Surviving Raine

Surviving Raine Series, Book 1

By: Shay Savage

Narrated by: Sean Crisden

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

As the captain of a schooner catering to the elite on the Caribbean Seas, Sebastian Stark does his best to avoid any human encounters. Interacting with people isn't his thing, and he prefers the company of a bottle of vodka, a shot glass, and maybe a whore. There's no doubt he's hiding from a checkered past, but he does well keeping everything to himself...until the night his schooner capsizes, and he's stuck on a life raft with one of the passengers.  

Raine's young, she's cute, and Bastian would probably be into her if he wasn't suffering from alcohol withdrawal. As the days pass, DTs, starvation, and dehydration become the norm. Even the most closed person starts to open up when he thinks he's going to die, but when she realizes their traumatic pasts are connected, it's no longer the elements that have Bastian concerned.  

He has no idea how he's going to survive Raine.  

Contains mature themes.

©2013 Shay Savage (P)2019 Tantor

Outstanding Experience

I loved everything about this book and especially Sean Crisdens' narration, no one else could have done it better. Now waiting impatiently for part 2.

Bastian and Raine Mesmerize

I couldn't get over this book - Bastian comes from a life of never being wanted to survival, before he ever meets Raine - he is in the midst of a self-made witness protection program when an earthquake/wave destroys the small cruise ship he is operating. Shay, you are no ordinary fiction writer - I am never bored by "his gorgeous chest" or 1,000 other repetitive details - your people seem like they could be real. Thank you for this wonderful, mesmerizing story - what a damaged couple separately so alone - to be brought together by these harsh circumstances and to survive by Bastian's past training - ends up saving Bastian's life - and perhaps in turn Raine's. Again, dialogue is realistic and plot as well. Shay - Transcendence is pretty hard to beat - but you have done a fabulous job with your other stories - I could not put this down. I am on to Bastian's Storm - to enjoy what happens and hopefully get a satisfying ending and epilogue! PLEASE! Sean Crisden is Perfect as the narrator - have always liked him - and his translation of your characters is wonderful.

So bad, it was funny

I read transcendence by the same author. That book was very sweet. I would never have guessed this book was written by the same person. It felt like a John Cena or Vin Diesel movie. The tiny woman needed rescuing by the big strong man. But he also need rescuing from himself and his self destructive anger. I listened to the whole thing because it was entertaining, but not in a good way. So many tropes. The performance was fine. Honestly, it was probably read as intended. I have a problem with the male version of the girl’s voice. It sounded mocking but that could just be because the author wrote really shitty lines for her that seemed dumb and could easily be interpreted as mocking. It could also just be that it’s hard to do a female sounding voice as a man. I don’t know. The point is, I don’t wanna dock the narrator for potentially doing exactly as he was instructed. It just felt like a dumb action movie.

Not my kind of love story

I didn't like the characters. I'm not into jerks and this was all about Bastian being a jerk and Raine stupid. But I endured it to being able to discuss it with my book club. It really was Surviving Raine and Bastian.

Narration ruined it

Had trouble getting into the story due to the narration...it was more like emphatic reading than a performance. Male narrator seemed bored.

5+ Stars - One of my Favorite Books!

One of my favorite books of 2013, I've read it and I've listened to it and I plan to listen again. Here is my review:

Wow! This book left me truly stunned. I had never heard of this author and after seeing the reviews of a few of my peeps took a chance and am so very thankful I did. I read this book from start to finish without putting it down. Folks, this is an amazing book, one of those books that grabs you by the throat and won’t let go. I read a lot, constantly, and it’s not often that an author surprises me with something new, exciting and refreshing. Yes, it’s an erotic romantic, yes the hero is a drunk, a jerk and a manwhore with dark painful secrets and yes, the heroine is young, sweet and beautiful. Sounds familiar right? Well, there is so much more so don’t let that stop you because if you like romance, heart-stopping action and seeing a man who truly needs love and redemption find it, then this is the book for you.

