Stoned

Wrecked, Book 1

By: Mandi Beck

Narrated by: Kai Kennicott, Wen Ross

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

"A rock star with no rhythm is a man with no soul." - Stone Lockhart

As the lead singer of one of the hottest bands to hit the rock scene, f--ks are free, drugs come easy, and music is life.

For as long as Stone can remember, Willow has been his music - the notes that weave his soul together. His rhythm.

Until he threw her away.

All he has left is a handful of pills and a few lines of powder to make him forget her. And he tries, over and over.

Clean and ready to make things right, he's faced with the fact that Willow's moved on. She's not the same girl he cast aside. Willow's a woman sure about her purpose in life. Sure about who she's meant to love.

Stone may be lost without his rhythm, but Willow has found so much more.

©2016 Mandi Beck (P)2016 Mandi Beck

Fantastic narration

I want all of the audio book production companies to take notes. The production for this was sensational I love how they alternated the voices while in the different POV's; made for very consistent story telling. Wen has a beautiful voice, I could listen to him read a phone book. Perfect for stone and all of the other male characters.

Now for they story; my heart torn into pieces for Willow. It really sucks when you're being treated like crap by someone you love. I commend her for leaving and starting over. But I also commend Stone for wanting to get better. However it should not have taken Willow leaving for him to realize that. The constant infidelity was not okay and I found it a little hard to accept that he really cared about her. Mandi Beck did a good job. Normally I'm not into musician stories but this story had dimension, I was completely captured.

Great book with AMAZING narration!!!

I loved this book! I loved that this story was more original and the characters grew so much from the beginning to the end of the story. It was so easy to love them when you go through the ups and down and personal growth with them. The build up was beautifully painful! And the ending was perfect! You ever get tired of the same ole story, you know the ones.... Guy chases girl, girls resists for 5 minutes, they have lots of sex and then break up over some huge drama that was just a misunderstanding and they finally talk and realize it was a mistake and live HEA?? THIS IS NOT THAT BOOK YAY!!!! I can't wait to try another book by this author!

The narration was fabulous, I've been hearing about Wen & Kai for awhile and can't believe this was my first book narrated by them but they are now on my must buy list! They narrate in the duet style and they do it flawlessly. The back and forth flows so perfectly, I am incredibly impressed!

Beautiful, Gripping Emotional Story & Performance!

Mandi Beck surprised and impressed me with such a well written emotional story. I love it when authors can write a story powerful enough to make me feel all the emotions the characters are experiencing. The plot, characters and depth exceeded all my expectations, and I fell in love with this amazing second chance love story. It was heart-breaking, heart-warming and had a powerful underlining message about addiction, forgiveness, and unconditional love. Stone and Willow's journey wasn't easy but their story took me on an unforgettable ride filled with hurt, drama, angst, love and forgiveness, and left a lasting impression stamp on my heart. I know I will revisit this story many times in my thoughts, well worth five stars. Bravo Mandi for beautiful gripping emotional story that was perfectly narrated!

Kai Kennicott and Wen Ross performance rocked! The extra effort this duo put into their performance could easily be felt and heard throughout the story. Not only did they delivered on the characters, emotions and the various tones, but they narrated from the male/female dialogue and not just from the m/f POV's. Their performance really made this an incredible audio experience, and I enjoyed every minute. Kudos!

Stoned was well worth the time and credit and is a great choice for those who love stories that will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride and throw in a few surprising twist. I will definitely be on the lookout for more stories by Mandi Beck, and audios narrated by Kai Kennicott and Wen Ross.

Emotionally Charged Rock Star Romance

What did you love best about Stoned?

The brutal honesty and raw emotion. Mandi Beck didn't shy away from the painful subject matter, but rather portrayed it in a thoughtful, realistic, and truthful way. Wen Ross and Kai Kennicott gave amazing performances as Stone and Willow.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved Stone and Willow, but Bear really stole the show for me. He brought some much needed humor to the story when things got too heavy and serious. He also had some awesomely hilarious dialogue with Stone and the band. I loved this protective lumbersexual and his wife Cora! ;)

Have you listened to any of Kai Kennicott and Wen Ross ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I am a huge fan of Kai and Wen! This was one of their best performances because it was so incredibly emotional. I cried and felt the tightness in my chest a lot during this book. Hearing the pain the characters were experiencing was almost too much at times.

Any additional comments?

This book deals with addiction, but also another issue that may be a trigger for some readers/listeners. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but fair warning that this is not a flowery lighthearted love story. It's a story of redemption, forgiveness, and ultimately unconditional love.

A BREATHTAKING JOURNEY FROM BROKEN TO WHOLE AGAIN

I thought I was ready for this love story.. but I was so very wrong because once I started to listen to this emotionally epic rollercoaster, that is Willow and Stone's heartfelt love story, I just didn't want to stop.. and rarely did. Mandi Beck has written an awesome awesome awesome story about broken hearts, broken dreams, broken promises, the healing power of forgiveness and the joy of second chances.

