Marked

Eternal Guardians, Book 1

By: Elisabeth Naughton

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Theron - Dark haired, duty bound and deceptively deadly. He's the leader of the Argonauts, an elite group of guardians that defends the immortal realm from threats of the Underworld.

From the moment he walked into the club, Casey knew this guy was different. Men like that just didn't exist in real life - silky shoulder-length hair, chest impossibly broad, and a predatory manner that just screamed dark and dangerous. He was looking for something. Her. She was the one. She had the mark. Casey had to die so his kind could live, and it was Theron's duty to bring her in. But even as a 200-year-old descendent of Hercules, he wasn't strong enough to resist the pull in her fathomless eyes; to tear himself away from the heat of her body. As war with the Underworld nears, someone will have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

©2011 Elisabeth Naughton (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Conniving Greek gods, horrifying demons, vengeful warriors, and true love clash in this sexy, fast-paced paranormal romance series launch." ---Publishers Weekly

Good series if you can get through the first book

What did you love best about Marked?

The story was good, heroine a bit stupid at times, interesting characters set up for future books.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narration was the hard part to get used to. Over acting, too long dramatic pauses. I seriously considered ending my read with this book but kept going.

Any additional comments?

Stick with it, you get used to the narrator.

Good Beginning to a Series

This was a good beginning to a new series. It was unique enough to keep my interest. The narrators voice seemed a little mature for the age of the characters. I wouldn't listen to this one again but I will listen to the rest of the series.

Great series, great narrator, worth the credits!

Any additional comments?

Although I’m already on the 4th book, I thought it would be more helpful to write my review on the first book to encourage the new possible readers.

I love this series! No two books are alike and in each book the story-line evolves. YES! These books have an actual story-line and are not just books about sex, sex and more sex. The focus of the books is not just on the main character(s) in which it is written for, but involves characters from the previous book while introducing new characters. In each book you will see the characters’ relationships develop with a lot of twist and turns and that the heroics is not just one sided where the alpha males are always saving the day, but the female characters are strong with purpose and heroic as well.

A book to come back to

This is my second time listening to this book. Elizabeth Wiley makes the book come alive. I probably wouldn't have read it all the way through- the constant tease become annoying- Wiley kept it entertaining. Now I have listened to it twice and will keep it in my library as something to come back to for those times when I cant find anything better.

I Couldn't Connect

The Eternal Guardians are an elite group of Argonauts that guards the immortal realm from attacks from the Underworld.

Theron is the leader of the Argonauts. He has been sent on a mission to find and destroy the marked one. Theron's people relay on Theron completing his mission.

Casey knew from the first moment she laid eyes on Theron that he was different. She fells a connection with him. Theron and Casey get closer, which makes things harder when Theron learns that Casey is the one he is after. Now, Theron must make a choice...save his people or protect Casey.

Marked is the first book I have read by this author. It is an Eternal Guardians novel. I liked the premise of the book. The first thing that caught my attention was the bright book cover and then the book summary. Well I can tell you that after reading this book that I still like the book cover but that is about all the really like about this book. There was no connection for me with the characters or the story. There was no memorable moment or moments for me. I kind of just went through the motions of reading this book. Plus, I thought that the story jumped around too much, leaving some unanswered questions. Overall, I was not very impressed with this book.

I did not like Elizabeth Wiley's delivery of the story in particular her male voices were bad.

An interesting PNR with mythology

The narration was okay. I don't feel like added or detracting from my enjoyment. It got the job done.

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. It has great potential as a book one of the series as the writing was pretty fast paced. Constant action and an interesting mix of mythology made the novel interesting. I really liked Theron, but I liked the sister Isadora more than I liked Casey. I didn’t want Theron and Isadora together, but I liked Isadora’s inner fortitude. Both sisters obviously had the capacity for self-sacrifice and get love, so that was really cool. I never quite understood King Leonidas and his fascination with humans when he didn’t really care about humans either. I also had a hard time with “Eternal guardians” who were more human acting, eating sandwiches and wearing jeans. But there was a clear sense of duty and what was right, and the guardians strived to do their duty. How they could spend time on earth fighting demons but be clueless about Misos, half breeds, was beyond me.

I actually enjoyed Hades, who was kind of a villain, and his wife Persephone. They brought a special kind of mischief to the table and it was entertaining. I also enjoyed having a woman, Atalanta, be the villain because of the discrimination she suffered. I felt her pain, though her means of exacting retribution was too extreme. I look forward to her next plan to slaughter the Argoleans. I am hoping book 2 will fill in some more background and tell us more about Isadora’s deal with Hades and Persephone.

not like a lot

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

new paranormal base

Would you ever listen to anything by Elisabeth Naughton again?

as long it was not with the argonauts or the narrators were different

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Elizabeth Wiley?

mason lloyd or jeffrey kafer or robert petkoff

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

bored

Any additional comments?

i love paranormal stories but i have a hard time with the "gods" and Argonauts. not keen on the narrator either. the guys sound weird.

loved the story....hate the narrator

Elisabeth Naughton is one of my favorite authors when it comes to greek mythology love stories. i feel like she was not dont justice on how great this book was because the narrator made the characters sound as if they were 20 years older than they were. Thuron voice also sounded creepy instead of sultry and sexy.

Awesome!

Loved it. It had it all, love suspense, and demons!!! Can't wait to listen to the next books!!

WOW, WOW, WOW....... I'M IN LOVE

From the very first Chapter until the last I was absolutely consumed by this awesome listen and I found myself using stealth and ingenuity tactics. So, I growled at anyone who dared to speak to me, I let the answer-phone pick-up my messages, gave my husband the remote and a beer, bribed the kids, ordered in pizza and then happily became just a 'ghost' for the day. Why you may ask? well......

It's such a richly described, well-written story that'll have you picturing each Chapter, be surprised at the twists and turns and you'll become so emotionally invested as this entertaining, powerful soul-mate love story deliciously unfolds. There's some really great characters, plenty of villains, interesting sub plots, sexy drool-worthy Argonauts, Greek Gods, Demons and it's full of mythology.

A very enjoyable thrilling fantasy romance, with lots of action, passion, sacrifice, lust, Demon slaying and well narrated by someone who breathes life into the characters, puts emotion into the storytelling and adds plenty of feeling into all the drama.

Worth a credit? YES - not only worth the credit but I downloaded all the others that are available too and sooo worth the beer, bribe and pizza money - and all the phone calls I had to return too!!