Beast

A Bad Boy Marine Romance

By: Alana Albertson

Narrated by: Aaron Shedlock, Sonja Field

Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Grady Williams is a national treasure, the youngest living Medal of Honor recipient, America's scarred superhero. With tattooed arms sculpted from carrying M-16s, this bad boy has girls begging from sea to shining sea to get a piece of his action.

When my father squanders away my college fund, I make a deal with this dirty-talking devil dog - I will pretend to be Grady's girlfriend for the Marine Corps Ball, and my dad will write Grady's war memoir.

Grady is fearless. Hell, this badass jumped on a grenade to save his fellow Marines! As much as I crave him, I refuse to allow myself to become addicted to a dangerous man who will detonate my heart.

Isabella Cuesta is an angel who can see beyond my mangled skin, a pawn used to repay her father's debt, a woman who makes me feel like a man instead of a monster.

But I no longer believe in fairy tales.

She's mine until our contract ends. I'll take her hard and rough, listen to all her hopes and fears, lay down my life to protect her.

This beauty will never let herself love a dangerous man like me - a man who has killed, a man who runs towards gunfire, a man who never backs down from a fight.

But without her love, I'm not a man - I'll remain forever a beast.

Publisher's note: This is a full-length, standalone novel. HEA. No cliffhanger. No cheating.

©2016 Alana Albertson (P)2016 Alana Albertson

So sweet

It's rare that you get this kind of duel narration in an audiobook and I love it! I don't usually read books with any kind of military theme but this was very much worth the read.

Great Love Story

This was an awesome listen. I loved the narrators, they made it great for me.

Entertaining

This audiobook is about a disfigured wounded veteran Marine who meets a beautiful dancing reality star at a party. He's pretty jaded, thinking no woman could want him for himself and she's just wanting a real live relationship. It's kind of a beauty and the beast take-off. Overall, it was good. The only thing that bothered me was sometimes the male narrator seemed a little monotone.

Military Beast Finds His Dance Reality TV Beauty

This is a stand-alone book. It is narrated in a dual point of view by Aaron Sherlock and Sonja Field, who both do an excellent job bringing the characters to life.

Grady is a war hero. He left the Middle East after using his body to shield his Marine unit from an explosive. He has had extensive surgery, skin grafts and physical therapy. He also suffers from PTSD. He feels like a beast and doesn't like to spend time in public because of other's reactions to him and his triggers.

Isa was a dancer. She danced professionally with a partner and later on a TV reality show partnered with someone the show assigned her for the season. After a death in her family, she couldn't cope and left that lifestyle behind.

Isa goes with a friend to a super hero costume party for Halloween. Grady hears the party near his home and covers himself in green make-up as The Hulk so he can blend in. They meet at the party and Grady has a trigger on his PTSD. Isa is going to university majoring in psychology. She tries to help him and at least sees him home. They part ways but think of each other.

Isa's father is a ghost writer who is out of money and has no prospects in a new book deal, so he steals her savings from her that was meant to pay her next semester bills. She talks to Grady about letting her Dad tell his story so she can get her money for classes and so Grady can get his story out the way he wants it told. He agrees to help her if she will be his date for the upcoming Marine Ball where he is a guest speaker in front of VIP's and the U.S. President. As they get to know each other, real feelings get involved and each has issues to work through to be honest with the other.

This one’s a keeper

I loved this book. It pulled me in from the start and I listened straight through. I love the narration style, wish more were done this way. Both narrators were amazing!

Awesome audible book

OMG I absolutely loved this book ! The story brought tears to my eyes . WoW I love a Marine love story . I have two nephews who are Marines both served a year in Iraq . One spent a year in Afghanistan . They were brothers and spent six months in Iraq at the same time. One is still active and the other is a wounded warrior . This book brought to mind their service in Iraq and Afghanistan and reminded me that we all should thank our military for all they do for America.

The narration really brings this story to life.

What did you love best about Beast?

I enjoyed the damaged hero who finds his true love storyline. I liked Grady's progression through the book, thanks to having Isa by his side. He had a lot of issues, that were quite understandable, but it was nice to see him come to terms with some things. I liked that Isa stood up for herself when it came to Grady, and that she was able to see through him to the real person. I liked how she didn't let the trouble her father caused to bring her down. She just pulled herself back up and did what she had to do to move on.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I'm not sure that there's anything I would necessarily change, it's not up to me to tell an author that she needs to change things in her story. I will admit I had a little trouble with Grady in the beginning and almost gave up on the book. Our first introduction to him was fine, and I was intrigued by his character. But then soon after he kind of turned me off, with how abrupt and demanding his was, a little too "alpha" in a sense. He did win me over again, though, as the story progressed and he opened himself up.

What does Sonja Field and Aaron Shedlock bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Aaron and Sonja were incredible! I loved that this was a duet narration, because I really can't get enough of Mr. Shedlock. I borrowed this book purposely because he was the narrator, I had never heard of it before. I think they both did such fantastic jobs giving these characters life.

Any additional comments?

Borrowed through the Romance Package

Alpha Marine

First, I would like to say how much I love the book cover, WOW! This book was really god. It really made me see the scars, feel the pain and mourn the lost loved ones. I felt as if I was dancing along with Isa and in the desert with Grady. To those that have every had the pleasure to attend a Marine Corp Ball, this is a special treat with this being described in this book. Loved it!!
Aaron and Sonja did an amazing job!

Wounded Love

The author was new to me and with 2K books in my Audible library that doesn't happen often. I was surprisingly impressed by the authors loose retelling of the classic Beauty & the Beast. Alana Albertson's choice to make the beast a wounded warrior was so timely. The details of this beast journey through pain, fears, healing & learning to love again were so vivid that I could almost feel them. And Beauty was aptly a beauty inside & out.

The performances by Aaron Shedlock & Sonja Field were perfect for this beauty & beast retelling. While Mr. Shedlock isnt one of my favorites he delivered all the feels of the Beast and the Prince. I dont believe I've heard Sonja Field prior to this listen but I enjoyed her performance very much. I found her voice/performance extremely comforting especially when she threw in a little Spanish. I look forward to my next listen with her in it.

Overall a great listen. I'm downloading the next book in the series as I type this and its 313 am!!! I could stop listening to this story. Now do I go to bed for a couple of hours or start the next listen???

Good night or good morning! Enjoy! I truly did.

very good

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