Stone, the handsome lead singer of Wrecked, was out of control with drugs, drink and groupies and his long suffering long time girlfriend Willow had tried everything to get him to stop his destructive bad behaviour - but nothing had worked. She was a shell of her former self and, after one heartbreaking night too many, Willow finally had to admit defeat so walked away from the love of her life.. because this out of control hurtful junkie was nothing like the boy she had fallen deeply in love with all those years ago. But, as soon as Willow was gone, Stone foggily realized he'd f'ked up and hit the self-destruct button - however it was actually the best thing to happen because that got him admitted into rehab. And, 90 days later, a very different Stone walked out of there - a reformed clean bad boy determined to find, and win back, the love of his life.. no matter what. But if Stone does eventually find Willow he may not like what he sees because Willow has new friends, a new life, a career, a child.. and a man too.

This was such an emotionally gripping dual POV story because you feel for both of them and understand why Stone needs Willow and I respected the fact that he stood his ground, was determined but also gave her her space too. And I also understood that Willow wanted a 'safe' relationship but she learnt that she just couldn't fight the pull of their attraction, their chemistry, their history and the haunting memories of the things that they'd shared. There were sad times, heartbreaking times, a shocking twist, sex, no cheating after Willow left, drama, angst, good secondary characters, humor, great banter, sweet tender heartachily beautiful words and swoon-worthy actions as this pierced, tattooed, sexy, dirty talking, loving Alpha Rocker slowly won back his rhythm, his heart, his soul, his Muse, his music and his girls. And the oh so strong but oh so hurt Willow gave it a damned good try to live her life without Stone.. but once his sincerely sorry crazy ass hit town it was really game over for Willow.. even if she didn't yet know it.

Worth a credit? YES.. it was so well written, very enjoyable, addictive, deep, moving and it was a beautiful love story about making mistakes, learning from them, atonement, forgiveness.. and eventually second chances. Kai and Wen's smooth natural narrating style added reality, depth and brought about that all important human element.

Wow! What a pleasant surprise.

I took a chance on this book and I loved it. I think others should give it a try so I'm writing my 1st review bc there was only 1 written when I bought it.

I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series as well as more from this author. I enjoyed the narration style which was a bit different than other male/female duos. The heroine was a strong, smart and sexy girl with a ton of wry humor. None of that "wallflower-steamrolled-by-the dominant millionaire/biker/rocker guy."

It's a story about redemption and the difficult road to it. It's a love story, but it's gritty and raw and real. And touches of humor as well. It's a well-rounded assortment of emotions

Absolutely LOVE the duel narration!!!!!

Kai and Wen didn't miss a beat! I can't tell you enough how much I loved their narration! It totally brought the whole story to life fit me! Will have their narrations on auto download from this point on! Great, great, great listen! Totally worth the credit!!!!!!!!

Long on angst

This story starts out with the two main characters breaking up and then spends 95% of the book with them apart. I know many stories get bashed for insta love and insta relationships so maybe you are the type of person who likes a slow getting together. Then maybe this is the book for you.

However, these two had been in a relationship for many years prior to the breakup. There is an addiction issue that causes many relationship problems as you can imagine. At one point willow has enough and she leaves. There is a lengthy period of time before they even meet up again as willow is basically hiding out

I also don't enjoy love triangles and there was an aspect of that in this story too.

The narration was ok. Just ok in my opinion. I've heard Kai and wen narrate before and if you love then you will in this story too as it's their typical style. I enjoy the back and forth conversational narration style. What I don't enjoy are their many mispronunciations and their weird fake laughter. They reminded me of acting from kids tv where over the top fake emotions are popular. But as I said it's their typical style you will enjoy this story more than I did.

5 Stoned Stars

I was apprehensive going in. I have read another book by Mandi Beck and liked it up until about a half way then I just couldn't connect. So I was hoping this wasn't like that and I am sooooo glad I gave this author a second chance because I lovvvvveeedd this BOOK!

Stone won me over, heck he will probably won every red blooded female who reads this book over. He fought and fought and fought never giving up on himself or his lady love. And it wasn't easy but he did what he felt he had to do. I LOVED that so freaking hard.

“Your words went from being my cure to my curse.” – Willow

Willow sure doesn't make it easy on Stone and why should she? He put her through the ringer, so I can’t blame her for not wanting to open herself up again only to hurt like that again. So she was guarded and for good cause. But he fought his way back in and it was just one of those romances where you are rooting for the guy because he is doing all he can to show her what he is made of not just with words but with actions how much she means to him.

I can’t say enough good things about the narration either, Wen and Kai do a phenomenal job bring this book to life in my ears. The emotions, the connections, it’s fantastic.

*You don't have to like my review but its 100% my opinion, and I am allowed to have it.*

Amazing!! Be ready for a roller coaster of emotions!!!

This book literally took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. The book begins with the demise of rockstar Stone Lockhart and his girlfriend, Willow's relationship due to his drug drug abuse. From there we are taken on a ride of despair, struggle, and pain which eventuallly becomes redemption, healing and forgiveness. Author Mandi Beck does a phenomenal job of creating such emotionally complex characters which you want to root for despite their shortcomings. Be prepared to feel ALL the feelings! Have some tissues and ice cream on hand for absolute must listen audiobook.