Buried Alive

By: Stacey Marie Brown

Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Aaron Shedlock

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Nine years after a tragic accident, Hannah “Brennley” Evans has returned home to the snowy mountains of Whistler, Canada. After failing school and the death of her grandmother, the woman who raised her, Hannah is drawn back home. This is the very place that destroyed her, where her whole world ended, and the reason she now goes by Hannah Jennings. 

Working in the lodge where she practically grew up, Hannah hopes to find her way back to being the girl she once was. 

That is until she walks into his room. 

Struggling with his own tragic past, Rhys Axton, an infamous sexy snowboarding champion, wants nothing more than to be the next Olympic hopeful. Sex, snowboarding, and working out are all he cares about, which helps shut off the demons that haunt him and the family who rejected him. 

The moment Hannah walks into his room, he knows something is different about her. Drawn to her, he can't seem to stay away from the mysterious, guarded girl. They are two heartbroken souls who both understand the darkness. 

But little does he know she lives in lies and carries secrets that will bring his universe to its knees. 

And secrets that will bury them both alive.

©2018 Stacey Marie Brown (P)2018 Stacey Marie Brown

Secrets Never Stay Buried

Overall 4 stars
Narration 5 stars
Story 3.5 stars

This story was much more mysterious and emotionally complex than I thought it would be. It's part sports romance, part slow burn, and part mystery. Hannah/Brennley and Rhys are so broken when we first meet them. They share an instant connection, but as the story progresses, we find out just how deep it runs. There was a lot of frustrating back and forth drama with these two that left me with a bit of whiplash. Rhys is the typical manwhore athlete and the whole Riding Rhys hashtag along with the persistent ex-girlfriend added to the angst. Slowly the pieces of the past are revealed in flashbacks and though I had a strong suspicion about what the big reveal would be, I was still moved and heartbroken thanks to the amazing performances by Aaron Shedlock and Andi Arndt. The narration was fantastic and both narrators did a wonderful job creating distinct voices for the different characters. This is my first Stacey Marie Brown book, but I look forward to reading/listening to more.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Incredible

I don't know where to begin! What did I love about this book? It's my first Stacey Marie Brown novel, and I think first and foremost, it's angsty without being over the top. It's got a sports underlying theme with both a male and female athlete. It's a slow burn, yet hot build to a romance. And there is a twist that I didn't see coming. From the very start, the story of Hannah is intriguing. There is some bread crumbs around to try and figure out what happened, but it's not something easily figured out while listening to the story. She is a complex woman, armor almost impenetrable, yet when she sees Rhys, that armor is nicked. But will the secrets she carry let her armor off? There is a lot to this story with beautiful scenery, a little humor and a lot of build to an explosive ending. I loved it.

Give it narration by Andi Arndt and Aaron Shedlock, it is easy to get drawn into this world of snowboarding and secrets. I loved Andi's ability to emote the feelings of Hannah so well that it's easy to experience all the feelings she has. Aaron's interpretation of Rhys is spot on, showing the depth of his feelings and maturity. Together this performance is the perfect blend.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

WOW! What a book!

Great story and what wonderful narrators to bring the story to life, I’ve always been an Andi Arndt huge fan, I must add Aaron Shedlock to my male narrators list, love these two together. Stacey Marie Brown thank you for this wonderful story, I must check out more of your books 📚

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Filled with Love

First I will say Aaron and Andi are amazing together! I hope to hear them together again very soon! Stacey really did great with this book! I couldn't stop until I knew how it ended which was 3am LOL. You can seriously feel the love between Hanna and Rhys, my heart felt all the feels throughout this story! I don't want to give anything away so I will say don't hesitate to buy this one, its very much worth it!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Buried Alive

Buried Alive is a beautiful love story with twists and turns to keep you interested through out the book! Andi and Aaron were riveting. I believed all of it! Thank you Stacey Marie Brown! Applause 👏🏻 I loved it!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Soooo goood!

Make sure to have a box of Kleenex close by!
The Narrators really made this story come alive.
Totally worth the credit or coin!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amazing and intriguing

This was my first Marie Brown novel, and I love every minute of it.
The snowboarding sports romance was incredible with a little angst on it that make it interesting and intriguing.
It has a plot twist that no many see coming and that will make sense to some things that weren't clear throughout the book.
I love Hannah and Rhys so so much they were really amazing characters.

The narrattion of Andi Arndt and Aaron Shedlock was so amazing and made the whole book so much enjoyable

What a twist!

Stacey Marie Brown has an amazing flow to her writing. Her readers will start to see the world she’s creating with her words. It’s an amazing ability to have. Brown is so vivid in her descriptions and her people. Hannah needs a suitcase to carry around with her 24/7, just to help with all that baggage she has. I mean, HOLLY TAHITI does she keep a secret! And what a secret that was!! I gotta give her some major props on the relationship building between Rhys and Hannah. For a man who had a hashtag #RidingRhys specifically for his bedroom… umm… qualities, we got so much more from him. Rhys and Hannah didn’t just fall into bed immediately together, they fell into a friendship, and even that was a struggle.

