Canopy

Vivian Chastain, Book 1

By: Liz Faraim

Narrated by: Nastasia Marquez

Vivian Chastain is an adrenaline-addicted veteran transitioning to civilian life in Sacramento, California. She settles into a new routine while she finishes up college and works as a bartender, covering up her intense anxiety with fake bravado and swagger. All Vivian wants is peace and quiet, but her whole trajectory changes when she stumbles upon a heinous crime in progress and has to fight for her life to get away.

While recovering from the fight, she falls in love with someone who is tall in stature but short on emotional intelligence, and this toxic union provides Vivian the relationship that she thinks she needs. Given Vivian’s insecurities and traumatic past, she clings to the relationship even while it destroys her.

Vivian’s relationships are strained to their breaking points as she continues to seek balance. She turns to her best friend for support, only to be left empty-handed and alone until she finds comradery and care from the last person she would have thought.

©2020 Elizabeth Loud (P)2022 Elizabeth Loud

Unique

An incredibly unique performance and wonderful story. By the end I was completely invested and can not wait for more. The narrator was great and the unique way of bringing the story to life with sound more than just words was amazing. Well worth a listen!

Awesome Listen Highly Recommend

The author used just enough detail to paint the picture of every scene. The details of PTSD and mental health issues were critical to understanding the character. The action held my attention.

Gritty adventures await

Faraim’s Canopy tells the story of Vivian Chastain as she tries to find her way. Vivian is a student, bartender at a lesbian night club, and veteran. As a heads up, this story has violence, profanity, mental health struggles, and a host of other issues that put Vivian on full display. I enjoyed seeing how she navigated each of the issues put before her.
Narrator Nastasia Marquez does a dynamite job of bringing this story to life and I liked the extra little sound effects and transitional sounds they included. It was a great listen and I look forward to the sequel coming out on audiobook.

there is so much to like about this book, and then

I really liked a lot about this book. I'm not usually one for a lot of violence, especially when the protagonist enjoys it. But I can get behind a book like that, and I did. There were a lot of deep connections among characters, and the main character's enjoyment wasn't just from the violence. You could definitely see growth in her throughout the book. I also like that she was a badass.

As much as I might want to know what happened with the person involved with the sex trafficking ring, which clearly would be in another book, I feel like the ending (which was about another person) was an unnecessary cliffhanger. If an author is going to do a cliffhanger, it needs to be clear up front that it's going to happen. If it was clear upfront and I missed it, my apologies.

Keeps you guessing

Vivian is quite a character. She it strong and confident and also vulnerable. I want to wrap her up in my arms and show her she is worth loving. The story is so interesting and engaging. I was all over the place with my emotions. Now I need to get the other 2 books in the series.