Imago

Imago Series, Book 1

By: N.R. Walker

Narrated by: Antony Ferguson

Nerdy, introverted genius lepidopterist, Lawson Gale, is an expert on butterflies. He finds himself in a small town in Tasmania on a quest from an old professor to find an elusive species that may or may not even exist.

Local Parks and Wildlife officer, Jack Brighton, is an ordinary guy who loves his life in the sleepy town of Scottsdale. Along with his Border collie dog, Rosemary, his job, and good friends, he has enough to keep from being lonely.

But then he meets Lawson, and he knows he's met someone special. There's more to catching butterflies, Jack realizes. Sometimes the most elusive creatures wear bow ties, and sometimes they can't be caught at all.

Lawson soon learns there are butterflies he can't learn about it in books. They exist only in a touch, in a kiss, in a smile. He just has to let go first, so these butterflies can fly.

Imago is the story of finding love, bow ties, and butterflies.

Contains mature themes.

©2017 N. R. Walker (P)2020 Tantor

I quickly fell in love with Lawson and Jack 🥰

Told from a dual POV, Imago is a sweet, no angst, passionate whirlwind romance.

The romance happens quickly at just under a week of knowing one another, but at the same time it's pleasantly paced with Jack and Lawson getting to know one another well.

There was a lot to love about the story: the characters, Rosemary the dog, the way Walker parcels out information so the reader learns but isn't bored by the intake of new knowledge.

I really enjoyed this delightful romance and am absolutely looking forward to listening to book 2 asap!

So romantic!

I think I love this book a bit more every time I re-read it!
Jack and Lawson are so sweet together, and I love both of them equally. Jack with his loving and easy-going nature, and Lawson, a slightly socially awkward genius, who isn’t afraid to go for what he wants.
Of course as soon as the audio came out I had to buy it immediately and I am so glad I did, Antony Ferguson did a great job!

Adorable

Imago was positively adorable and sweet, it was everything I wanted and more. I loved that there was no drama, no games or subterfuge. Lawson Gale is a passionate lepidopterist on a mission to find an elusive new species of butterflies in Tasmania. Colleagues of his thinks it’s a fool’s errand, but Lawson never cared what others thought. By pure chance he met Jack Brighton, a local Parks and Wildlife officer. The two hit it off right away and Jack promises to help Lawson’s search. They set of into the park, taking measurements and soil samples all in order to find the optimal conditions for the butterfly. During the trips we see them fall in love, they fall for each other over their shared love of nature and all her wonders.

🎧 "I came to Tasmania in search of an elusive species. And I found it. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect to find you."

I absolutely loved Lawson, he was what you’d call adorkable, often missing social cues and customs, always honest and straight forward. It was refreshing and fun and it’s no wonder Jack was so enamoured with him, and he wasn’t the only one either. Jack too was such a wonderful character, so lovable with amazing friends and family and his close relationship with them said so much about him. He had this warmth that radiated from him, he drew people in and everyone loved being around him. Lawson and Jack just worked together in every way and I loved how they included Rosemary. I love dogs and she was such a wonderful addition.

Antony Ferguson is a great voice actor with a pleasant voice and accent that’s easy to get wrapped up in. I really enjoyed his female impersonations. So often voices for the opposite sex are overdone and rarely do they seem genuine or credible, but that wasn’t the case here. He does have different voices for different characters, but they aren’t consistent throughout the book. There were several times the voices for our main characters were mixed up or forgotten about all together. It wasn’t ideal, but once you’ve gotten immersed into the story it’s hardly noticeable. You’ll be too busy falling for Lawson, Jack and not to forget Rosemary and having a wonderful time.

Imago is a book that will have you smile, it leaves you with a warm and happy feeling. It makes you feel good and wish that the release of Imagines wasn’t so far away. Highly recommended.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes

Great story but narration below average

I enjoyed the story, but not the narration. Most of the time I couldn’t tell which MC was speaking. No distinction between their voices.

Wonderful!

I love this story. I have read the books several times and the audio was great. Jack and Lawson don't seem as if they should be made for one another but isn't chemistry fabulous?

Bow ties for the win

Such a cute couple. There is no angst which leaves so much space for story and I learned about butterflies! 🦋

I love this story but was a little disappointed in

I've read a lot of Ms. Walker's books. She's pretty much an auto-buy for me. I've read this series and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it so when book one was released on audio, this was a no-brainer for me. I adore both characters. The vocal performance rating could be totally me, but I was disappointed. There were times I couldn't tell the difference between them and had I not known the story I would have not had any idea who was speaking. The characters felt very emotionless which is not the case for either of them. I don't feel this book was done the justice it deserved but it is still a wonderful story. My original review of the book is included below.

Let me say upfront that I am a HUGE fan of Ms. Walker and am not sure I can say anything I haven’t already about how wonderful her writing is and how I feel like she writes books just for me. I am a big fan of sweet romance, low angst stories with characters that melt your heart. Ms. Walker delivers that big time in this book.

I LOVE LAWSON. While it’s usually hard to pick a favorite with Ms. Walker’s books, there is usually one character that has a slight over the other. As much as I love Jack, Lawson is absolutely fantastic to me. He is brilliant, witty, and beautiful. I love that while he may appear shy; he will stand up for himself and will tell you what he wants and how he wants it. He is a force to be reckoned with for sure.

Jack is a sweet man who I automatically loved just for the way he treated his dog. He is immediately and absolutely smitten with Lawson (and I don’t blame him). I bet he looks absolutely fantastic in his uniform too!

They are perfect for each other; both finally finding someone that understands each other’s job and realizing what’s important to the other. Their banter is adorable. I CAN NOT wait for more of these guys!

Fantastic book

I waited a long time to purchase this book because of the mixed reviews, even though I have enjoyed almost every N.R. Walker book in my library at a 4-5 star level. The narrator was a frequent complaint, which can make or break a novel. However, the review of one of our fellow readers whose evaluations are generally aligned to my taste convinced me to try Imago. I am sooooo glad I did!
It was a wonderful story! And while I agree Anthony Ferguson didn't distinguish between Jack and Lawson's voices, he didn't have to! Every chapter was preceded by the identification of POV in that chapter. For example, Ferguson would say "Jack" before reading a chapter and the listener would know who was "talking". I personally enjoyed Ferguson's accent and found his pronunciation of terms quite fine. So, I gave him 5 stars, and have no complaints.
I had no idea what a lepidopterist would actually do in their career, and found the information N.R. Walker wove throughout her tale to be interesting and perfectly important for the level of genius Lawson possessed. I know what imago means now! I always enjoy Walker's descriptions of Australia's natural flora, fauna, and land. So the descriptions of Tasmania were delightful. I like the small town Walker created, and Jack's home in the outskirts of the little town sound comfortable in beautiful natural isolation.
I've just purchased the second in the Imago series and am looking forward to Jack and Lawson's next adventures told in Anthony Ferguson's velvety accent.
Don't be put off by the narrator complaints, just pay attention to who's talking in a given chapter as identified at the beginning!

An amazing love story!

Truly touching, and just the right amount of spicy 😊. Can't wait to hear the sequel.

Butterfly kisses

Jack and Lawson were wonderful! From the moment they met they were supposed to be together. Lawson was such an interesting and amazing character. And Jack was simply wonderful and caring, and did I say wonderful?
Love love loved it!