This was a refreshing read. I really felt like these two could be real people out there. Brown did an amazing job of portraying real problems, real conflict. Yeah, there were some areas that I wanted more information on, but I feel fully satisfied with this story. The family dynamics are so relatable and, put aside some of the specifics, and they are common in real life families.

This book pulled me in from the first page to an unknown world of snowboarding champs. Buried Alive is a mystery that will keep you guessing through 50% only to unravel quickly in the last half. Completely unputdownable… the secrets, lies and betrayals kept me fully entranced in Stacey Marie Brown’s words.

The narrators Aaron Shedlock and Andi Arndt were the characters. Like I just can't imagine it any other way! The voices, the emotions... I can't even imagine what it's like to pour your emotions into just your voice. But these two narrators flourish and put it all out there in only their voices! Bravo!!

Loved it!

This is my first time with this author but it definitely won’t be my last.
I really enjoyed this story and it had a nice little twist towards the end.
I hope there is a second one in the works.
The narration was great! Aaron and Andi did a fantastic job!

AN ADRENALINE PUMPING & TWISTY SPORTS ROMANCE

BURIED ALIVE is a passionate and provocative enemies to lovers sports romance chock full of catastrophic twists!

THE STORY:
I don’t want to give any plot spoilers away but in a nutshell this is the story of college dropout Hannah “Brennley” Evans who returns home to work at the snowy mountain lodge where she practically grew up. She is still reeling from a devastating tragedy that took place 9 years earlier that forever altered the trajectory of her life. But her hopes of finally putting her past to rest are buried under an avalanche of renewed pain, frustration and sorrow when she is summoned to the VIP suite to deliver room service to arrogantly sexy snowboarding champion Rhys Axton. For the instant she stares into his dark, penetrating eyes a horrific feeling of déjà vu washes over her and it’s like coming face to face with a ghost from her past! There is something eerily familiar about Hannah too but Rhys can’t put his finger in it. So he covers his feelings of lust mingled with trepidation and irrational anger by dousing the feisty beauty with rude, brazen come-ons, which of course rouses her righteous fury!

What ensues is a fiery, ferociously combustible battle of wills between this drop dead gorgeous, shamelessly cocky Olympic hopeful who thinks he’s “God’s magical gift to women” and the sassy spitfire who gives as good as she gets. But then as the masterfully plotted story unfolds, their stormy dalliance morphs into an intensely passionate, wrenchingly emotional love affair that catches them both off guard! But Hannah is harboring a devastating secret that once revealed could topple both their worlds!

MY IMPRESSIONS:
BURIED ALIVE is an adrenaline pumping story with twists and turns galore! Stacy Marie Brown clearly has a knack for penning highly addictive character-driven romances teeming with scorching heat and heart-throbbing emotion. I also thought her vast knowledge of competitive snowboarding was mighty impressive and the action sequences on the slopes were beyond thrilling!

This is a slow burning romance, with tons of high voltage friction, and one my favorite aspects of the story is the deliciously flirty sparks between Hannah and Rhys. Talk about a couple with oodles of chemistry! Their razor sharp banter is ON FIRE-- and I like how Hannah chips away at Rhys’s infuriatingly arrogant, hotshot demeanor to the secretly vulnerable and wildly discontent wounded soul lurking beneath the surface. They are more alike than she thought and Hannah can’t help but fall hopelessly in love with this potently sexy star snowboarder who is just as broken as she is. The metamorphosis of their relationship from fierce adversaries to passionate, kindred spirits was incredibly touching, the sex was PRIMAL and SIZZLING HOT, and sob, when everything comes to a heart palpitating head in the final third, you better hang on tight!

However, while I enjoyed the overall story—there were so many intriguing layers to these multi-faceted characters and the unfolding plot was all kinds of mysterious— if I am being completely honest, I struggled to keep listening at times because the book got off to a SUPER slow start for me. The pacing was pretty lethargic in the first half and it seemed to take FOREVER for anything of real relevance to happen. But once the drama finally kicked into high gear at around 65%, with some jaw dropping twists I never saw coming, I was TOTALLY ENTHRALLED! And after the big buried secret is unearthed, I think Ms. Brown did a stellar job of playing out all the heart wrenching emotional beats and soul shattering repercussions, finally culminating in a nail-biting denouement that left me BREATHLESS!

As for the narration, HOLY WOWZA!!!! This is the first pair up of romance narrators extraordinaire Aaron Shedlock and Andi Arndt…and it was pure heaven to listen to! And truly it was THEIR impassioned, highly skilled performances that kept me a captive audience even when the plot lagged a bit. I was truly spellbound by the impressive range of complex traits and raw, unbridled emotions they brought out in these characters. I felt IT ALL--the strength, the volatility, the anger, the pain, the want, the need, the human frailty, THE SHEER AND UTTER HEARTBREAK—down to my core. And I hope this is the first of many audio narrations that I will have the pleasure of listening to from this resplendent narration duo!