Carnal Secrets

The Phoenix Pack, Book 3

By: Suzanne Wright

Narrated by: Jill Redfield

Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Half-shifter Shaya Critchley may hold a submissive role in her wolf pack, but the petite redhead refuses to let an Alpha male interfere in her life. Furious and humiliated after her mate refused to claim her, she runs off to hide among the humans. Why wait around for an Alpha male to love her when he’d obviously prefer to ignore her?

Nick Axton can barely control his urges for Shaya, but the Alpha can never claim her — not if he truly cares for her. His degenerative brain condition will eventually destroy him, and he’s afraid of turning his mate into his caretaker. Yet when Shaya runs away, Nick can’t let her go. He pursues her, vowing to finally claim his rightful mate. And despite Shaya’s spirited and passionate resistance, Nick’s fiery determination just might be the ultimate aphrodisiac.

©2014 Suzanne Wright (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Good enough

This story was better than the last one but not good enough for me to continue the series. These books are super hot🔥 BUT very repetitive. Also, the narrator using the same voice for all of the lead male characters which is a little annoying. Overall it's just the classic "Alpha male" and " feisty female" the plots are just kind of meh. If that doesn't bother you then they're ok reads. Good if you have down time between your real series though.

Great romance with a twist of resistance!

Where does Carnal Secrets rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book is hot and fun! The story is really good and keeps you on the edge, consistently wanting to know what happens next.

What did you like best about this story?

The complexity of the developing relationship between the two main characters, There was a lot of depth there and the twists and turns in the relationship kept it interesting.

Have you listened to any of Jill Redfield’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have and just as good. Great for audiobook.. really brings the book 'to life'.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

***Spoiler alert***: When Shai confronts Nick as he is trying to leave again, tricks him, and begins to claim him... so emotional and very intense.

Any additional comments?

Great audiobook if you love paranormal romance. Very fun, keeps you on your toes!

Not my fav of the series

Rereading the whole series via audio, which is the only reason why I've reread Carnal Secrets. I LOVE the Phoenix and Mercury Pack series, and I really like Shaya and Nick in all the other books, but their book is the least favourite of mine across both the now completed series. I've reread all the other books, but in the past have always skipped coming back to Carnal Secrets.

Shaya takes so long to come around and forgive Nick - yes he acted like a douche, he had his reasons for doing so which at the time were unknown to Shaya, but her indecisiveness just went on for too long. I had to speed up the audio for the first 5 1/2 hours to get past that, and move onto the next more enjoyable part of the story.

What I did enjoy about Carnal Secrets was Shaya and Nick once Shaya moved past her issues, plus the introduction of many of the wolves, such as Bracken, Jesse and Zander, that go on to make up the Mercury Pack. And Ronnie! The story picked up a lot more in the second half and was more engaging.

Did I enjoy Carnal Secrets as much as all of the other books in the series.....NO. Do I still have Carnal Secrets in ebook, paperback and audio.....YES. It is part of a favourite series of mine, so therefore had to get them to complete my collections.

Shaya's entitled self-absorbed cruelty

Shaya's entitled self-absorbed cruelty was so disappointing, especially to people who have experienced suffering so much greater than Shaya's, but would have communicated the trust issue and abandonment instead of vindictively inflicting the cruelty she did to Nick. Sure Shaya was acting out the behaviour she learned from her spoiled, self-absorbed, "I am the centre of the universe" cruel mother. It was so disappointing and unforgivable that I could not "root" for Shaya and found the rallying empathy, protectiveness and adoration towards her from her devoted mate and all her old and new pack mates completely undeserving. I expected so much better from the Shaya character, especially when you consider how fabulous all of the other female story leads - Taryn, Jaime, Ally, Ronnie, Harley, Gwen, Frankie, Madison, Riley, Mila, Casey, the big hearted quirky McKenna, etc. - all are. The Shaya character in all of the other stories runs contrary to the self-absorbed entitled cruel behaviour in her own love story. If I could rate her behaviour with stars she would get 0 out of 5 stars in this story. The rest of story without Shaya's cruel entitled behaviour was excellent and would have gotten 5 stars in all categories.

