Bared Before the Gods

A Mythical Gender Swap Romance

By: Alyson Belle

Narrated by: Juliana Solo

Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

When you steal from the gods, they find the most creative ways to punish you....

Lukas and his best friend, Mal, are Greek adventurers and warriors in the tradition of Jason, Odysseus, and a host of other heroes, and Lukas knows that despite his humble beginnings, he has the potential to take his place among those men as a legend of mythic proportions. But no one else believes in him, and so he sets out to prove them all wrong by undertaking a most Herculean task: climbing Mount Olympus and stealing Zeus’ golden crown.

Zeus, however, is not amused, and Lukas’ theft is quickly punished with his swift and painful death - or so Zeus believes. But Aphrodite has other plans for such a bold and handsome hero: She rescues Lukas from death’s door and uses her powers to hide him away in the body of Lucia, a comely maiden who Zeus would never suspect of being the thief who took his crown.

Now, Lucia has only a few days to convince Mal to help her find and return Zeus’ crown, before the other gods realize what Aphrodite has done and return Lucia to Hades...or worse, leave her trapped forever in the body of this maiden. She’ll need to move fast and decisively to win the day, which would be easy if she weren’t so distracted by all these strange new feelings of lust and attraction she’s having for her adventuring partner, Mal....

©2018 Alyson Belle (P)2018 Alyson Belle

Detailed Storyline but Lacking Performance

This was an interesting story with a great amount of detail and an intricate plot. It is clear that Alyson Belle did her fair share of research on the Greek mythology before writing this story as she immerses the readers/listeners in that world. Although I prefer modern day stories from Alyson (as opposed to historic or alternate reality stories) it is all-in-all a well-written plot.

That being said, I feel that the narration unfortunately takes away from the story to a degree. This is owed primarily to Juliana struggling (especially at the beginning) to adequately portray the male characters, including the protagonist.

It felt at times that the narrator struggled with trying to implement the Greek speech patterns, while other times it felt that she was just reading unenthusiastically from the script. Simply put, it didn’t feel like there was enough emotion in the reading which impacted the immersive experience.

I will say that the narration steadily improves throughout the story and is very good in the second half, but the performance in the first half made it difficult to keep my attention.

The Gods can be petty cruel but merciful?

Bared Before the Gods-A Mythical Gender Swap Romance written by Alyson Belle. The narration is provided by Juliana Solo. The audiobook has a running time of 2 hours and 33 minutes. During this time the listener will enter a mythical world created by Ms. Belle with characters from Greek Mythology. Some listeners will be upset that this audiobook is lacking in heavy amounts of sexual content. This is more of a light erotic story swap.

The main character Lukas is a Greek adventurer and warrior. He along with his friend Mal they travel the Greek World seeking fame and fortune. Lukas is challenged to steal the crown of Zeus on Mount Olympus. He is caught and punished with a swift and painful death except for the intervention of Aphrodite. She rescues Lukas from death and uses her powers to hide him in the body of Lucia. Lucia has to convince Mal to help her to find Zeus’ crown and return it to Olympus. All while having the problems of learning about the new female bodies and the desires that come with it.

This story will hold most listeners attention depending on what they are looking for going into the audiobook. Ms. Belle’s has been progressing her writing style the last few books away from the heavier sex scenes in her earlier writing to the lighter content. As a reviewer, I have no problem with this as this will attract a wider audience. The overall story was enjoyable and really held my attention. The Greek World is a fascinating place for a story to take place especially with the pettiness of the Old Gods.

The narration for this audiobook was provided by Juliana Solo does an excellent job during this audio performance. She creates a unique and memorable for each character and keeps the listener engaged during the entire performance. This was a unique audio production with the challenge of the Greek names, location, and everything else. Ms. Solo gave a truly enjoyable performance. The production quality of this audiobook is also the highest quality. I heard no problems during the entire performance. There were not any detectable flaws that I was able to hear during the entire performance such as loops, breaks, or buzzing. The production was crisp and clear. Alyson Belle Productions delivered an excellent audiobook production. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Clever story and excellent reader

The author's writing gave me a deep feeling of being there and feeling much of the emotions expressed and the reader has an excellent voice and reading style. The reader's voice was very sensuous when it was appropriate and added to my excitement. The story put the author into surprising and stressful and humorous situations that were enjoyable to experience with him/her. I've read several of Alyson's books and enjoyed this one the most. All of the ones I've read have the main character slowly discovering that he liked the change in the end. I'd love to read one where the main character is not so easily adapted to the changes and has to struggle more with dealing with many of the complexities of a female life as compared to a male life in our society - harassment, makeup, hair care, nails, weight gain, lower tolerance to alcohol, smaller size and weaker muscles, bras, tight revealing swim suits, constant pressure to diet, skin care, social pressure from other women and on and on that we men don't have to deal with.

Whom gods destroy, they first make...sexy?

I reviewed this book as a text on Amazon, so I'll try to focus more on the audio version, which I received as a free credit from the author. The story has a rich and elaborate descriptive quality, both in the recounting of the setting and the feelings and pleasures of the main character. Juliana Solo does a masterful job of bringing the lush details to life, stretching and emphasizing each word to fit the mood. One of the most memorable scenes is, interestingly, not a sex scene, but one set in the underworld with the rivers of myth.Her handling of the often challenging Greek vocabulary is well done, tackling words like Acheron, Lethe and...tsunami. (Ok, so it's not strictly period, and there a number of anachronisms. Just go with it. ) I've heard some of her other readings of Belle's works, and would recommend seeking them out. Overall, a nice story, maybe not the Odyssey, but a good new tale of the Greek Gods.

heavenly

this story keepscyou entertained from beginning to end ! a must read ! loved it