Absinthe

By: Winter Renshaw

Narrated by: Douglas Berger, Brooke Hayden

Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

The name on the screen was "Absinthe".

But I knew her as the sultry voice blowing up my phone for late-night chats about Proust and Hemingway interspersed between the filthiest little...mutually satisfying exchanges...I'd ever experienced in my life. We'd never met. Until the day she walked into my office, her cherry lips wrapped around a candy apple sucker and an all too familiar voice that said, "You wanted to see me, Principal Hawthorne?"

Author's note: This full-length romance is a complete standalone and contains subject matter that may trigger sensitive listeners. All characters are adults, and all interactions are consensual.

©2017 Winter Renshaw (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

The perfect trifecta

This Audio has just made my top three of 2017. It was everything I want in an Audio and more. It kept me glued to my earphones even at work. The story was hot and gripping. The taboo just enough to add the angst and drama you would expect in a May-December relationship. I love it when the author makes a younger character smart and capable. The character development was done to perfection. Both narrators nailed it. The female narrator was intoxicating and I found her just as appealing as I found the male narrator performing Ford. It was the perfect length, perfect narrators, and the perfect Author. The trifecta for a five star audiobook..

beware the differences...

First, I have to give credit to Douglas Berger and Brooke Hayden for their excellent narration skills. Their voices combined in a seamless portrayal of this dual POV audio that certainly enhanced the story for me. But, I'm not sure how I feel about the edits that were made from the published Kindle version to this audio recording. ⭐Beware, mild spoiler alert about to follow⭐
At about chapter 38 I think, the audio book just jumps ahead 5 years in the story. Whereas in the Kindle version there are about 5 to 7 additional short chapters that detail the time during that five year gap a bit more in-depth and I think those details really add to the story. When I was listen to the audio I actually had to pause to go back to my Kindle copy to make sure I'd remembered correctly. I don't know how or why the decision was made to edit that portion out for the audio but I'm glad I'd had the chance to read it and gain that much more insight re: Ford and Halston's characters during their time apart. And for that reason I prefer the Kindle version of the story, though the audio version isn't bad (especially if you haven't read it first and aren't missing those details).

Couldn't put it down!

Wanted more, more detail on both characters would have been better. But the narrating from both actors was amazing. story line addicting.

Started Off Good, Then Just Fizzled

I was all in for Absinthe. It started off really good and really grabbed my attention. I'm all for a forbidden romance. But what started out something that was going to be really good, fizzled, crashed, and burned. Halston seemed like she was going to be this doesn't care, strong girl. At moments she was, but for the most part she let her uncle and cousin. The story just seemed to take a drastic turn and I lost everything that kind of had me rooting for Halston and Ford. Brooke Hayden's voice was interesting. Her voice didn't quite sound like that of a eighteen year old. What I did like about her was the fact that she gave off the personality of Halston. Her voice was assertive when she got tired of people the games they played, the anger in her tone, and softness of her voice when she was connecting with Ford late at night. Douglas Berger was really good as Ford. It was noted that Ford was really young for a man in his position at the school and I think they came off nicely. That's a voice I could get used to.

Good narrators bad story

I needed a happier ending.i can’t read a story where so many people cause so many problems and nothing ever comes of it. I wasn’t a big fan of the perv principal who fall for a student who is well read and so mature for her age but for some reason can’t find a more appropriate word than fuck.
The whole story felt superficial and weak. Normally I think of parts the edition should have cut but this story needed more meat

Complicated review

I did like the story line but was hoping for less angst and more passion. I wanted more closure with Brie (not just a quick update of her present day karma) I really wish the uncle and aunt could have known in the end how awful Brie was to her and had given their apology to her. I also wish the first “physical encounter” would have been after they discussed what had really happened. I waited the whole book for their moment and it wasn’t what I had been waiting for (I wanted it beautiful and romantic) it seems totally unrealistic they would have not had a discussion before that moment to explain what happened. That being said, I thought it was worth reading but it just didn’t give me the “feels”.

Just Good

Be aware that the audiobook excludes several chapters from the book but technically you don’t need to read them.

Good story...AWFUL narration

The premise of the story was pretty good. I was fairly entertained. The plot and writing was pretty basic, but overall engaging.

What killed this was the narration. The male narrator was decent. Brooke Hayden however was absolute trash. She was amateurish and the quality of her voice was grating . I actually disliked the heroine more based on her voice. I ultimately had to speed through her chapters to finish the book.

Half great, half cliche

Spoilers:

It started out great, different from the hoards of others in the genre. The female character is strong but different, no simpering virgin thank goodness. It’s the student/school instructor dynamic. Then we fast forward five years and the female character has gone from unique and disadvantaged castaway of addict parents to clichedly perfect—a cookie cutter character that ‘can set a fancy table, my posture is perfect because my boarding school made us walk with books on our heads and then I started a PR firm (another cliche career for female romance characters) and started dating a billionaire. Then she and the male protagonist reconnect and forge a cliched perfect and completely idealized relationship, have twins and the story ends. It’s like the author wrote the first half with some effort then mailed the rest in on cut and pasted from every other romance book ending out there.

great age gap romance

It was a good story overall. It was a tiny bit of insta love but if you like teacher/student or forbidden romance this is def a story for you.