Running theme

I love this series and I really enjoy the performance. I only wish there was a little more variety to the specific stories.

Good look at internal workings of shifter pack

Would you consider the audio edition of Carnal Secrets to be better than the print version?

The audio version is a more visceral experience as the narrator, Jill Redfield, definitely infuses emotion into the story. For me the audio version seems to bring the story to life more since I can concentrate on forming the mental images of the characters and not have to be worried about missing a word (or a whole paragraph!) or forgetting to turn a page.

What did you like best about this story?

The growth of the relationship between Tarryn and Troy was well handled and seemed true to the kind of things that would happen in a shifter pack. Also liked getting a view into pack politics and the similarities and differences to humans.

What does Jill Redfield bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jill's inflections and emotion in narrating the story bring the characters to life. She seems to have gotten inside each of the characters and knows just how to voice their lines so that you can very easily visualize each character.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I love any book that drags me in to the point where I am concerned for all the main characters and happy or sad depending on what happens to them. Jill's narration drew me into this book so thoroughly that it was had to turn off each evening. I was totally invested in the outcome for all the characters and was very happy it turned out the way it did.

Second time reading the book

This is the second time I have read this book. Even though I new what to expect is was still surprised with the twists and turns.

Completely amazing. I love this book.

I love the way Nick always thought of Shaya. Putting her first and always giving in to her. The narrator was always on point love her.

Frustrating First Half, but Stick with It

I absolutely loved the first book in this series. I liked the second book a lot. This book didn't quite reach the level of the previous two books, and for me, that problem had more to do with the main female character than anything else.

Shaya is a half shifter, and she has been hurt before. Now her true mate has rejected her. Her wolf is a submissive. She believes that her true mate has rejected her solely because her submissive wolf couldn't handle the role of alpha female to his pack and would be in danger from dominant female wolves who would challenge her position. With the help of her pack, she moves to another town in an attempt to hide away from him.

Nick, the true mate in question, decides that her moving away is unacceptable to him, so he tracks her down and basically camps out on her doorstep. He has his reasons for having rejected her, and they are good ones, but he doesn't want to tell her what they are. He decides he'll just woo her and eventually wear her down.

For her part, Shaya is angry, and she shows her anger by behaving like a jilted teenager. In the first half of the book, I became seriously frustrated with her petulant, childish, manipulative behaviour. Yes, she has her reasons. And Nick, to some degree, deserves a bit of a set down, at least from Shaya's point of view given the information she has about the situation. However, some of the things she does are just, well, childish.

This cat and mouse game goes on....and on....and on... for the first half of the book. Take heart though, because it does get better. There are seriously mean human extremists in the town where Shaya has moved to, and a mysterious pack, and everyone seems to be wondering why Nick, an alpha, is in town. Then Nick's mom and sister show up, as well as the healer from Nick's old pack who has obvious designs on Nick. As the situation comes to a head, the couple confesses their secrets, the relationship drama dies down and the action picks up. At this point, the book gets much, much better.

In hindsight, the book wasn't a waste of my time, but the first half was almost painful to get through. However, the second half made it worth the effort. It still had much of the humour that made the first two books in this series so much fun, but that was tamped down a bit by all the emotional angst in the first part of the book.

The narrator did a very good job. I can't fault her performance in any way.

Excellent Next Book in the Series

You don't have to read the previous books to understand this one. It only helps to explain the other characters that play a small part in the story. Suzanne Wright does a wonderful job of developing the story and the characters. I absolutely love Jill Redfield. She has one of the best reading voices. You can tell the characters from each other when she tells the story and you don't feel that she is reading the story. The story does a great job of grabbing your attention and keeping it. I can't wait to begin the next story. Love this series. It is not too big and not too small. I will move on to the "Mercury Pack" when I finish "The Phoenix Pack".