Relentless

By: Karen Lynch

Narrated by: Caitlin Greer

Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sara Grey's world shattered 10 years ago when her father was brutally murdered. Now, at 17, she is still haunted by memories of that day and driven by the need to understand why it happened. She lives a life full of secrets, and her family and friends have no idea of the supernatural world she is immersed in or of Sara's own very powerful gift.

In her quest for answers about her father's death, Sara takes risks that expose her and her friends to danger and puts herself into the sights of a sadistic vampire. On the same fateful night she meets Nikolas, a warrior who turns Sara's world upside down and is determined to protect her even if it's the last thing she wants.

Sara's life starts to spin out of control as she is hunted by an obsessed vampire, learns that her friends have secrets of their own, and reels from the truth about her own ancestry. Sara has always been fiercely independent, but in order to survive now she must open herself to others, to reveal her deepest secrets. And she must learn to trust the one person capable of breaking down the walls around her.

©2013 Karen A. Lynch (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

YA at its best

This is not my normal genre but I really enjoyed. Some chemistry but no steam. A great adventure for all ages. Looking for a good story that happens to be clean, this is a good choice.

Outstanding Plot & Characters

I picked this audiobook up looking for something to listen to at work. I'm so glad I found this trilogy. I now own the books and audiobooks. The characters and plot are engaging and suspenseful. This book will have you sitting on edge of your seat waiting to see what is going to happen. I could easily relate to Sara and her desire to live life on her own terms. Sara is incredibly tenacious and independent which adds a bit of humor when dealing with Nikolas. Her strength and loyalty to those she loves no matter their "differences" is very admirable and makes her that much more lovable. The different creatures in this literary world are fascinating and add so much depth to the existing story. If you haven't read/listened to this book and enjoy the paranormal I highly recommend it!

Did not expect to love it.

I started this book thinking I would not like it. I loved it though. It was very good. The writer did a great job. The narrator made the book so enjoyable. I would recommend this book to anyone into the fantasy world of mythical creatures. Anyone looking for a good adventure book to read it is definitely full of them. Can't wait to start the next in the series.

Refreshing storyline

Loved the characters and plot, felt really drawn in and wasn't overly chatty dialogue of characters. Great balance of book plot history (bat actual history, but characters) and great use of highs/lows and shock value! Heading towards Refugee now!

If my ears could smile...they would!

Caitlin Greer brings Karen Lynch's books to life!!! I wasn't able to put the book down when I was reading it and I wasn't able to turn the audiobook off either! I listened to it in the car, while working out, while cooking dinner...it was great! I love Caitlin's voice and I feel she really brought the characters to life. This book was so easy to listen to - I really can't wait to listen to the next ones in the series.

My favorite Series!

Paranormal romance at its finest. I love this series.

This book has a great story line. Just the perfect balance of romance, action, suspense, and fantasy.

Narrator does a great job

Amazing series

Amazing Series! I can't wait for the Next Book! Awesome Narration & I have all the next books downloaded & waiting!

Brilliant!

Saw the great reviews and settled on it. it's more than worth the credit. You have friendship, action, family, and many other elements that makes a book amazing. The characters, plot, and pace was perfect and I have no complaints. I'll be using my other credit on boo two. I cannot wait to find out what happens to our leading lady and her friends. Best book I've read in a while!

Meh

I’m a couple hours in and...how does someone not know what an orphan is? How can you tell a persons age by their voice? The writing is not that great and the narration doesn’t help at all. I tried slowing it down because the narrator speaks quickly but then is was way too slow. At least she tried to use different tones for different characters unlike other narrators but it wasn’t done well. I just can’t. I can’t.

Relentlessly 17....

The narrator did a good job at reading the novel. She did change tones, attempted to create difference between characters, and add emotion into the story as she read.

