His Wicked Games

The Cunningham Family #1

By: Ember Casey

Narrated by: Natalie Duke

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Trapped with a billionaire in his mysterious mansion...can she beat him at his own game?

Lily Frazer would do anything to save the Frazer Center for the Arts - even take on the infamous billionaire Calder Cunningham. When Lily breaks onto the Cunningham estate, she only wants to find and reason with Calder. (All right, all right, she wants to punch him in the face, too, but that's Plan B.) As it turns out, the arrogant billionaire is willing to give her the money he promised, but there's a catch: she must win it from him.

And the games he has in mind aren't exactly...innocent.

Lily isn't about to give up the money without a fight (or let some haughty bastard seduce her), but she quickly discovers that there might be more to the brooding Calder than she initially perceived. As their games of cat and mouse become increasingly intense, she suddenly finds herself confused by her own emotions. Can she deny her attraction long enough to win the money she needs?

©2013 Ember Casey (P)2014 Ember Casey

A HINT OF EXCITEMENT…..

The premise of this book was really good. There's this kind of ominous excitement with heroine, Lily Frazer breaking into Calder Cunningham's estate in order to convince the billionaire to not renege on his late father's promise of monetary contribution to the Frazer Center for the Arts (owned by her father). It was a series of unfortunate events (or fortunate for this budding romance), which included a storm that kept Lily in Calder's mansion for days. Both Calder and Lily have good chemistry and although they are at odds, they have this nice sexual tension building up between them. However, with Lily's selfish, fickle, moodiness and attitude of entitlement, she was kind of a turn off, not to mention a nitwit. Watching Lily's thinking process was like those commercials that make fun of the characters in horror films who make dumb decisions. For instance, "OK Lily, so you're hiding in the dark waiting for Calder to find you with a wager in the balance so you can win back this huge contribution for your father's center, and you forget to turn off your cell phone????….DUH!!! I liked Calder a lot more than Lily. He was brooding, sly and mysterious. He also had patience with Lily and her antics. Even though I thought the premise was interesting, I began to get bored half way through. I was expecting some more excitement and build up in the games, also I thought this romance lacked heart. However, there is a turning point at the end, especially for Lily, as she re-evaluates herself (how refreshing!!!) and I think I may just push through to the next book. I certainly want to know more about Calder….

Natalie Duke did a very good job in her narration.

just ok

hard to stay involved, got boring at timed. Book did not live up to summary of story

His Wicked Games

This was a really good book. The title fits the story. Calder and Lily have great chemistry together. Natalie Duke did a great job with the narration.

Hot, hot, hot!

Hot, hot, hot! Explicit sex. Good story-line. What can I say, this book sizzles.

I've read one other of this series and have enjoyed both.

Nicely narrated.

Delicious quick read/listen!

Would you listen to His Wicked Games again? Why?

Maybe -- a tough question to answer when this portion ends with a cliffhanger. I'd probably want to listen to the entire three parts before considering whether to read part 1 again.

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

Yes, though I don't usually have nearly seven hours to listen in ONE sitting.

Any additional comments?

I requested and received this audio book through Audiobook Jukebox in exchange for an honest review. I requested to review the audio book even as I had read the book last year. My impressions from that reading was very brief:

A fine, easy/light read with a heroine who is too-repetitive for my preference and a Hero who is appealing and hiding a secret (aren't we all?). How h could not see H's "secret" I do not understand. I will read the next book and I did enjoy this book, but I will be mindful about recommending this -- it feels like a novella; a really fun voyeurism into a couple's weekend... a very beach-read type of feel.

So why not spend my listening time on a new book? Because I liked the book (not loved) and wanted to compare my reading to a narrator's interpretation. My conclusion? Still a fine, easy/light read with minor believability issues surrounding our heroine and her obliviousness to his secret for so long. At approximately 200 pages and less than 7 hours of listening, it continues to feel novella-like.

Natalie Duke narrates this book and does a fine job with the separate voices and emotions. Her voice, admittedly, is much better than my inner-reading voice as she keeps the pace and emotion that the author meant whereas I skim when action or tension or yummy parts are heating up rather than keeping a slower pace and savor the action/tension/yummy parts.

WHAT MAKES A 5 STAR LISTEN?.......

Take a sexy drool-worthy billionaire called Calder, add an feisty, headstrong and desperate woman called Lily, mix with a plot that's got lots of sizzling sexual chemistry, tension filled games, hot steamy sex, skeletons, secrets and dirty talk finally top it off with a twist or two. Then voila you've got all the ingredients that makes up this 5 star listen.

A well developed, well described, well written and well paced fun and sweet story about two loveable characters who had depth and substance and I was rooting for them both to get their HEA ending as the story built to reveal vulnerabilities and truths. However, although this isn't a cliffhanger ending it is a 'to be continued' love story.

Worth a credit? It was an entertaining, non stop, must have listen from the opening chapter to the very end which was told from Lily's POV and with a great narrator.... So, oh boy YEAH one little credit made me just purrrr with the sheer pleasure of it.

Sexy and sweet!

This is a good storyline. Both the H&h were frustrating at times but I think you probably need that in any good tale. I liked the narration as well so definitely give this one a listen!

spellbinding

Ember Casey's story of Lily and Calder weaves a spell that will bind you and leave gasping until the last page.
Natalie Duke as the voice of both characters pulls you into the action and makes you melt throughout the entire book.

Enjoyed~

I found this book to go a lot quicker than I anticipated. The main characters were entertaining, enjoyable, and deeper than I thought. Yes, I will be going on to book two.

Fun read and listen

What did you like best about His Wicked Games? What did you like least?

This is a breezy, easy read (and listen) with a predictable plot and is much what you'd expect from the blurb. Like most fantasies, the plot leaves something to be desired, and serves mainly to pace out the steamier scenes (which are well written). The narrator of the audiobook does a great job of capturing the character and silliness of the protagonist, and keeps the book moving along nicely. One caveat: I personally didn't care for either of the characters, but that probably wouldn't keep you from enjoying the book.

If you’ve listened to books by Ember Casey before, how does this one compare?

n/a

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

n/a

Was His Wicked Games worth the listening time?

It dragged on a bit, but not too bad.

Any additional comments?

(Please note, in the interest of full disclosure: I received the audiobook from the author in exchange for a review.)

Phew .....is it hot in here???

I was gifted this audio book for an honest review, so firstly thank you to the author :●D 

His Wicked Games is a short steamy little book, at just under 7 hours of panty dropping hotness.

Lily Frazer runs a non profit organisation with her father, it is an art foundation that has been brought up from nothing to what is today.

Unfortunately the main person that has been giving money to the foundation is no other than the crazy old billionaire Mr Cunningham who has recently died! 

Not to worry though as the money has been passed down to his son Calder, and there has been a contract signed to carry on the payments .........Unfortunately Calder has contacted his lawyers and broken the contract agreement!!

Lily is PISSED to say the least, and after umpteen phone calls (unanswered) and letters (Un replied) she decides to visit Calder at his mansion.

The thing is no one will let her in, so she climbs the gate and let herself in!! 

That's when we meet Calder !!!!

Calder is HOT and is instantly attracted to Lily, who trys to stop herself being attracted to him.

The question Lily has to ask herself is how far is she willing to go to save the foundation?

With some very hot and steamy scenes, this little book may have you fanning yourself down.

With secret passageways, and the best game of hide and seek EVER!! 

A solid 4☆ read for me.

The narrator did quite a good job and I got used to her after a while, but at the beginning it sounded like it had quite an echo like it was recorded in a bathroom.