Trophy Wife

By: Alessandra Torre

Narrated by: Will M. Watt, Aria Collins

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

From New York Times Best seller Alessandra Torre...

Everyone in Nashville knows Nathan Dumont.

Four years ago, his fiancée disappeared.

Last night, he proposed to me.

I'd wanted to escape my life, the seedy strip club, and the mountain of bills. I had seized the opportunity to live in a mansion, fill my days with country clubs and caviar, my nights with romance and sex.

Maybe I should have done my homework first.

©2017 Select Publishing LLC (P)2017 Select Publishing LLC

Ugh!

First the female narrator has terrible editing. Too much background noise and I heard voices in the background. Second- the storyline was stupid. The female character was weak and forgave too easily. The male lead was an idiot for his entire motivation. The story itself was just dumb! ☹️

4 Wife by Design Stars

I gave this audiobook a B for the story and narration at AudioGals.

Narrated by Will M. Watt and Aria Collins

I have been a fan of Alessandra Torre’s edgy, dark and twisted romances for some time now, though I hadn’t had a chance to try her earliest works yet. So when I saw that her debut series, The Dumont Diaries, which had originally been released in 5 serial novellas, was being expanded and repackaged into a stand-alone book that would also be available in audio format, I knew I had to listen to it.

I must admit that while the story definitely held my attention, and contained its fair share of twists and turns, it wasn’t as dark or as edgy and twisted as what I had originally expected given my prior experience with some of Alessandra Torre’s works (note that Ms. Torre has also written other plain vanilla romances, like Hollywood Dirt , so not all her works are of this subgenre). That said, the heat factor on Trophy Wife , for those that enjoy arrogant, alpha-hole styled heroes, is off the charts. Additionally, there is a thread of a romance triangle that will keep you initially guessing what direction the story will take, never mind a suspense angle to the plot that kept me intrigued (though the resolution was ultimately much tamer than what my wild imaginings had initially conjured up along the way, given the mind trickery that I have come to expect from Ms. Torre).

Candy has definitely hit a hard stretch in life. Originally aspiring to be an interior designer, she presently works as a stripper to make ends meet. Unfortunately those ends don’t even include her father who has come down with a mysterious illness and who is not getting the health care he needs.

Then everything seems to change when Nathan Dumont and his bodyguard Drew walk into her strip club. The next thing she knows she’s being whisked away to a whole new life and being promised good care for her father. All she needs to do is pretend to be utterly in love with Nathan, marry him, and become his “wife” Candace Dumont. In public, he plays the devoted husband, but in private he subjects her to complete disregard, except when she is servicing his body (which many times he humiliates her by forcing her to do it in public).

Fortunately, she derives great satisfaction from her personal interactions with Nathan, even if she is left completely bereft of understanding why he treats her at all other times so coldly. She tries to derive answers from Drew, his bodyguard (though she can’t understand why Nathan needs a live-in bodyguard who seems to be constantly watching her). Notwithstanding her attempt to charm and befriend Drew, however, she is left equally clueless as to why Nathan picked her out of all the possibly girls who surely could have filled this role

Why did Nathan pick Candy, and what does he really want from her? Moreover, under such suspicious circumstances could there ever be a HEA?

See the full review at AudioGals.

Good story but....

There was a dropped plotline that dropped my rating. I cant believe that the author & editors missed it. it changed the story. otherwise it was interesting, if not very original. Narration was good, not exceptional. Worth a "free" read with the romance package, but I would have been unhappy if I spent a precious credit on it.

Could have been better...

...but it was okay. Predictable. But light read if you are looking for that. If you want deep, moving. Find another book.

Great Read

Trophy Wife was a great read by Alessandra Torre. Nathan Dumont is known by everyone in Nashville. He has developed half the town and then slept with the other half. His fiancé disappeared four years ago. Last night, he proposed to Candace. Candace worked at a seedy strip club and has a mountain of bills. She seized the opportunity to escape her life and live in a mansion. I enjoyed reading this book and can’t wait to read more by the author.

Outstanding Story & Performance

Trophy Wife is an excellent story from Alessandra Torre with all of it's twist and turns it keeps you interested. Will M. Watt and Aria Collins performance are top notch!

Just listen to the sex scenes

This story was lacking. Its unfolding was disingenuous to the characters’ personalities. The heroine was immature, and the hero, without affect. The premise of the story of the heroine being a striper offering limited benefits and the hero being a love-torn billionaire was ridiculous. The turnabout in the end was inconsistent with the characters. The book’s only redeeming qualities were the narrators’ performances and the off-the-charts sex scenes.

Oh My Heart

I was so emotionally involved with these characters and their brokenness. I love how the author kept them connected with their constant desire for one another.

Strange, Dirty Page Turner

Trophy wife starts off feeling much like Pretty Woman. As the story progresses it turns to Pretty Woman meets Fifty Shades and then it evolves into something completely crazy and different. This is the strangest romance I have ever read, if you could really call it a “Romance”. Candy is smart and strong at times, and weak and pathetic equally as much.

Nathan is an A-hole for most of the book and Drew is equal parts A-hole and sweet. Despite this lot of not very likeable characters, this book is difficult to put down. You really don’t know how the story will end until the final pages and makes Trophy Wife a worth while read.

I was a bit surprised to find that unlike the other two A. Torres books I have read, Trophy Wife is quite racy, so be prepared for a whole lot of dirty.

The narrators individually were great but I think they recorded them at separate times and put the dialogue together after the fact. As a result the timing of the back and forth conversation is often funny and one voice has more echo than the other. 5 stars for the narrators, 3 stars for the director, editor or whoever was responsible for putting the two voices together.

Male narrator has a lisp!

I really liked the story, however I was very distracted by the male narrator. He has a lithp! I couldn't believe it. When I was reading the reviews, I didn't see anyone mention this which I found strange because it's very obvious. Maybe I noticed it more because I listen through headphones? Anyways, if you can ignore the lisp, this is a great book.