Beyond the Sun

The Dark Order of the Dragon, Book 1

By: Sandra Bischoff

Narrated by: Michelle Sparks

Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Fifteen years ago Jared Bonatelli had it all. The youngest son of one of the founding families in the Conservatorship of The Dark Order, he lived a life you only thought existed in novels and nightmares. After becoming engaged to his childhood sweetheart, he loses it all in one violent act. Since that night he has suffered reliving his fiancé's murder repeatedly in his dreams. After an emergency meeting of the Conservatorship, Jared finds that the comfortable world he lives is beginning to crumble at his feet.

Alexandra Toscano has been searching for the one assignment that could catapult her journalistic career. When her editor Gene O'Hanlon drops a manila folder in her lap, Alex is immediately skeptical. At first glance the information he hands her seems like a publicity piece until she comes across an article he wrote some 15 years ago about vampires murdering a young woman in Central Park. But that isn't what intrigues her the most. It's the photo of the woman's fiancé that captures her eye, Jared Bonatelli.

Now as Alex begins to dig deeper into Jared's life she begins to question her own past. Could the answer she seeks be found in the glowing eyes of the one person she is sworn to expose? Or will they both find themselves torn apart by a world beyond the sun?

©2013 Sandra Bischoff (P)2016 Sandra Bischoff

Great listen

Loved this story. I switched between reading and listening to this. The narration was great and the story kept me on my toes. I have to second book ready to read. I really enjoyed this book and audio

Surprisingly Entertaining PNR

Any additional comments?

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review. I wouldn't have purchased this book by just looking at the cover and title. At first glance it looks pretty B or even C rated. I have received some other audiobooks to listen and review with similar covers and names that don't grab me and peak my interest to one-click and found the writing quality to be amateur, the recording quality to be very poor, and the narrator's performance to be horrid. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE AUDIOBOOKS!!!! I truly enjoyed the story and characters and am invested in continuing the series. I have looked up the ebooks and put them on my wishlist, however I prefer to wait for audiobooks since I don't have time to sit and read these days. I love to multi-task with work and home chores by listening to audiobooks. If you like paranormal tropes with vampires, shifters and the like, you should check out this series. I loved the narrators voice and performance. She reminded me of other narrators that I love to listen to and would gladly listen to more of her work. I encourage others to check out this author and narrator.

Enjoyable listen

Paranormal isn't my thing, so keep that in mind.

That being said, the story was great. I thought the character development and plot were just enough to keep me interested. I had a hard time keeping up because I am so unused to paranormal that it took my mind time to wrap around all of the different types of characters involved. Vamps, werewolves, half breeds and more. I just felt like there was so much to absorb, I failed at keeping up.

That being said, I can completely appreciate the forbidden romance behind it all and truly felt the connection between the two main characters and was doing dances inside my stomach when they would interact. I loved it.

Michelle Sparks had a tough job with this one and while I felt like she was a good narrator, I would have liked to hear more distinct voices between characters. Again, that's hard when you have a million different species running around.

All in all, a mid level listen. Something that will keep you entertained until the end.

Grabs and holds you

I enjoyed this story from beginning to end. The storyline keeps your attention the questions in your mind are answered so you can move on to the next book.
Narration was enjoyable

PNR goodness

Good start to a PNR series. I listened to this one on Audible and the narrator was pretty good with her depiction of characters and voices. Jared watched the woman he was in love with be murdered 15 years ago and left New York for good because he was so distraught. He's returned years later to perform his job with the Conservativeship. This is where he meets Alex, who is a news reporter sent to expose Jared. But little do either of them know that they are harboring a dark secret within themselves. Jared's half sister Absinthe refuses to accept Jared and wants to rule their house so she's out to kill Jared any way she can. Finally when Alex and Jared begin to accept their feelings for one another, the past comes back to take it all away.

*Audible provided for review.

Totally Out of The Box!!!!

Just finished Beyond the Sun and let me just say publicly, I didn't read the book because the font was red. Don't laugh. I'm a cover snob. Everyone knows that. But I knew I wanted to see what the book was about and support this author.

Audiobooks give me life AND they opened my eyes to this AMAZING story. It has everything you want in a story. Lies, deceit, humor, romance, shifters, vamps, deities, kings, twists and a villain lol. Very very good.

Michelle Sparks blows it out of the water giving each and every character their own distinct voice, accent and dialect. i cant imagine that being easy, but she NAILS IT!

If you enjoy paranormal/urban fantasy, give this one a listen. I can't wait until the next book releases on audio!

Great Book

I really enjoyed listening to Beyond the Sun. The story is well developed as are the characters. Michelle Sparks the narrator did a fabulous job with the various characters voices.

My first foray into this world

Would you listen to Beyond the Sun again? Why?

Honestly, probably not, but that's not a knock against the author or the narrator. Very few books get a re-read/listen from me. My TBR list is so long that I have gobs of new material to manage first.

If you’ve listened to books by Sandra Bischoff before, how does this one compare?

This is the first, so I can't say. This is the first book of her's period. I've not read books 2 or 3.

Have you listened to any of Michelle Sparks’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first of her narrations that I've listened to, so I can't compare it to anything else.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Figuring out Sam's place in it all.

Beyond The Sun

Beyond The Sun is not your typical vampire story, it is definitely outside of the box. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning listening to the audio book. My favorite character was Zephyr, even though he was not in many scenes. I fell in love with him. I also enjoyed it that the author keep me on my toes with all the twists and turns. She even teased the readers at the end.

The narration was superb and I could not get enough of this story. You will love Beyond The Sun if you love vampires, werewolves and other worldly creatures.

I'm going to say this one more time the narration was amazing, I'd give it a high five and I would love to see book two become an audio book. Oh, by the way book one was so good that it will make you want to purchase book two and three.

Looking forward to next book

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I felt the romance moved a little too quickly for me. I had a hard time seeing the draw between Jared and Alex when one minute she was questioning being alone with him and the next minute in love.

Would you be willing to try another book from Sandra Bischoff? Why or why not?

Yes. I really liked the core of the story and many things were revealed in this book where I need to see how it gets resolved.

Any additional comments?

I really liked this book. I had some issues with the story but not enough that I wouldn't want to read another book by this author. I really liked the job that the narrator did with the characters. This was my first book from her but wont be my last.