Carnage

Whispers from the Bayou Series, Book 1

By: Sandra R. Neeley

Narrated by: Loretta Rawlins

Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Carnage is a Gargoyle. He's also volatile, dangerous, unpredictable, and lonely. One evening minding his own business at the edge of the sanctuary he calls home, he spies a female. A human female, and she's running headlong into his swamps, with no regard for her own safety. Then he sees the reason; three men, and they're hot on her trail, torches in hand, hell bent on catching her before she can get away. 

He watches as they get closer and closer to her, easily following her trail. Carnage makes a snap decision that changes both their lives forever; he drops out of a tree right behind her, slaps one clawed hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming, wraps her in his huge arms and goes right back to the treetops. He shelters her while the men traverse the ground below, unable to determine why her trail disappeared. 

Carnage admires this little female - she was brave to run into the swamps alone. There are many creatures lying in wait for just such a meal. But she no longer has to worry about that, because now she's his. He only hopes that she doesn't fear him too much once she gets a good look at his blue-grey skin, his fangs, and his horns. Because regardless of what she thinks, or the rules of his community - he's not giving her up. 

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Sandra R. Neeley (P)2019 Tantor

Whiny narrator, but I did enjoy the story

I enjoyed the story, but the narrator has a very whiny voice. I went on a purchased the 2nd book in the series because the story itself intrigued me. I always thought that Gargoyles turned into stone when the sun came out, so for this story to say otherwise was like Okay, I can dig it.

The female leads voice was very childlike which is possibly due to the reader having a very childlike voice. It was as if a high school aged person was reading the story. At times the book sounded as if she was simply "reading" it.
I did enjoy the story and am curious to see how Destroy's story pans out.

I have been waiting for this!

I have seen this book on Kindle for so long now and every time it would come up in my recommended I would look at a couple reviews and it always intrigued me. I also attempted...every single time to type the title into Audible search after reading the reviews and was disappointed every time. I reallllly hoped Sandra R. Neeley was not one of the authors that wouldn't make her books available in audio format.
When I saw Carnage come up on my AUDIBLE recommended list I was thrilled and began listening immediately. This book didn't let me down. It was well worth the wait. Although I wish I didn't have to! :o
I love the characters. I love Carnage, Enthrall, and Destroy. I can't wait for book 2...I think it is Destroy. I don't want to give spoilers but will say this is, of course, a supernatural type of story but it is different than so many others. Sometimes I feel like everything is starting to sound the same. This book is a breath of fresh air!

NOT WHAT I EXPECTED

I thought this was going to be more in line of a dark fantasy/paranormal story, but it's not. It's more on the cutesy side. The female narrator is not good at all with male voices. They sound more like prepubescent boys. The narrator also sounds like she's reading to young children at a library. Not for me.

Kindergarten Presenter/Speaker

This book was hard for me to finish. First, the speaker enunciated every word to where I felt like I was back in kindergarten learning to read myself. The story was very wishy washy and very predictable. This book was rated as sexy... I must have fallen asleep because I didn't find this sexy at all. Did I miss it somewhere. Honestly the speaker and presentation was the worst. The story could have been told much better.

Barely passable story, awful narration

Barely passable story, awful narration. Took me 4 tries to stay awake to the end of the book - real torturous session (don't know why I did especially since it wasn't worth the effort).

I was so bored!

I was cautiously optimistic about this book. There were many positive reviews and a lot of people said it was such a sweet story.
I'm always excited to find a sweet "paranormal/fantasy" love story because frankly a sweet, healthy, respectful relationship in the paranormal/fantasy romance genres is far rarer than the fabled unicorn. This could have been one of those rare jems if the author was a more skilled storyteller.
I thought a secret haven for all kinds of supernaturals out in the bayou at the turn of the last century was an interesting idea. The narrator was decent enough but the story was not well written or constructed. There were many holes.
For a good portion of the book nothing really happened and the two main characters didn't really spend any meaningful time together. I couldn't figure out how or when they fell in love since they didn't even see each other for what sounded like weeks at a time. It made no sense!
I finally realized I'd gone well passed the end of my tolerance for the stories shortcomings somewhere in chapter 19.
You know it's time to throw in the towel when you realize you're imitating Edvard Munch's main subject in his painting The Scream (of Nature) and people are giving you "side eye".
I skipped ahead to the last two chapters and listened to the wrap up and epilogue. I'm the kind of person who needs closure so It worked for me. I didn't feel that I missed anything important and I got my closure.
I really wanted to like this book. It wasn't horrifying, it wasn't good, it just wasn't much of anything. For obvious reasons I will not be continuing on with this series. Although I might check back with this author in a few years to see if her writing has improved.

