Axel

Corps Security, Book 1

By: Harper Sloan

Narrated by: Abby Craden, Sean Crisden

Isabelle West has learned the hard way how hard life can be when fate isn't by your side. For the last two years Isabelle has been slowly clearing the clouds of her past. Happiness is finally on the horizon. She has a thriving business, great friends, and her life back. All she has to do is jump over the last hurdle... her ex-husband.

Axel never thought he would look into the eyes of Isabelle West again, and he wasn't sure he wanted to now. He's carried his anger for so long he isn't sure he can just turn it off, but when he is faced with protecting her and an unexpected desire to have her again, life gets a little more complicated. How will Axel and Isabelle deal when all their cards are put on the table and everything they thought was true blows up in their faces?

Contains mature themes.

©2013 E.S. Harper (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Alpha heroes you'll want to kidnap and keep, heroines to root for, and sizzling love scenes with emotional punch." (Carly Phillips, New York Times best-selling author)

Not one of my favorite audios

I love the Corps Security series. Unfortunately I only like listening to the book. Abby Craden does a fairly good job as a narrator for Issy's chapters. Sean Crisden isn't working for me. Sometimes his attempts to change voices, especially to female voices, makes me laugh and I loose the sense of angst and/or drama. I will listen again though.

Enjoyed

Like the series so far, will continue to listen to the series and other books by this auther

Loved it!

I have not stopped listening to this book since I started it. So many emotions, sadness, excitement, tragedy, chemistry. OMG.... the chemistry! Can't wait to get started on the next book. Narration was amazing!

A must read!

Baby Girl

Excessive over use of "baby girl"and "princess" in reference to main character. Wanted to throw my phone multiple times. Story line was fine. Typical romance with a ton of sex.

wasn't crazy about the narrators

To me, the man sounded to old for the age Axel was supposed to be and the women had an odd, forced, hushed, lispy voice. The story was highly recommended so I chugged through and the story was fantastic!

Awesome!

Finished in one day.. One of the best I've listened to all year !! Great narration !!

Love, hope and destinies redemption

I was hesitant after reading some of the reviews, but so glad I got this one. It is a wonderful love story...making you truly want to believe in fate against all odds.

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

I don't know... Sort of maddening.

First of all, the positives:
Abby Craden gives a magnificent performance! Sean Crisden is good, but sometimes sounds flat out bored.

The heroine is extremely likeable and I found myself rooting for her (in the beginning).

Now the not so positives:
The focus of the story is about a woman rebuilding her life after a traumatic, abusive relationship that no woman should ever have to endure! I found myself really pulling for her as she tried to rebuild her life with the support of close friends.

Now, I am a male listener who is a sucker for a good romance novel. Always have been. One recurring theme in Romance, that I have never really understood, is the strongly possessive, insanely jealous and controlling male lead. What is that about? I understand the desire to have a strong male character in a story and I am totally all right with that. But sometimes... It's way too much and far too irritating. Like the guy is a one trick pony with no depth, but he's drop-dead gorgeous and has a big wiener so that makes it all okay?

Maybe it's just eye candy for the story. That, I understand for a tertiary character. Not for the male protagonist.

Now, in steps the male lead in this story. Axel. A former lover and boyfriend of the female lead. This guy is an immediate, macho ass hat and the story turns south the second he shows his face.

He begins doing the exact things that the female lead has been trying to get away from for years! He is possessive, controlling, and abusive! She's a TRAUMA survivor! She just got out of an abusive relationship and now she's going to jump right back into another one, just because the guy is an Adonis? And her friends, who have been working so hard to help her are just going to stand idly by and not say a word to either character? I don't think that a woman in therapy, who has endured and escaped the type of treatment she went through would respond positively to that kind of treatment. Regardless of whether or not it is a former lover or not. She's going to run at the least, or at the worst, fold up on herself.

Another thing that made the story hard for me. I am not a fan of conflict driven by lack of communication. The majority of the story is just the two main characters not talking to one another and the friends surrounding them, who know the entire story, not stepping in and telling this abusive ass hat to "back off! She's been through shit!" This made me crazy! Everyone just sits idly by and says, "It's not my story to tell." You don't have to tell the story. If you care for this woman the way you profess to, step up and tell the guy to lighten up and let her come to you when she's ready!

And if I heard the words "baby girl" or "baby" one more time, I might have run into traffic to play. I understand terms of endearment, but come on! Don't use them to replace a character's name.

Lastly, the producer or the sound engineer on this audio book should be sent back to school or find a new vocation. Abby Craden is more than capable of expertly portraying a soft voice presentation. You do NOT have to lower the audio level on her! There were large portions of the performance, where Abby is portraying a softer, more relaxed tone of voice, and they lower the levels to almost unintelligible! Maddening, because you turn the volume up to try to hear her, and Sean comes on at normal levels and blows your ear drums out!

All in all, too many things wrong with this one.

Great story - irregular volume

This story has a sad , almost depressive start but builds up into something beautiful! The readers are doing a great job and I almost melted listening to 'Axel's' voice - so hot! Only the volume varies between too quiet and then again almost booming even with the same reader speaking.