From Ashes

Heathens Ink, Book 3

By: K.M. Neuhold

Narrated by: Kenneth Obi

"When the broken man with scarred skin walked into Heathens, asked for a job, and showed me a sketch of a phoenix, it felt like fate." - Adam

It started with an anonymous post by someone who didn't want to live anymore. I read it over and over again, unable to get it out of my mind. What if my brother Johnny had posted something like this before he'd taken his own life? Would someone have been able to save him?

I've been living a lie for 16 long years, and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep it up. And when a beautiful, broken man walks into my tattoo shop asking for a second chance at life, I know I'll never be able to turn him away.

"When I was so far down I couldn't even see the light, a stranger reached in to save me." - Nox

I didn't have anything to live for, until a kind stranger pulled me back from the brink. With physical and emotional scars, I have nowhere to turn now but to that same stranger who saved my life without realizing it. But as my feelings for Adam grow, will I ever be anything other than a surrogate for the brother he couldn't save? Am I even worthy of his love?

From Ashes is the third book in the Heathens Ink series; each book in the series can be enjoyed as a standalone.

Caution: This audiobook contains graphic descriptions of domestic violence and drug use that may be disturbing to some listeners.

©2017 Kyleen Neuhold (P)2018 Kyleen Neuhold

Awesom

Narrator has a great smooth voice. Did awesome with the different characters and giving everyone there own tone and sound.

amazing

i love this narrator so much.. he does an amazing job with the characters.. i can tell the differences between characters and emotions.. it is all together wonderful.. and this story is perfection of course.. i love this author.

From Ashes

From Ashes is Book 3 in K.M. Neuhold’s Heathens Ink series. This is the first audio of the series that I’ve listened to, but I’ve read the entire series. The narrator of this book is Kenneth Obi, and it’s my understanding that the first two books are narrated by someone different. I think reading this series in the appropriate order will give the most enjoyment to the characters and world created by the author. There are some storylines from previous books, and there are characters and couples continuing.

In Book 3, Adam, the owner of Heathens Ink, is on a quest of trying to save others to make up for the loss of his brother. He makes friends with a stranger in a chat app and can’t resist the offer of help when the other person is struggling. He develops a friendship with Phoenix and when Phoenix disappears from the app, Adam thinks the worst. Phoenix, for his part, is struggling. He has a drug addiction, is working as a prostitute to support his habit and lives with an abusive boyfriend. He sees the hope in what Adam’s offering but he won’t take charity. Then, everything comes to a head and Phoenix has to survive the hardest thing he’s ever experienced. From the ashes, Phoenix (Nox) emerges and begins his new life near Heathens Ink. The attraction between Nox and Adam is felt and seen by everyone around them.

I love this series and this book, so I was excited to listen to the audio. Unfortunately, I really struggled with listening to the narrator. The narrator was unable to give individual voices to characters, and the voices used were not consistent throughout the narration for the characters. You really need to focus on who is speaking based on the dialogue to keep up with the story, which is difficult to do in audiobooks. And the narration of the texts/chats between the two characters were really difficult to “get” in this audio. I knew from my reading that it was texts, but with the audio it just seemed misplaced.

I highly recommend you read this series as it’s terrific. I think the characters and the world the author creates is one I’d love to hang out in. Though there are difficult, sad, real-life difficulties the characters are overcoming, I don’t feel that the story weighs on you. The author does a great job of keeping it from being too overwhelming.

Overall: 4 stars
Performance: 3 stars
Story: 5 stars

Sooooo good!

I love everything about this book and I absolutely can appreciate the way Mr.Obi narrated it. I really enjoyed it!

Super emotional

Another amazing book in the Heathens Ink world. it was an emotional journey for Nox and Adam to finally get together. I loved every minute of it. Narrative was perfect and spot on.