Guardians of Stone

The Relic Seekers, Book 1

By: Anita Clenney

Narrated by: Renee Raudman

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The BrainsKendall Morgan, a relic expert born with the family gift for sensing the history and location of ancient artifacts. The BucksNathan Larraby, the enigmatic billionaire who has hired Kendall to locate four powerful relics. The BrawnJake Stone, the tough, sexy mercenary with a mysterious past, contracted to protect Kendall.

Every mission Kendall accepts carries certain hazards, but Nathan’s latest is proving to be the most dangerous yet. Kendall’s attraction to Jake - and to Nathan - is making it hard to stay focused, and none of them can afford the distraction. Because there’s someone else hunting the relics, someone who will stop at nothing to put them to his own sinister use. But the dark secrets Nathan’s keeping could cost them the mission, their lives...and the history of mankind.

©2012 Anita Clenney (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Very Good Read

If you like fantasy mixed with a little romance and adventure, this is a book to read. The rivalry/competition between Jake and Nathan as it relates to Kendall is often funny.

great listen!

this turned out to be much better than id expected, from some of the reviews. not sure why some of those ppl said what they did. there was Not any kind of 'soft porn' in here! that in itself makes me laugh. the book had a lot of flirting, their way of trying to understand why they have such immediate and deep feelings for each other.
i did laugh out loud many times, but the premise def makes a really intriguing storyline.
hit me with book 2!=)

Guardians of stone: The relic seekers book one

I enjoyed the three main characters of the book. Nathan, who is a millionaire that seeks relics, hires his two assistants to get a special spear, which is in Rome. His assistants, Jake, who is a soldier and Kendall, who has special gifts to help with their mission. To find this relic, that Nathan wants, they must go to extreme lengths while trying to keep alive from villains who are also after the relic. I liked the pace of the book as it never became slow or boring. It left the ending with several unsolved mysteries, which hopefully will be resolved in the next two books. Very enjoyable.

Female Indiana Jones with a twist...

Kendall Morgan is a modern day Indiana Jones with a twist – her sixth sense. Since she can remember she has always had an uncanny ability to sense the history and location of objects and sometimes people too. Growing up hunting relics with her father and best friend, she always loved what she did and after a tragic plane crash that killed everyone she loved, she dedicated herself to finding and protecting the relics of the world. When her boss, the reclusive and mysterious billionaire Nathan Larraby, asks her to help uncover the location and procure four powerful relics, she accepts and soon finds herself flown to Italy with a brooding and mysterious mercenary Jake Stone. The two of them head off in search of the first relic and soon find that things aren’t all what they appear to be.

Two words: Loved it!

The book revolves around our three strong, stubborn and flawed characters: Kendall, Jake and Nathan. Kendall is our female Indiana Jones and uses her sixth sense to find and locate objects and sometimes people. She uses her gift sometimes more than her brain and I am honestly surprised she hasn’t gotten killed over it yet. Sometimes her stubbornness and impulsive nature really made me want to smack her and talk to her about being smarter about her decisions. That being said, she also had a determination and curiosity about her that was truly envious. Jake, our brooding, mysterious and horny mercenary was an interesting character to say the least. I will honestly say, I didn’t care for him at first. He was a pig and sexist and just irked me the wrong way too many times. After awhile he did grow on me but it did take a bit longer because of his earlier attitude towards Kendall. In the end, he proved to be stubborn, protective, and while he was still horny as a dog, he truly seemed to care about Kendall and her well being. Nathan, was also an interesting character but I did like him more than I did Jake. He was very reclusive and mysterious but he had an air of mystery, determination and desperation that made me want to delve into his head and find out everything about him. I will admit though that he did some irksome things, especially with all his secrets! Too many for my liking but I can see how they help the book along.

The plot itself was very interesting and definitely followed the whole Indiana Jones theme we have going on. They are relic hunters who are searching for an item and hopefully retrieve it faster than the sinister Reaper does. Speaking of the Reaper, though we know he is the one after the relic and while we do find out some stuff about him…I still wonder if he is actually real. My only real qualm about the plot is how fast it moved. I mean it FLEW by. I felt as though I was almost rushing through the book just to keep up. I think things could have been slowed down a bit, explained more and given a bit more detail instead of the quick hints and details were were given.

I am curious as to where the romance will go in this book because while it does have romantic elements in it, there is no real inclination as to which way it is going. As of now there is no love triangle per se, but it is possible it could lead to one in future books which has me worried. Hopefully not as I already know who I want her to end up with and it better happen! And I think it will because as much as I enjoy this book…I think I already know where everything is going because unfortunately it is a bit predictable. Nonetheless, I will still continue to read the series because I enjoyed the adventure, the mystery and the history that is revealed! A fun and action filled adventure that I am glad I picked up!

