Escapades

Trident Ink Series, Book 1

By: Lilly Atlas

Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine, Erin DeWard

Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Alyssa Jackson is one of the lucky ones. She has a thriving business, great friends, a devoted husband, an adorable daughter, and a scorching hot sex life that would be the envy of any married couple. Then, one tragic loss flips her world upside down. Floundering and unsure of how to cope with their grief, Alyssa and her husband drift apart until they are living as roommates instead of a deeply connected couple. Alyssa will do anything to get the intense passion back into her life and marriage, no matter how far out of the box she has to step.

If there is one thing tattoo shop owner Derek knows, it's that once he set his sights on his wife, he never wanted another woman. Years together haven't begun to put a dent in his desire for her. But everything falls apart when the anguish of loss barges into their lives. Adrift in his own suffering, Derek doesn't realize how damaged his marriage is until his wife forces him to confront their issues. Now, he'll do whatever it takes to get their lives back on track, even if the plan seems outrageous.

©2018 Lilly Atlas (P)2018 Lilly Atlas

A couple torn apart by grief

Let me start by saying that Lilly Atlas is one amazing author and Noah Michael Levine and Erin deWard for an amazing pair of narrators. So when combining these three persons it is more than obvious that the result would be at least great!

I went into this book with so many expectations, knowing the author’s talent to create drama and to bring comfort in the end to the characters. All went well, with one small exception, which I will comment later in this review. But first let’s start with the good points. We have husband and wife trying to find each other after the loss of their only child. Their grief and inability to communicate brought them to the point of not being able to connect again. We later find out that, through the help of a psychologist, they have a series of dates in which they should pretend to be other people, meet and have an evening that should end in … a steamy situation, if you know what I mean! And so this happens, until one point.

Alyssa and Derek have managed to survive so much in their years as a couple, even PTSD. However, they were not able to stand the passing of their daughter. The author managed to express so well their pain and the process of coming together, it was impossible for me not to shed a tear or two. We have a step-by-step description of the phases they go through and that’s perfect. We have some extremely hot scenes that would increase your heart rate and, as mentioned, two narrators that are simply perfect!

However, I am missing from the story some information regarding the two years they have been apart. For me, not knowing how exactly the distancing happened makes the story a bit incomplete. By the end, I understood that the focus was more on how they come back together, but still, I wanted to see them fighting, or arguing or something like that.

All in all, I cannot but give 3.5 stars to Lilly’s book and I am so waiting forward to read/listen to more of her books. She is an author that manages to touch my heart and her stories contain life lessons for us all. Congratulations to her and the narrators for such a great job!

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Lilly Atlas. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Are you ready for Alyssa and Derek's story?

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review so here we go...

A few minutes into the book and we have an AMAZING sex scene that will leave you thinking: "whoa what I mean holy smokes!" And although Escapades has great steamy sex, it's much more than that...
Dealing with the loss of a child especially in such manner must be devastating for a couple. We'll see how the characters face their pain, their fears and their current situation. Will be their immense love for each other strong enough? Is there hope at the end of all this?
Sometimes this book wasn't easy to listen to, but I loved every comma. And I surely want to know how the series continues.
Narrators did an amazing job bringing it to life!

Another Winner From This Author

I thoroughly enjoyed this story from beginning to end. The only issue I had and it must be with my iPod, that while out working in the garden had to bend over and something seemed to happen. It would jump, it seemed like the narrators were stuttering, and it sounded like the sound was bouncing off a metal wall. That didn't stop me from enjoying what the narrators were reading to me though. It also won't stop me from listening to this book again. I'm just not sure that I would try and read the book because I wouldn't be able to do justice to the emotions these characters are feeling.

The story is sexy and hot but underlying all that is a lot of hurt and I mean emotional hurt. Alyssa and Derek are still dealing with something that hurt them to the core. It may also touch your heart and wish that you could do something to help alleviate their pain. It's a reminder that we can't always try and fix something by ourselves. There are certain times where we need a little help where we don't give up on our loved one. We just need direction to show us that love is there even though our heart may say otherwise for a little while. You almost stop thinking of our couple as fictional. You feel like you need to do something to show you care like making a donation in their name. But since they're fictional you can't do that but you can in honor of the author.