I have to keep reminding myself over and over and over again that Sara is 17. A 17 year old who hasn’t experienced the world, who hasn’t had a mother to guide her, an uncle who is a book write and lets her do her own thing, who avoids drama and doesn’t have any female connections. She’s a good person at heart, good morales, and generally cares. Yet she’s so and I’m mean beyond frustrating a naive 17. She fights against authority and those to protect her, while continuously putting her family and friends in danger to be saved by said friends and those who want to help, and repeat this cycle through the whole book. She thinks like a typical teenager. She fights part of herself, the good guys, and the bad guys. Again Sara is not the world experienced almost adult female that you would expect with werewolves and trolls as friends, a murdered dad and a runaway mother. Sarah doesn’t seem to know when to give in and ask for help unless she’s on deaths door step, instead she’s a stubborn and must learn the same lesson at least three times over kind of person. I wanted to metaphorically Face palm throw book across the room several times over throughout listening to this book because Sara has a long way to go as a person and to learn to accept her heritage and self 100%. This isn’t a romance more like adventure, it’s a build up to the next books where there might be YA romance.

I know this novel is just setting up for the series, because it is mostly backstory. It’s a decent read and I’ll go through most of the books probably.

So disappointed

What would have made Relentless better?

I could not get into the story as I found the narrators voice so boring with same tone for every character. She also talked very fast. I can only advise everyone to listen to a sample first. I wish I had as I would never have wasted my money buying this book. Total waste of money as these audio books are not cheap.

Would you ever listen to anything by Karen Lynch again?

Possibly if they use a better narrator.

Would you be willing to try another one of Caitlin Greer’s performances?

Definitely NO

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

None. Disliked the narrator so much I could not get into the story so I gave up. Would return the book if I could.

Any additional comments?

Audio books states you can return a book if not pleased. Perhaps it’s me, but I cannot find how to return it.

Brilliant book

I absolutely loved this book. The story was engaging. So much so that I listened to it in one day. It started a bit slow but quickly gained pace and had me captivated. I loved the main character, Sara, and adored Nickolas. The romance is a very slow burn but has me itching to read the next book. The only downside was the narrator. Her voice was was ok, but I found that she rushed too much for my liking. Plus, if I had a £1 for every time I heard her swallow, which is the first narrator I've heard do so, I'd be a millionaire. I'm disappointed that she narrates the entire series, which is strange for me. The fact that I'm willing to listen to the final two books with her narrating tells you just how good the story is.

Superb!

I've read this book 4 times and decided to try the audio book. Caitlin Greer is brilliant as the narrater and really brings the story and the characters to life. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 relentless is a fantastic series, the story and characters are wonderful...Karen is a very talented writer.

Bit disappointed...

It was perfectly OK, but just so unoriginal... I'd read reviews saying it was the next Twilight, so happily dived in, but it was missing the chemistry, the intrigue and originality of Twilight.

So, fine if you're looking for your typical teenager paranormal fantasy, but if you've read a few of those already you'll be hard pressed to be excited by this one.

Good book - flat narration

I’m a big fan of Karen Lynch’s Pawn so I thought I’d try this earlier series. The storytelling isn’t as tight as it is in Pawn, but it’s still enjoyable. The narration is disappointing, flat, with weird pauses - like a student reading a report of cue cards. This narrator doesn’t really do voices well either. It’s bearable, but could be so much better

not great

struggled with the tempo, no fault of the reader but have heard better, poor story.

Cringe but good story

Great story. Voice actor was great until any accents were involved. I physically cringed at the attempted Scottish accent in particular. Eek! Would still recommended this audiobook.

Demons and romances

A brilliant trilogy (this is the first book). Nice take on some of the normal fantasy fiction - I listened to all 3 books in a week. Would appeal to fans of people like PC Cast.

A brilliant start to a series.

The storyline and world building in this book were phenomenal, and it should have easily been a 5 star book.... but it had a few faults that held it back.

1) We get it, your friends are hot and 'you're not like other girls', but you a) don't need to mention it so much (we get it, we really do), and for me personally I don't enjoy the 'pick me' attitude that goes along with it. It's kinda cringeworthy.
2) The book gave way to some potentially harmful and not necessarily well researched stereotypes that kinda took me out of the books world a little.

That said, it was still a phenomenal books, Sarah and her friends were fascinating, the urban fantasy setting was fun, well considered and easy to keep up with - I didn't have any issues imagining or following the scenes.

I'm very interested to see where the rest of the series goes from here.

Gripping!

Very interesting storyline, constant twist and turns! I really enjoyed this. I would definitely recommend it