Phenomenal X

Hard Knocks, Book 1

By: Michelle A. Valentine

Narrated by: Alexandria Wilde, Sean Crisden

Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

From the mean streets of Detroit rises the newest superstar of professional wrestling, Xavier Cold, better known as Phenomenal X. His muscular physique makes men cower before him and women lose their minds with desire. Anna Cortez is fresh out of college and naïve to the harsh realities of the real world. Tired of living under the thumb of her conservative family, she defies them when she accepts a job as the assistant to wrestling's most notorious bad boy. Phenomenal X has an animalistic nature that even good girl Anna finds hard to resist. Forced to share a bed in a sold-out hotel, lines blur between them, and they quickly learn that one lustful night changes everything. Neither one of them will ever be the same. Contains mature themes.

©2014 Michelle A. Valentine Books, LLC (P)2014 Tantor

Incredible Story, Where's Book 2?

Any additional comments?

The story of X and Anna brings us to how love can conquer all but in this case their story is incomplete. I hope MV is presently writing Book 2 and publishes it soon. This is one of several books by other authors that have left me hanging and I'm still waiting for the follow ups.

Awesome but wait till book 2 is out

Where does Phenomenal X rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 5 books

What was one of the most memorable moments of Phenomenal X?

The nightmares

What does Alexandria Wilde and Sean Crisden bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They both are awesome narrators. Heard him in the crash series . I felt the book. The anxiety, pain, and love.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Will his ugly past let them have a beautiful future. Or
sex, drugs and an arranged marriage can love save 2 lost souls

Any additional comments?

loved this book just wished I would have knew it was a series cause I would have waited to listen to it back to back. I Hate The Suspense of not Knowing NOW

Great female narrator!

Phenomenal X is an engaging story with a slow burn to love. The tale brings the hero Xavier and heroine Anna, within each other's orbits until finally their lives are so entwined they are unable to resist or avoid one another.

I enjoyed everything about this story based in a world of people involved in televised, choreographed wrestling. Everything, that is, until the end when Xavier does something disappointing. I lost my interest in him at this point. But it’s the end of part 1 of 2 and he has a chance and the strength of character to make things right in part 2. So I'll continue onto book 2 XAVIER COLD.

What MADE this story for me was the narrator, Alexandria Wilde. She injected warmth into the story, voiced the heroine as someone you can love, and the hero as someone who can raise your body temperature. The heroine’s family who are believable secondary characters are well written also. The competitive secondary characters in the wrestling world were a bit over the top, but not unlike wrestlers’ personas as seen on TV. They provided a colourful element to the book. Narrator Sean Crisden was good also although his role was smaller. Without the Audible experience of the good narration, I'm not sure I would have been a fan of this book.

I can only hope that part 2 XAVIER COLD will be as good as part one. PHENOMENAL X will be a hard act to follow.

cliffhanger

the story was okay, just getting good and then it ends in a cliffhanger... I give low stars due to that when it's not explicitly said in the story it ends in cliffhanger

So good

I enjoyed this story and it hold you to the end. Can’t wait to hear the next book in this series

Loved this!!!

This was such a great love story. Xavier was a perfect book boyfriend. My only complaint which is minor is the male narrator sounded too young.

Good story but disappointing at the end.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the story except towards the end. I disliked that X was displayed as an out-of-control idiot. The fact that X and Anna appeared as if they had no options was disappointing. Both cannot be weak. Will the sequel be just as disappointing?

left me wanting more

Generally I would have skipped over this book because wrestling is not my thing, but someone I follow gave it a good recommendation so I thought why not. I am sooooo glad I did. At first it was " all right this is pretty good " but by the end it was phenomenal (PUN INTENDED). By the way go to utube and watch the fan made short it is so cool . I will be right up front though, this is a big cliff hanger for the second book but don't let that deter you because this was great. You may want to wait for the second book titled Xavier Cold to be released before you listen so you can do an immediate follow up. I CANT WAIT !!!!

When will book 2 come out?

What made the experience of listening to Phenomenal X the most enjoyable?

It was an interesting story if a bit predictable, but the cliff hanger ending really kind of took away from the book for me. It's been over a year since this book came out, so when will the next book be out?

Who was your favorite character and why?

X

What does Alexandria Wilde and Sean Crisden bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They both were very good with narrations, I've heard them before and they are great with emotions and expressing feeling and character voices.

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

Yes, but again the ending left you hanging and I wish either book two would be available soon or a novella to give this story an ending.

Fell flat for me

What did you like about this audiobook?

I liked the chemistry in the beginning.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

The male voicer was not enjoyable at all. I wish I could have skipped over his chapters. His voices used were horrible.

Do you have any additional comments?

Rating 2.5 stars
Loved the first 3/4 of this book. Loved the intro of Xavier and I even enjoyed Anna. I loved the pursuit between the two and the tough macho man in Xavier. (I love a cocky man). But the last third of the story seemed forced in comparison to the earlier chapters. Seemed like it was predictable and a bit cheesy causing my eyes to roll. I was taken out of he story and thought a few times "ok this is stupid". Reactions to situations seemed far fetched and just not realistic. So this book lost me in the end. Sorry "X". You had potential to be really enjoyable but it fell flat for me.

Side note: the male audio reader was horrible!