I already love Mr. Levine and Ms. DeWard as narrators and this is just another book to add to my ever growing list. They do a great job in humanizing Ms. Atlas' characters. I could almost picture who our main characters are - this is what narrators help the reader to do. This book is the only one, currently from the Trident Ink series that's available in audio. I don't see any more books in this series yet but our author has several others in another one of her series so I have a lot of catching up to do. And maybe by then we'll have more stories that revolve around Trident Ink.

I voluntarily reviewed an Audiobook copy of this book.

Amazing story.

I love lilly atlas Big fan of her books. This book was different from MC books she wrote. I love that how one couple Struggled to keep marriage alive. The passionate , devoted . And the narrators were perfect. Good job!!!

A poignant, roller coaster ride of emotions, HOT

A very gripping, poignant, sensual, HOT, & roller coaster ride of emotions.In the beginning, the author pulls you inside of the story & you'll be hurting over Alyssa and Derek's devastating loss and the toll it's taken on their marriage & self-esteem. If you can keep the faith through the 1st few chapters which is giving you the backstory of how their marriage has disintegrated to almost the lowest of the low. Keep your mind and heart open so you'll able to feel their pain, loss, fear of possibly losing their connection/marriage. I can't say anymore without giving the ending away,other than to say this is the most emotionally spent I've felt in the past many audios/books I've read.in years.You'll love this story and may relate to parts of it (as I did, which made it harder to separate my circumstances from this story). It was WELL WORTH IT SO WE COULD ALL COME OUT THE BEST PART OF THE DARK ABYSS!!!!! I was given a free audio book for my unbiased, honest review.

Moving

I’ve read a lot of the authors work and this book took me by surprise; I didn’t read the summarization!of the book before reading it so I had no idea what was happening. It was a heart warming emotional roller coaster that was thoroughly enjoyable.

Emotional well narrated story

This is the first book I have read by this author; as well as, the first time listening to the male narrator. It is not my first with the female narrator. This was an emotional story and not the easiest to listen to because of this. The narrators did such a wonderful job bringing this story to life. I found there were times when I did need to take a break from listening, yet I didn’t want to stop because I needed to know how the story was going to end.
Alyssa and Derek suffered a tragic loss and how they each dealt with the loss was different. There marriage suffered because of this loss and even though personally I haven’t suffered that particular loss there were several elements of this story that I was able to relate with. This was a roller coaster of emotions for me, while listening to this story.
Both of these characters are strong, yet weak and I loved how the author was able to show that and the narrators were able to voice these emotions from the laughs, tears, sorrow, and even the steamy scenes. They were easy to understand especially with changing their voices with different characters. The duet narrations was an added plus for this listener, making the narrator's' voice appear in each chapter. It made it feel more like I was listening to a play. I am looking forward to more from this author as well as these narrators.

A Wonderful love Story!

This is the first in a new series and deals with a very sad subject. Derek and Alyssa have always been happy and madly in love. Then everything falls apart.
Their daughter Katie dies of cancer, and the couple are devastated, and after both grieving separately they find they have drifted apart.
This is the story of how the couple find their way back to each other.
Alyssa finally decides to try an unusual ways to connect with her husband. This is a very sad story, but is told in dual POV so we realise how the couple work their way back to each other. Alyssa and Derek finally realise how much they still love each other. I have to say the sexy parts are HOT, but you will still need tissues for the sad bits.
This story stayed with me, well after the recording had finished
The Narration is superb with Noah and Erin, who are so versatile they bring this story of hope and love to life.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Lilly Atlas. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

too many sad scenes

If you want romance, don't bother. There were too many sad scenes. It was understandable why this couple suffer so much. However, I couldn't finish because life is already hard and sad sometimes, why listen to a sad story to escape?! The performance were awesome but they couldn't save it for me to continue. I thought the writing was good and flow well from the start to the time i stopped.

Wow! This story..just Wow!

This is a story that will make you laugh and then you'll be crying. Its a heartbreaking and heartwarming story at the same time.
So worth a credit, maybe even two.
P.S. make sure you have kleenexs within reach.