Damn Love

By: Jasmine Beach-Ferrara

Narrated by: Courtney Patterson, Jo Howarth, Tara Ochs, Aldrich Barrett, Kevin Stillwell, Janina Edwards, Kristin Kalbli, Gregory St. John

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Set in San Francisco and North Carolina, the linked stories in Damn Love introduce us to characters struggling with love in all its complicated forms, including a young doctor getting over a breakup with the help of a patient, a newly married gay man who reconnects with his estranged mother, a trio of physicists caught in a surprising love triangle, and a soldier who takes secrets with her to the Iraqi desert. Together, these stories report out from the fault lines of American life, uncertain territory where identity, risk, and desire co-mingle, and where reconciliation can be found in even the most flawed efforts to connect.

©2013 Jasmine Beach-Ferrara (P)2014 ListenUp Production, LLC

Very powerful listen!

If you could sum up Damn Love in three words, what would they be?

Powerful, Real, Raw

What other book might you compare Damn Love to and why?

In can not compare this book....it is very intense...

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

I have not, but they were all exceptional....

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

This whole book moved me...but I think Keisha's story was one of the saddest....

Any additional comments?

** I was given a free copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review **

I was enthralled in this story from chapter one....This book has many voices and the stories all tie into each other in one way or another...most of these characters are gay/lesbian and have struggled with acceptance by either society or there families....I can not break this down per character because all there voices are very powerful and basically stand as one almost! This story shows how life and love can be cruel at times and finding happiness is hard...but if you can find the freedom to be yourself..you need to take it! This story also deals with addiction and how it destroys families and with the first discovery of the aids virus and how that affected the lgbt community....as the title states Damn Love! It is also crule and hateful sometimes too....VERY POWERFUL LISTEN!

THANK YOU AUDIOBOOKBLAST(DOT)COM

Connecting lives through stories ...

Would you consider the audio edition of Damn Love to be better than the print version?

I've not read the print version but I can tell you that by having a different narrator read a short story it really gave each story its own life. There are multiple points of views in this book and each narrator was able to bring their own nuances to them. It was sort of like a stage play with each actor taking time to perform a scene.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Damn Love?

When Peter's mother finally decided to go to the airport to see him and then was too ill to go. I felt so bad for her. I'm glad that she had someone with her through that difficult time tho.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Alex, Keisha and Peter were watching the Super Bowl and seeing how happy Alex was. She was able to be herself during that time.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

At 6 hours long, it would be hard to listen to this all at one time. The great thing about this book though are the stories are long enough to really get into but at the same time, short enough that you can listen to one and then come back later to listen to another.

Any additional comments?

Damn Love is a series of 8 short stories or novellas that are interconnecting. Ms. Beach-Ferrara creates a group of people that you can't help but want to be friends with. Are they perfect? No but who is? I really enjoyed the characters of Alex, Keisha and Peter the best. There stories seemed to be the ones that touched me the most. The narrators did a wonderful job of telling their own story but at the same time the stories flowed well together.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well developed characters and love of all kinds.

I look forward to reading more of Ms. Beach-Ferrara's work.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic use of the multi-POV/short-story format

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. This book has a little for everyone. It's a collection of stories about love, but not a love story. I love the way the author handles all kinds of love - gay, straight, romantic, familial - respectfully and realistically.

Which scene was your favorite?

I really loved the fourth story, about Erin.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. The short-story format allowed me to take breaks and digest each story individually.

Great cast and good storytelling

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It is a dramatic but sometimes funny collection of stories.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The story about the doctor dealing with a break up with the help of a patient.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Character and emotion

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

The end of the story about the soldier was my favorite part of this audiobook.

Any additional comments?

This book has a great cast the keeps the stories interesting.

Moving Stories of Love, Loss, and Earthquakes

DAMN LOVE was an artfully written selection of short stories about love, loss, and somewhere in between. Each story was moving and emotional. I especially liked the contrasting theme woven throughout the stories with the earthquake in San Francisco. It added a comparison point of where the people's lives were during their highs and lows in their relationships and lives. These were terrific stories.

I wouldn't be able to pick one story I liked best as I thoroughly enjoyed them all. A few words come to mind. Heart-felt, bittersweet, longing, desire, and reflective. This audiobook was an overall excellent piece of literature involving meaningful subjects and unforgettable characters.

I completely adore JASMINE BEACH-FERRARA's writing style and will look for more of her work in the future. She did an excellent job with this book. Very impressive and highly recommended.

COURTNEY PATTERSON, JO HOWARTH, TARA OCHS, ALDRICH BARRETT, KEVIN STILLWELL, JANINA EDWARDS, KRISTIN KALBLI, and GREGORY ST. JOHN were all amazing. Their performances were absolutely bar none outstanding. Each brought their A game as voice actors in this audiobook. I liked the way this audiobook was put together and would love to hear more books in this genre as well as more from each of these talented individuals. Great, great work!

Audiobook received in exchange for an unbiased review.

Damn Love

Any additional comments?

I found this book to be much better than I anticipated.I loved it!Set in two cities at opposite ends of the USA,it tell the stories of many people intertwining their stories and then heading off into each characters path.Narrated by eight different narrators,the weave is mesmerizing.It's a tale of families and love, won and lost.I would love to hear more of these peoples stories."I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast or MalarHouse dot com"

Stellar Storytelling...You Won't Stop Listening!

Where does Damn Love rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The stories are so relatable and easy to delve into. I rank this at the top of the audiobooks I've bought thus far! Intelligent and witty stories dancing around topics of religion, same-sex love and marriage, self-discovery, self-reflection, and addiction.

What did you like best about this story?

Fantastic and colorful writing by Beach-Ferrara! This is an audiobook about fun, passionate, flirty, and disastrous adventures of love. I liked that Beach-Ferrara was able to write such attention-grabbing stories revolving around everyday life situations.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The narration in this audiobook was spot on! Each of the narrators breathed so much life into their characters...the snarky tone of one or the deflated and defeated tone in the other. I couldn't press pause on this audiobook even though the layout of the book allowed me to do so if I wanted. The pacing and inflections were impeccable, capturing the essence of each story and allowing them to jump off the page.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I actually did listen to the entire audiobook in one sitting. It's so very easy to get drawn into each story. Such wonderful writing and storytelling!

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this audiobook! A book of love triangles, new love, old love, tough love, and lost love...very realistic and very awesome!