to point a finger at the author for doing a great job at creating an unlikely love story, this man gave everything he had to give in the only way he knew how, and she recognized that. Anyway, just buy it already and prepare to be riveted!

Celia makes you love the bad

You think good and bad is a clear cut line but Celia Aaron is so good at making her villains so incredibly appealing. Can a captive situation be love? See for yourself.

I want to scream I love this book so much. I read it before I listened to it and I highlighted a good portion because Celia makes so many thought provoking points. There are no lulls. Every minute is full of excitement, sexiness, suspense... I just loved it. My favorite. But I think I say that about all of them.

Lance, Stephen and Erin were great. They each depicted their characters perfectly and pulled off the secondary characters. Excellent narration.

I almost stopped listening!

BUT it finally started to catch my attention and I was so glad it did! It's definitely worth listening too!!!

Call me crazy but

This was so good! One minute you love Sebastian and want Camille to jump him and the next minute your creeped way the hell out! What’s better than that?! Definite Beauty and the Beast vibes

Far Fetched story at First but then WOW!!

It was a bit hard to get into this story. But I couldn’t ditch it. It grabbed my curiosity and then I got hooked.
I laughed at the character Link as the author made him such a jerk. It was a good fun listen taking him in towards the end.

Loved all the narration.
This is the first Celia Aaron book I’ve listened too, but will buy more of them.