If ever a man was in desperate need of a life raft, it was Sebastian “Bastian” Stark and I mean this literally and metaphorically. Stark is the captain of a large schooner who cruises the Caribbean with wealthy passengers. He‘s a rude, miserable 29 year old man that has lived a dark, dangerous, violent life and has many secrets. He’s an alcoholic, chain-smoker who picks up whores in different ports along the way. Upon learning this information early in the book one is left wondering how on earth the author can possibly make this “hero” likable and believable as the romantic lead. Fear not and have faith. And make no mistake he knows he is all those things and believes he doesn’t deserve anything good in his life. Then he meets Raine.

The ship capsizes and Bastian ends up in a life raft and rescues one of his passengers, Raine Gayle and the story becomes quite fascinating from there. Suffice it to say he has met his match, both in life and love. There are a number of other wonderful reviews on Goodreads and I could not possibly do a better job. All I can say is, please give this book a chance, you won’t regret it. It will be a definite reread for me and I will go so far to say that this will be my NUMBER ONE BOOK OF THE YEAR!! If I could give it six stars I would!

Love this story!

I've loved this story for a while now but I have just one word for this performance... OUTSTANDING! Sean Crisden has just joined my list of favorite narrators.

Very repetative and boring

The devil may care attitude gets old really quick, especially when his internal dialogue knows he is being snippy. Knowing that they will eventually end up together makes the earlier parts that much more cringe worthy. The book was very frustrating, repetative and the plot had to many speed bumps.

A lot of the book doesn't make sense and it makes the two characters look like idiots. The earliest example is not knowing how to do CPR correctly or how to do CPR in open water.

Cute

This is a cute story, a bit predictable and there is a sugar overload but it's so entertaining. Sabastian is a great character. Raine is interesting but very, (too) innocent until they are "home" and the tables turn. A good book overall and I will probably read the next in the series.

Unfortunately not for me

Maybe a macho male with a massive ego would enjoy this, but the story and the narration just irritated me

Well...

I read this book because I liked other book from this author - Transcendence. Well, this other book was way more better... I kinda didn't like the brutality and vulgarity in Surviving Raine. In Transcendence I truly cared for characters, here I didn't. Raine (and Bastien also) were just annoying

fantastic story

loved this - narrator was excellent - story was compelling and heartbreaking. Looking forward to the next book!

Wow! I got completely lost in that book.

Enjoyed this book - loads. I listened to the author’s book, Transcendence, recently and enjoyed that too, but more like a slightly guilty pleasure though it was really good within its genre. This book, however, is just great all around with no guilt. I think the fact that the characters could actually communicate led to a lot more depth.

There were certainly uncomfortable times and the hero is certainly a messed up man that you come to love despite the biggest pile of history in the world. In fact, for the first third of the book I wondered if I even liked the hero enough to listen to the rest, but I’m so glad I persevered. That uncomfortable time adds to how happy you are with their story by the end because they come so far. You have to be OK hearing about violence and the dark underbelly of the world and be ok with violence to enjoy this book. However, this book is more about the couple and their relationship evolving whilst lost at sea, and looking back on how those violent times shaped the hero rather than living within that violence (mostly).

This author has a really unique way of developing stories that has now officially put them to the top of my list which I regularly check on Audible to see if there are any new releases. The stories are about two people growing together into a relationship in an unusual situation. Also like the fact that the point of view is from the less likely character. Having the male POV and him being someone we, as the reader, wouldn’t meet in our everyday lives means having a window to his internal thoughts is really powerful, and the female character is pretty normal so it’s easy for us to imagine her thoughts despite the book not being from her point of view.

I’ve heard Sean Crisden narrate before and he’s always been fine, but I’ve never given him much thought before. He was really good in this book and I imagine he was able to truly buy into the characters and the story because it was well written which made his performance even more convincing.

Fantastic job by everyone involved in making this book happen!

End note... I bet there’s a load of people who will dispute the survival tactics or dealing with addiction - but if there are any problems in that arena (I wouldn’t know and it sounded well researched to me) then I suggest just suspending reality and enjoying the story anyway.