Cruel Beloved

A Hero Club Novel

By: T.L. Smith, Hero Club

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Desireé Ketchum

Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sign on the dotted line....

You, Delylah Andrews, agree to marry Korton Whiskey, on the date supplied in the attached contract. In doing so, you will not, by any means, try to break this contract. If you do, the envelope held in escrow will be released to all involved, and you will forfeit your right to the privacy Mr. Whiskey has granted you. 

Thank you,
Aubrey Bateman
Lawyer acting on behalf of Mr. Whiskey 

I stare at the letter I received attached to the contract in disbelief. 

A one-night stand who’s now blackmailing me - the daughter of a senator!
If he thinks he can extort anything from me with his perversions, he can think again.

©2020 T.L. Smith and Cocky Hero Club, Inc. (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

First book I can say I truly loved reading

I loved the way the Heroine gave him a run for his money. This is the the type of woman that I would love to see more often instead off those simpering idiot's that these authors are always portraying. This is the first time I have ever written a review, and I have read I believe close to 2 hundred books beginning in November of 2019.Lets let these authors know that most of us women are the players and not the ones getting played ,we don't all act like simpering idiot's because we are attracted to a man and he's great in bed, after all Eve is the one who set the ground rules for Adam and some where along the lines these authors have seemed to have forgotten that.Heads Up to T.l.Smith, she really knocked this one out the box.The Perfomers also aced it.

Extremely unrealistic storyline.

Not even a great narrator like Teddy Hamilton could save this one, especially as his female co-narrator sounds uninspired and half asleep most of the time. The storyline is stupidly unrealistic, and this listen is another example on how the books in the Hero Club series are wildly diverse in quality. As a concept the series is an interesting experiment, but the quality check on the stories should have been better. It would have been better with fewer stories of a higher quality.

Immature characters

Hard to review this since I don’t even know what the story was all about. I didn’t like the main characters and they both were so immature. This story made me want to give up my membership. So sad!

Cruel indeed

I listened to this book through Audible Escape and firstly, Teddy Hamilton is great, as always. It's definitely worth a listen since he is a fantastic narrator. Desiree Ketchum is new to me but I thought she did a good job overall.

The story was ok- it kept my attention but boy, were these two like oil and water and not in the fun anticipatory way- they were really mean to each other and Whiskey trapped Carla into marriage for revenge. I kind of didn't want to listen a bit earlier on when there was a scene with Whiskey, his ex and Carla. Not good. But it didn't get much better in terms of the feels. It was steamy but I guess I didn't get an emotional connection. However, there is an HEA and at the end of the day, I did smile at the HEA but I just wasn't sure the road to the HEA was realistic.

Lead female is beyond weak

Do not waste your time. While the storyline could be very good the lack of any sense of backbone from the lead female truly ruined a possible good story.

Ooohhh, Teddy Hamilton

There is something about his voice that brings a character to life and he did that with “Whiskey”.
As for the story. It started out with a good, angst was building, then boom, they’re back together and going to have a baby. Big let down!
3.5 stars and most of that goes to the narrators.

wonderful narrators

loved this story , this is my first book by this author and I will definitely be checking out more of their work and great narrations love it

4 ‘Rich Girl’ stars!

4 stars!

AUDIOBOOK

I loved this forced marriage/enemies to lovers romance between Carla Star, the senator’s daughter and Corton Whiskey a sexy bad boy billionaire. Carla is feisty and fiery. She is unapologetic in her strong mindedness and I loved that about her. The two met a year ago in a bar and they have one night of too many drinks and a hookup neither one of them has forgotten about. Now one year later Whiskey is back with a little blackmail and a ton of sexual tension and a proposition Carla cannot turn down. Carla wants to push him away and hate him but her body doesn’t get the memo and is soon giving in to her attraction to him. Whiskey is the ultimate bad boy. I had a hate to love relationship with that man! For the entire book I was frustrated with him one minute and the next I couldn’t get enough of him. The chemistry and tension and was next level. So steamy and hot and the hate vibe going on between them makes for some seriously explosive bedroom scenes! Aubrey and Chance (from Cocky Bastard) are back in this story which I loved.

Teddy Hamilton and Desiree Ketchum were the perfect narrators for this story. Their voices are rich and sexy and complimented each well.

Great narrators!

Desireé & Teddy did a great job bringing this book to life! After some recent experiences with audiobooks, I now appreciate the great narrators that much more. Good story especially if you love angst. One of the best Cocky Hero Club novels I’ve read.

Disappointing

I found the narration to be rather fair, but not great. It felt basic, but it may have been due to the story disappointing me more than the portrayal of it. I couldn't get behind the Heroine taking so much crap and in the end being a total doormat. She acted so strong at first, but then she just let him get away with saying or doing whatever. Like he could have done anything to her and she would have forgiven him. It started to make me sick. I wish she would have put him through hell. It left me feeling he would treat her that way their whole relationship. I would have walked away as he only showed me the negative he brought to her life. He didn't make me feel he was loyal to her, but only wanted her and no one else could have her either. She said she was going to let him prove to her he would treat her better, but it still felt like this relationship was lacking reality. Unless women these days like being put down, controlled and manipulated for sexual stimulation I would have to call this one mostly a bust.