Primal Bonds

By: Jennifer Ashley

Narrated by: Cris Dukehart

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

When a female Shifter comes to town seeking refuge, Feline Shifter Sean Morrissey claims the new arrival and finds a beautiful woman who looks him straight in the eye without fear, stirring the mating frenzy within him.

To relocate to a new Shiftertown, half-Fae, half-Shifter Andrea Gray must accept a new mate. But Andrea's intense attraction to Sean is something shen ever expected - a perilous complication for a woman with a troubled past.

©2011 Jennifer Ashley (P)2012 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"Ashley's skill at blending plot intricacies with believable characters makes this a terrific mix of passion and power. Settle in and enjoy!" ( Romantic Times)

Another Great Shifter Story!

I love coming across a great new series to listen especially in the PNR genre evolving shifters! After listening to the first two stories in the series, the verdict is in..... and it is a definitive YES! I enjoyed the first stories and will continue the rest of the series.

I like the stories have a good balance between action, suspense and romance. The plot is great, full of action and suspense and has multiple twist and it's balanced well with romance that builds and grows naturally. I also enjoy the multiple POV's.

In this shifter world there are many different species of shifters and at one time they were very strong until the humans discovered them. Since humans have learned of the shifter existence, they had the Fae create special collars that attaches to the skin of the shifter that will emit a shock to the shifter if they get aggressive or try to harm a human. Not only did the humans have the shifters collared, they also made them move to shifter communities and keep tabs on them. However, even under the watchful eyes of the humans, the shifters are working secretly to have these collars removed or rendered ineffective. Until they can discover a way around these collars they are forced to play by the humans rules.

In this second story, Primal Bonds, Andrea request to move to a new pack due to a shifter trying to force her to mate with him; however, after another pack agrees to take her, she meets Sean. At first glance, Sean is instantly attracted to Andrea and offers her a mating claim which she could deny but they decide to get to know each other. With each visit, their attraction to each other grows; however, during a drive by shooting at the shifter bar Andrea works at, Sean has to quickly jump and cover her to prevent her from being shoot. After this incident, he's determine to keep her by his side so he can protect her.

The first two stories was a great start to this series and I am glad I found a series that has been around a while and actually already has 13 audiobooks out. I will be able to listen to these stories back to back without the long wait in between the stories.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Good story, bad narration

Ms. Ashley created a unique take on the paranormal genre. The "shifters" were created by faery. They freed themselves from the fae only to end up corralled into shabby towns and treated as second rate citizens by humans. I am enjoying this series even though it is not in my top 5.

Unfortunately, I think I would be enjoying it more if I was reading it. It's hard for me to say this, but the narration is truly awful. The reading is staccato. There is no rhythm. Sentences are stressed in the wrong place so that the listener has to stop and think about what the words mean instead of relying on the narrator to embue them with the correct feeling. She "loses" the "voices" so that the listener gets a bit of a shock thinking "...wait, wasn't the heroine talking? ...oh, she still is, only she sounds like the hero now..." All in all, its a difficult listen entirely due to the poor narration.

15 of 17 people found this review helpful

AN ENCHANTING & ENJOYABLE SHAPE-SHIFTING ADVENTURE

Phew, I'm exhausted after this listen about very primal alpha male shifters (check out the cover picture girls) and good/evil fae all battle it out either against each other or stand together as pack fight pack and fae fight fae. Along with this is the touching, gentle yet sizzling romance as Sean (the Guardian with a big magic sword - come on minds out of the gutter - literally a real sword again check out the cover pic) battles his mating urge to change a mating 'bond of convenience' with Andrea into a true love bond because they both feel the strong pull to mate as the attraction grows and heats between them. There were sex scenes but they weren't too graphic in any way.

It's been a long time since I listened to book 1 Pride Mates so I couldn't remember the storyline at all but this didn't much detract from my enjoyment of this listen so I guess it could be a stand alone listen. however, why deprive yourselves - if you haven't already downloaded the 1st book then I would start there, follow with this one, and sit back and savour an entertaining paranormal tale which, despite being a wee bit slow in parts, is an enjoyable listen. The shape shifting community is made up of warm, interesting and friendly characters that are ready to open their doors and let you see their lives, loves and world.

Can't wait for books 3 Wild Cat and 4 Mate Claimed which were both published in 2012 so come on Audible where are they ?? and they will be followed by book 5 Tiger Magic later this year.

Worth a credit? A good paranormal romance series to get your claws into which was definitely worth a credit so it's a YES from me.

10 of 12 people found this review helpful

Loved the story but...

I love this series and cannot wait for the rest. But the spoiler was the horrible attempt at an Irish accent, it sounded like a cross between weird Irish and Australian. The big Alpha shifters sounded high pitched and squeeky as if they were talking through a wedgie! Do the producers/directors Never listen to the end result?? Surely its better to leave out the accent all together? After listening to Ian Ruane narrate The Druid Stone using a beautiful Irish brogue this was pure torture. Its a shame how the narrators can ruin a perfectly great set of stories. I will get the rest of the series should audible do them as they are great. The narration was OK when the Morrisey's were not talking. I hope she drops the accents next time.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Primal Bonds

I read this book when it first came , but I enjoyed having it read to me. I've listening to the Audiable Books while driving , or sewing ,or just relaxing . The reader has a good voice, easy to listen to.

Just as thrilling as the first book

the story has a new main character from the first book but Liam and Kim are still part of the story. it's a great continuation of the first book and I highly recommend it.

Liked the story but needs an edit

3/5 rating: I enjoyed the story a great deal; I'd like to give 4/5 but there were dozens of times when I wished an editor had cut down on exposition repeating information we already know.

The narrator was great.

Great Story, Terrible Narration

I loved the story; and really wanted to listen to find out what happened next. However, the narrator is incapable of holding an accent. She can't make up her mind if she's narrating an Aussie, an Irishman, an Afrikaaner, a Cockney, or a Southerner. It was bad enough at one point, I had to turn it off. Please, if the accent is that hard to hold properly, just don't use an accent. I'll use my imagination.

Irish or Australian?

Good story, wrong narrator!
Why oh why did they change narrator to this series??? The first one was perfect, and then this... Never again let ms Dukehart attempt an Irish accent -she cannot do it! She sounded like a slightly demented Aussie 😳

Primal bonds by Jennifer Ashley

I loved the complexity of audio book. I couldn't get any thing done. I had to find out what was happening to the different clans. J....

brilliant book but terrible Irish accent

Love this story but the narrator's Irish accent sounded like a bad Australian accent. Distracting!

Great story - Truely Awful Accents

I really struggled with the narration on this book, purely because of the for Irish accents. They sounded like Australian by way of Cape Town. I persevered and eventually I stopped cringing. If accents don't bother you it will be fine.