Operation Child Soldier

The Academy, Book 1

By: Jaci Wheeler

Narrated by: Alexandra Bitton-Bailey

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

How do you fight a monster when the monster is your father?

I was trained from birth to be the best agent possible. Growing up in a military training academy for unwanted children has its perks. I may have never been to a dance, but I am a sharp shooter, master at hand to hand combat, and the best hacker the academy has ever seen. I trained my whole life to pass the final and become an Elite agent. The only problem? My entire life has been a lie. My father is a monster, and I’ve been trained to kill monsters.

©2017 Jaci Wheeler (P)2023 Jaci Wheeler

Action packed and original!

If you are looking for a book that is exciting and scarily realistic, look no further! Jaci Wheeler has a bit of thriller in this first book of her Academy series. The Academy has been created to mold the perfect soldiers. Taking children out of desolate situations, and cast a them into a place that is so much better than where they were is a dream for the kids. Working to better society as incredible soldiers, with roof over their heads and food in their stomach. Edward is in charge, and is determined to gain the power he desires. But he didn't count on Aria. Born to be the perfect soldier, she excelled in everything, even reading the truth in her father. The question is, will rebel or become the assassin he wants her to be? This book is filled with twists and turns, suspense and some emotion we don't expect. The characters are interesting and keep evolving as the story goes on! Each chapter reveals something new, kept me on edge and made me want more! I can't wait to see what happens next!

Alexandra Bitton-Bailey is the storyteller and boy can she tell a story! Each of the many characters with a different voice, giving their points of view with the inflections necessary to create them. She is on point as Aria, Edward and Cameron, all melding to their personalities. I enjoyed her performance!

Riveting!💜

I’m not sure what I expected but this story was a pleasant surprise. The surprise didn’t come from how good the book was exactly, because Jaci Wheeler is a fantastic author. The surprise come from the fact that I was 75% in when I realized this was a YA suspense/action thriller. Which means, it’s THAT good. I read a lot of horror, suspense and explicit adult romance and I was so into this book that I hadn’t realized there was no sex & clean language. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of bad stuff, family drama & other happenings, but I don’t want to mention and give away any spoilers.
This book had me from page 1. Lovable characters, evil characters, action, suspense with just a hint of humor. Definitely a page turner. I can’t wait for book 2 to come out on audio.
The narrator was absolutely fantastic. She did a wonderful performance of all of the different characters. Well done.
This is book 1 in this series. It is continued and in NOT a standalone.
I highly recommend this book.

Sisters Spotlight 💜

An Engrossing & Thrilling Story! Great🎧📚🎧Listen

This is my first book written by Jaci Wheeler and consider me wowed and consider me impressed. The story she created is original, with interesting storylines that are captivating from start to end, and once you start it, you do not want to stop because you need to know what happens next. There are many layers to the story and I enjoyed her writing style and hearing from several character’s points of view. The whole concept of the academy is a mind blow, and how it came about and why, there is still more to learn about the why and the what but we get a good glimpse of one of the who’s, Edward, Aria Richard’s father. They recruited students by pulling them out of terrible home situations when they were younger, except for Aria, she was born for the school to become the perfect student, the perfect soldier. She excelled in all aspects and graduated to become an elite agent, a goal all students strive for. But she is no dummy and catches on to what her father is all about, the one thing her father did not take into consideration while training her and others is their conscience and despite not having any real love or nurturing, Aria had that and a heart which gets her in trouble and pulled from missions. Not a terrible deal for her because now she gets to train others and work alongside her mentors. There is never a dull moment in this book, it is a cleverly plotted the story with the perfect balance of drama, angst, action, thrilling and suspenseful moments, witty dialogue to lighten things up, some heartfelt emotions and romance. Jaci Wheeler, thank you for this great story and the wild ride. 

🎧📚🎧And for the terrific narration, Alexandra Bitton-Bailey is a talented narrator and a versatile voice artist. She did a great job portraying these characters and bringing these characters to life, giving each their own voice, making it easy to follow along and tell who is who. She set the perfect tone for the story, captured all the character’s emotions and projected them into her performance, having you feel every single one. Alexandra Bitton-Bailey is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for this great listen.

Aria the soldier extraordinaire!

Wow what a great story about a young girl who was bred to be a soldier. There is a lot of training at this academy to become agents. We see Aria go through many stages and handlers. There is also turmoil. What a great book 1. Narration was great too. I recommend this book. Sisters Spotlight 💕