A Paranormal Female Indiana Jones

"Guardians of Stone" was a free book from the Samsung Book Deals provided by Kindle. I enjoyed reading it so much that I added the audible narration for .99 cents when I was about a quarter of the way through. Although Renee Raudman is not the best narrator, as the three main characters all sound the same, I still enjoyed her performance (rated it +3 stars).

Kendall Morgan is a tough female protagonist with an interesting talent at finding hidden and rare relics. The book begins with a mystery from her childhood that is not answered by the end of the book. Since there are two other books in the series, more of Kendall's personal history will probably be revealed if one keeps up with the series.

Kendall's paranormal gift provides a nice touch of fantasy for this adventurous story. It reminds me of a Dan Brown Davinci novel. Still, Brown takes his characters and mysteries too seriously, so Anita Clenney provides a nice contrast for readers who want something a little more humorous and lighthearted. Another apt comparison is that Kendall is a female version of Indiana Jones, along with all the complicated love interests Jones often finds in each new adventure.

Actually, the idea of a love triangle turned me off from the book a bit. It gets tiresome, especially when you cheer for one of the heroes only to have the heroine pick the opposite man. Both Nathan Larraby and Jake Stone are strong men and are a good match for Kendall's own spirited self. There are also secrets about both of them, neither of which is revealed by the end of the book. Although there were lots of playful interludes between Kendall and Jake, there are no real R-rated scenes yet in this novel. By the end of the book, I am most interested in Nathan because I find his character more appealing than Jake's.

The villain, the Reaper, is a rather sinister person who will stop at nothing to own the artifacts of power. Lots of death and destruction follow in his wake, but I am sure our trio of heroes will preserve.

As for the mysterious artifact that Kendall hunts in "Guardians of Stone", that mystery was easily solved. The questions that persist are the ones about the different characters from the book and even a non-character from Kendall's childhood, her best friend Adam. There are some fun supporting characters that Renee Raudman does an amazing job with their voices, she has a good southern drawl. They provide a lot more humor as uninvited sidekicks to the adventures of the main trio.

The ending was very disappointing, but I expected that since there are two other books in this trilogy. Anita Clenney makes me want to spend more money to read "The Lost Chalice" and "Fountain of Secrets". I look forward to finding out more about Kendall, Nathan, and Jake. I just hope that Clenney keeps Kendall a strong, independent relic seeker despite the fact that there are two hot-blooded males vying for her attentions.

Feeling Torn on this one...

What disappointed you about Guardians of Stone?

I wasn't crazy about the narrator.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I thought it was pretty good. I'm intrigued, I'd definitely like to listen to the next one to unsolved some more mysteries.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator kind of spoke weird. Almost like a lisp or something that frequently made her "s" sounds sound more like "sh." I guess it's nit-picky, but it bugged me. It just seems like if you're going to have someone narrate a book, you'd weed out things like that. I don't know...

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Interest mostly. One of the reviews I read for this compared it to a girl version of Indiana Jones. I love that series and I can definitely see how that comparison can be made. There was adventure and mystery and a bit of romance, although honestly, I like a little more romance than there was in this book, but I think it might be leading there a little bit. The main point of the story isn't for romance though, it's the adventure/mystery angle.

Any additional comments?

It's pretty cheap, so I think it's worth the buy.

ok book

it was a decent book, I just had trouble getting into it or feeling rivetted by it. I even accidentally left it on (the way audible works is a bit weird) fir like 10 min and didnt notoce and was able to pick right up again because there is a near constant recap.

Good book

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed listening to this psychic action adventure story. The plot, storyline, and character development are well crafted. Kidnapping, mystery, and sex appeal add to the story. I'm looking forward to book two.

The voice..

I probably would have enjoyed this book much more if the voice matched the ages of the characters better.
The male characters were okay. But the female lead left so much to be desired. She’s supposed to be 28, she sounded like she was 62.
Besides that, the book was good. Just this particular narrator isn’t my best pick.

Will follow the series.....

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It is a cool storyline.

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

I was a little disappointed in her reading of this book. I enjoy her reading the Kate Daniels series so I am leaning more that this book, while I enjoyable, it is no Ilona Andrews book....Let's face it, Kate Daniels is a a kick butt heroine....while Kendall wants to be but falls short. Sorry but talking about doing and doing are 2 different things....

Any additional comments?

I hope Anita Clenney continues the series and I hope Kendall continues to grow to be that kick butt woman for real instead of just in her mind. As I mentioned, I do like the storyline and I just picked one book 2 so we shall see.