Taken

By: Natasha Knight

Narrated by: Michael Pauley, MacKenzie Cartwright

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

I'm one of four Willow daughters. He's the first-born son of the Scafoni family. And we have history.

For generations, the Scafoni family have demanded a sacrifice of us. A virgin daughter to atone for sins so old that we don't even remember what they are anymore.

But when you have as much money as they do, you don't play by the rules. You make them.

And Sebastian Scafoni makes all the rules.

The moment I saw him, I knew he would choose me. Even though the mark on my sheath declared me unclean. Even though my beautiful sisters stood beside me, offered to him, he still chose me.

He made me his. And then he set out to break me.

"Intensely dark, twisted, and perversely hot! If you loved Pepper Winters's Indebted, you will love Taken." (Anna Zaires, The New York Times best-selling author)

©2018 Natasha Knight (P)2019 Natasha Knight

Critic reviews

"Intensely dark, twisted, and perversely hot! If you loved Pepper Winters's Indebted, you will love Taken." (Anna Zaires, The New York Times best-selling author)

Oh So Good!!!

I loved this dark book!! Sebastian is easy to fall for. Heck I just listened to it and I am falling for him. Helena was the chosen one. Though her sisters are pure and she is not. I love her tenacity although she is in a bad place. She is a fighter.

Michael Pauley and MacKenzie Cartwright did a great job with narration!

I cannot wait to start listening to Torn!!

Family Drama

When the first born Scafoni son is forced to select and take a Willow family daughter for 3 years, the custom is to break the girl mentally and physically, but she cannot be killed and / or returned home for 3 years.

In the beginning I enjoyed the defiant Helena Willow and her calculating, rule breaking methods. Then she turns a bit whiny, but I guess I would too in her position. Helena finds her solid fierce determination again and that's when things get interesting!

Sebastian Scafoni selects Helena Willow. He loves her inquisitive nature, strong iron will, the love she has for her family, and yet he doesn't want to want her, but he does want to protect her.

Before leaving home, Helena receives a gift from her aunt, the last Willow daughter. Now trying to survive in Venice, Italy with no support system, she tries to find out about the curse and how her family history brought her to this place.

I really enjoyed "Taken". Narrated by Michael Pauley and MacKenzie Cartwright who do an amazing job at announcing the fury, madness, and depravity written in this story. Even though this story is written in today's era, and makes reference to more barbaric days gone by, you can almost put the current days back in the past (like a highlander environment) due to some of the "traditions."

Oh wow, wow, wow!

I don't usually write a review for the first book in a series, but I figured if I'm going to listen to it again I might as well. I'm not the type to listen/read a book twice, but I love this book that much. When I recommend books to people, this books makes it on my top 5 romance novels. Yes, it a little, lol, a lot dark but so delicious. When I give a book five stars, that means it held my attention from beginning to end. This book won't disappoint.

Voice actors

Males voice sounds robotic and monotone through the entire book like it’s being read by a computer.

Dark and Dangerous

This is a dark book with many layers. There's more to the characters than you would initially think and the story develops well. It's a twisted concept but those sometimes have a way of working out.
Now, onto Torn!!

Intense Dark Romance!

Wow! This was an intense, suspenseful, thriller dark romance! With a major cliffhanger! The narrators did an intense job capturing their character. This isn’t for the faint!

🎧@AudiobookObsession

Storyline decent, but plagued by audio issues

A new genre for me, the dark storyline keeps the reader engaged, with good character dimension and dialogue. However, the audio quality of this recording is unbalanced. Female narrator’s voice is clear and has good intonation, while the male narrator’s audio recording sounds muffled and overall lower in volume. Additionally, his speech seems forced, almost growling (but ALL the time), with insufficient inflection in tone to bring the character’s dialogue to life. Almost returned it in the first 10 minutes; had hoped book 2 showed improvement, but doesn’t sound like it.

A few good chapters make is worth the read

Rape, humiliation, inspected, forced, whipped. I loved it. I like it dark and demented. For some this book will be over the top and too much. For me, this is a decent start, and I look for more.

I wish Audiable would let me search for books by steamy rating "Red Hot" and by themes like abduction, slavery, rape, humiliation ect. They make it hard to find truly "dark" and erotic.

Really hated the male narrator

The male narrator made finishing this book almost painful. His voice sounded almost robotic. The pacing of the story felt off and I wasn't quite sure what made the main characters so irresistible to each other. The intimate scenes were pretty hot.

Outstanding Series

The story is breathtaking, as is the narration. Be sure to have all three books in your library before stating the first one. I would like to thank the author for this series.