Best I’ve read in years

What a fantastic discovery- I didn’t expect a lot, but as it turned out I absolutely loved everything about this book.
The story development was layered and beautifully written, flowing naturally and somehow realistically given that this is a fantasy world where unnatural things are happening.
The characters were the standout- it is so rare to find an author that can draw the reader in where you feel attached and connected to every character and what happens to them. The characters are all flawed, but you care about them and makes you like them better.
Somehow the whole story conveys an honesty and freshness that I haven’t experienced in a written in a long time. No cheap cliches or ridiculous trite tactics.
Wish there were more audio books by this author

Beautiful: My Favorite Type of story

A lovely spin on beauty and the beast! I can’t wait to read what happens with Destroy. Please Ms. Neeley find it in your heart to continue stories of “Whispers in the Bayou. “ I absolutely loved “Enthrall”. And Carnage did not disappoint. I’m happy to have my own Carnage in my life which is why his story is so sweet. I cried tears of sadness then later pure tears of joy! For moments well spent, I escaped the realities of our world to visit Whispers.

After reading Enthrall, I wondered how in the world a Gargoyle and a human would create Sweet Lily. The love and passion between Carnage and Lily moved this story at a good pace. The loyalty and love of the friends in Whispers made this story riveting. I wonder if there will be future connections between Lore, Lily and/or the dragon tree?

The audible version is well spoken. Lovely voice and intonations. My goodness, this feature is helpful while I’m completing chores.

Love! love ! love !

The sweetest love story ever! It makes me want my own Gargoyle like Carnage! I can't wait for the next story! I've already pre- ordered Destroy..

Fairytales with names like Murder

I enjoyed this story that was a romance fully enveloped in fantasy. It was enjoyable and you get to like the Goyle. The speech was at times annoying but love seems past that.

perfect.

I loved this book, not my usual go to book bit so glad I did. there is so for everyone within it. monsters, love, action, humour and more, I would recommend this to anyone.

Very dissatisfied

I already have the book which I loved so much, it’s a truly fantastic story, I then decided to buy the Audio, the Narrative Loretta Rawlings spoke so fast, it was like she had to read the story in as shorter time as possible, like she was just reading the book as fast as she could, no expression in her voice, it was awful. Totally ruined this book by her awful narrative.

Carnage....♥︎

I do have a secret obsession when it comes to books like this and this book was well worth the listen.... It is different from your every day paranormal/fantasy book which was a nice surprise.. I have now listened to the first and second book in this series and can't wait for the next one...xx

Loved this book.

Great story. Can't wait for the next to see what happens to the others in the swamp.

A Gripping Audiobook that Ticked All My Boxes

OMG!

I couldn't stop listening to this audiobook. In fact, I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning engrossed in this story.

Both the author, Sandra R. Neeley and the narrator, Loretta Rawlins are new-to-me but wow, what a dream team.

This audiobook ticked every box for me.
✅ Female protagonist with gumption
✅ Dark and deadly male protagonist with a heart of gold
✅Found family theme
✅ Action, fighting, smexy time, romance, tension.

I can't wait to go back to the paranormal haven of Whispers.

Not enjoyable at all

The story might have been interesting but the narrators are really bad.
The female had no intonation everything felt flat.
The male wasn’t any better.
This made it really hard to get into the story and finding it interesting which is why I still gave it a 3

Love the story

Love this story, but I found it very difficult to listen to the narrator. If it wasn’t, because the book was free, I would have returned it. In more than one occasion, I thought of giving up, but I really like this story, so I persevere to the end with difficulty.

short but enjoyable

loved this sweet story. Certainly held my interest. will have to wait for credits to get the others but this was included in my subscription.

I agree with other reviews that the speed was a bit fast but I listened at .95 and that was fine for me. I found .90 to slow but once I adjusted the speed it was fine. Narrator is clear throughout and comes across with the emotions well.

Sweet story narrated in hyper speed

This is a really sweet story but the narrator is trying to win a speed read race.
I recommend 0,9x listening speed.

Beauty and the Beast, in 1900 America's swamps.

I liked this original retelling of a still-relatable trope, accompanied by elements from many different legends and fairytales. I had no problem getting used to the reading style and enjoyed the listening since the beginning. The story had no true plot twists, but interesting and yet very coherent in painting the main characters' personalities and their development. Same for their relationships.