Stoned

The Four, Book 2

By: Layla Frost

Narrated by: Wen Ross, Desireé Ketchum

From USA Today bestselling author Layla Frost comes a grumpy-sunshine fantasy novel where opposites don't just attract… they're fated.

Once upon a time, there lived a witch. A powerful, brilliant, dope-as-heck one whose magicks inspired fear and envy. Like all classic fairy tales, her story had the usual goodies.

Destiny. Missing souls. Unfathomable evil. The precarious fate of the entire universe. Blah, blah, blah.

But let's get back to that witch with the awesome hair…

Fine, it's me. I'm the all-powerful witch. And, okay, maybe my story isn't a classic fairy tale. Not unless I missed the part about Little Red delivering comic books in her basket and Beauty sleeping off two-for-one margarita night.

But I do have a soul mate—my very own Charming. Except he's no prince. He's a level-headed, by-the-book, insanely sexy detective.

And me? Well, I'm stoned.

This story starts where Styx leaves off, so although it features a new couple, it is highly (pun intended) recommended the books be listened to in order. Contains a dirty-talking hero, a filthy-minded heroine, and the hot magicks they create. For mature listeners.

©2024 Layla Frost (P)2024 Podium Audio

Good book. Not as good as one but still good

Summary bit
Book two is going on about the sister who was stoned in book one. They pick up right where they left off. She recognizes her mate right away. But it’s not a reunion as she thought it would be. Plus she’s stoned so that might take in part. The MC and FC keep trying to stay away from each other but it works for short while. Seems like every time they take a step forward in the relationship. Another event happens to where they are in Survival mode.

My review
I loved the start of this book. She is widely different than her brother where she makes things to get high and drunk. Nerd with comics and other stuff. Has a shop surrounding these things she loves. The male character is a generic cop character at first and he does get more interesting. They both show character growth over time. I wish they kept more of her crazy girl energy. She mellows out. The main background storyline does not progress till the end. Other than the random attacks. Not a bad story at all. I just wish they had more twist as the first.

Narration is as good as the first one
Would still recommend reading this series.

Wanted more from this one

I think these are interesting series but it’s a lot of character building and now a lot of action or plot. Would like there to be more to it. Gonna keep going though!

Great Narrtors For This Story

love this story and series - I'm hooked and invested.
the narrators really brought the story to life.

Disappointingly huge step down from book 1

“I’m sure it happens all the damp time … this whole no swearing thing is getting really furry old!”
The no swearing in the other place thing was cute, but everything else about book 2 was off. There wasn’t nearly enough comedy or chemistry to make up for an extremely underwhelming continuation of a magical mystery begun at book 1. The comedy was gimmicky and uneven; she’s a comic store owner who doesn’t talk comic nearly enough to be credibly geek and whole “stoned” thing (you know, as in the title of the book) only mattered for the opening scene. Even the narration was off, with me wishing this had been duet narration because Mr. Ross’s female voice was atrocious and Ms. Ketchum’s male voice wasn’t sexy.

My biggest two issues were the messy, mild mystery and the silly failure to communicate trope, There’s apparently a big conspiracy by a nefarious organization called Absolve, yet there’s no villain with a face, name, or personality … it’s just a series of redshirt soldiers incompetently attacking Juno. Half way through the series and there’s not one villain to chew the scenery or have a diabolical plan. Of course, Team Good Guys don’t have a plan either; it makes zero sense that these powerful allies do nothing more than give Juno pep talks instead of joining the fight or tracking down Absolve. The how’s, why’s, and even backstories for Juno and Stellan flummoxed me.

But, that’s because the mystery is merely the window dressing to support the romance. That was fine with book 1’s madcap hilarity to spice things up, Here, it’s seven hours into this nine hour book with Juno and Stellan hiding the truth when they should just talk to each other. Juno’s miscommunication is the worst because she’s hiding the existence of magic and the fated mates/other half of her soul thing. In light of who Juno is, including being a powerful witch, her cowardice, insecurity, and failure to give him the dignity of going into their relationship eyes wide open really diminished my respect for her. And I loved her moxie in book 1. If I hadn’t have already gotten the whole series, i wouldn’t have moved on.