Wreck Me

Wrecked Series, Book 1

By: J. L. Mac

Narrated by: Veronica Meunch

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Life can be cruel. People can be ruthless and evil. The world can be cold and uninviting. No one knows these things better than Josephine Geroux. By her own definition, she is a twenty-five-year-old "nobody with nothing," and she is content to stay that way. Growing up an orphan has made her tough and indifferent to the people around her, until she meets a strangely familiar man with a face that haunts her for reasons she can't understand.

Despite the pain that will inevitably ensue, she makes it her mission to discover what parts of her tragic puzzle she is missing. On her journey to discovering why she feels an alarming connection to an absolute stranger, her greatest fear is reawakening the demons and darkness from the past that will surely overtake her if she lets her guard down.

Little does Josephine know that the past should be the least of her worries. She is toying with a man who has already broken her heart once. She just doesn't realize it. Although she makes it a point to avoid interactions with others, Josephine's life becomes entangled with the enigmatic stranger. Before she realizes it, she has given herself over to the one person who is close enough to wreck her.

©2013 J.L. Mac (P)2013 Tantor

The premise was good BUT had potential to be great

How do I begin??? Oh yeah...I dislike cliffhangers very much. Especially evil ones like this one! This is the first installment of a series. It reminds you of a train wreck. I knew what was about to happen but I just wouldn't allow myself to stop. I have such conflicting feelings for this book. The plot is fairly obvious and predictable, but again it didn't stop me from enjoying it. My attention was grabbed with in the first few pages. The narrator did an exceptional job! Josephine lost her parents at nine years old during a tragic accident. She has grown up an orphan, living in "homeless kid prison" as she calls it and being shuffled in and out of foster care. At sixteen she had had enough and refusing to be a victim she left out on her own. She spent the remainder of her childhood living on the streets until she got a job at a book store. So now at age 25, Jo works in this bookstore owned by a man named Sutton or Captain. Josephine loves books. When she was a teenager she would go to the library and the librarian would allow her to stay & read. The library felt like home to her. This was how she was able to educate herself & eventually get her GED. Jo really has been dealt a rough life and she doesn't sugar coat anything. She has a dirty humorous unfiltered mouth that I love! One day she is confronting a shoplifter in the bookstore and she meets Damon Cole. For some reason, he seems familiar to her but she can't figure out why. These two have insta-sparks but Jo doesn't do relationships, she has no plans to fall in love, no interest in setting herself up for more loss. However Damon stirs something inside of her she just can't explain. The tension between Damon and Jo is purely animalistic attraction. Damon wiggles his way into Jo's life. Slowly breaking her down and falling in love.  Both characters have had tragedies in their pasts that have shaped them.  The devastating backstories for Damon and Josephine explain why both are harboring their own demons, fears, uncertainty and secrets. This book ends suddenly so I'm limited to sharing only so much info without spoiling it. One thing for sure is Damon is definitely my kind of Alpha. Dominate, but not crazy. Possessive but sweet. Also, I must mention that J.L Mac deserves mad credit for writing some holy hot sex scenes. Now at this point, I feel I must be completely honest... the concept of the story was interesting but the pacing felt off. The main characters fell into the relationship way too quickly. It appeared rushed and unrealistic to me. The dialogue didn't always flow as smoothly. One moment , they would be in the middle of a serious conversation, and boom, suddenly they are getting their groove on. The "subject" would abruptly change directions. So, as you can tell it's pretty evident that I have equal amounts of pro & cons regarding Wrecking Me. The cliffhanger was truly evil and served its purpose well. I must know what transpires next. Lets hope the next book improves!

So on the fence here! Good...but......

I really really liked this book.. Really! Great story, great plot, great characters, great secondary characters, great cliffhanger ending, great smex, and fairly decent narration too...

Having said all that... there was just something... I'm not sure what...but something missing for that overall excellent feeling. I think maybe in parts, the inner monologue the female lead what just way way too much. I felt like the shifting from present to pass tense as the female character thought about stuff, just irritated me. It didn't take away from the story...It was just a eh factor.

I loved the ending.. Perfect cliffhanger. I can't wait to get my hands on book 2. Again.. great book, so worth the Credit, Buy or Sale...Just a slight eh (shrug shoulders) feeling during some parts.

IT WRECKED ME ALONG WITH THEM!!!

I loved the story development! The narrator was incredible.
This book was romantic and expressive. I highly recommend it.
Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry

Did I Listen to the Same Book??

Is there anything you would change about this book?

90% of this book is a narrative of the main character's mind - there is so little dialogue and what dialogue there is, you're not always sure if it is actually dialogue or who said it. And if that weren't bad enough, the narration goes into such minute, irrelevant details which constantly are repeated throughout the book. Don't get me wrong, narrative is good and necessary, but there's a huge difference between narrative that really ties the story together, and narrative that just makes the book to damn long.

The descriptions of the female anatomy were laughable..."channel?" This is supposed to be erotica, it is unnecessary to find ridiculous synonyms for female genitalia. Some of the words were great and at least Damon's penis wasn't called a member! But, using words like channel, ruins the mood. And again, with the unending narration of Jo, a quick declaration of how she's feeling and then back to describing every single thought that is crossing her mind.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Not the sequel - off to find another book.

Do you think Wreck Me needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It already has one.

Any additional comments?

I read many of the comments before buying this book and have to wonder if I read the same book as I did not find any redeeming qualities.