Within These Walls: Book 1

By: J.L. Berg

Narrated by: Felicity Munroe, Gabriel Vaughan

Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

From USA Today best-selling author J.L. Berg, comes a breathtaking story that shows us how love truly can conquer all... even the most damaged of hearts.

Within these walls, he became my solace, my sanctuary, and my strength. I am not strong. I am just a survivor of circumstance. Isn't that what we all do? Survive? Each of us has our own set of circumstances to muddle through. Mine are just more.... complicated.

Born with a severe heart defect, I've seen the inside of a hospital room more than my own bedroom. I was drowning, a prisoner to the illness that owned me, until he appeared. He thinks he's blocked out the world with his tattoos and hard exterior, but I see the real Jude, the one he so desperately wants to forget. But is he the answer to my prayers or will he break my already damaged heart forever?

My name is Lailah Buchanan, and this is our story of hope, redemption, and sacrificing it all for the one you love.

©2014 J.L. Berg (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Narrator

Felicity MUNROE talks LIKE Willam SHATNER. She stresses almost every other word. IF I can make IT through THE book I may CHANGE rating.

✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

I enjoyed this series a lot. The storyline wasn't very original but the way it all ends makes this story stand out. Lailah has lived such a sheltered life that she has a lot of dreams for her future. Jude is hiding from his past and is pretty much knocked off his feet when he meet Lailah! This is a beautiful love story even if it feels a bit quick. Jude will do anything for her and that just melted my heart!

I loved how Jude's personality did a 180 with her and he started trying to find ways to check off some of her wishlist items. It was sweet and changed my thoughts about his character!

The narration grew on me, in the very beginning I wasn't crazy about with voice but it didn't take to long for me to forget about that completely.

Very Nice Surprise

This was a free Kindle book with the Whispersynch Audible version available for $1.99 which allowed me to try out a new-to-me author without risking a credit or much hard-earned cash. As such, I wasn't expecting too much, maybe a little fluff to pass the time. Within These Walls was definitely more. I was pulled in rather quickly by the circumstances of the H and h who are good people in difficult situations and are easy to like. Lailah and Jude have been dealt some pretty crappy hands in their game of life and are in kind of a life limbo because they believe that the "something missing" that would give them back their lives has been lost forever and that's just the way it is....until they meet and start to hope again.

I was impressed with the story as a whole. It moved at a good pace without "instalove" and remained interesting throughout. It managed to be romantic without being too cheesy and sexy without too much, over-the-top, graphic sex. Oh, there was sex, but it was a necessary progression of the story, was well-written and wasn't the main focus of the book or even the token, gratuitous porn of the formulaic romance book. (For the record, I am totally fine with a little gratuitous porn, though I have to admit that I'm a little burned out on it seeming to be a requirement and do find my mind wandering during what have become the "obligatory dirty parts.") On the hot-o-meter, if Jane Austen is 1 and Lora Leigh is 9, this is about a 3.

Both narrators did a great job with the dual POV. I base that on the fact that I was not distracted by myriad mispronounced words, glaring errors in inflection or ridiculous voices. There are some better performers out there, but there are significantly worse ones who I've suffered through, so overall, I think they made a good team. 1-10, I'd say they were a 7.5.

Bottom line: I will be getting more books by this author and more audiobooks read by these narrators. I noticed that this story appears to continue as a series, but it could be a standalone and has no cliffhanger--another plus. Thank you, J.L. Berg. This listen is absolutely worth a credit or cash, but if you can still get it for less than a drink at a restaurant, don't hesitate.

crying in public

damn you audio book for making me cry in public again.
what a Nice surprice this book was. New auther for me, new narrators. But really good and different then the rest of the books out there.

Good

This was the first book in "The Walls Duet" . This was a really good read Lailah Buchanan has spent her life in and out of hospitals she was born with congenital heart disease. Jude is a CNA, he took the job at the hospital after a tragic accident three years ago in which his fiance was killed. When Jude is switched to the cardiac wing he meets Lailah and they become friends. The longer they spend time together they begin having feelings for one another. After learning it's his fault that Lailah didn't get the heart that was designated for her for a transplant, he has extreme guilt and makes him more determined to make her happy any way he can. After they fall in love, Lailah finds out that her insurance has denied her request for a transplant. Tired of the things she's had to go through she decides to stop trying, which means she will die. Jude who is a billionaire is hiding from his life while Lailah is just wanted to have a normal life and do normal things. Jude he makes a deal with his brother that he will return to his family's company and run it and get it out of financial disaster if they will give him access to his trust fund immediately which he uses to secretly pay for Lailah's heart transplant although it means he has to leave her. This was a good read that I also listened to on audio. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Within These Walls

What a wonderful,heartwarming book!

I loved Jude and Layla’s story. They are so young, but learned the true meaning of giving and loving another. They both suffered but were awarded a lifetime together- I loved their characters.

This book brought an awareness to me of how blessed I am and how utterly devastating it is for individuals and families to fight everyday for their loved ones who may be sick or have an injury that could cause the loss of a limb or paralysis, or blindness. I’m not saying I was unfeeling or unaware before, it’s just this book made me realize what we all seem to take for granted.
Great performances and beautiful writing.

Puple Unicorn!

I cannot give this duet enough stars. Let me preface this by saying there are two books, in the romance genre, that never had me yelling out loud, at least once, to one or both of the main characters, to get their heads out of various holes. No matter how much I love a novel, there is always a point, for me, where I am rolling my eyes and begging the author to move it along. It's a good book if that feeling lasts for less than a chapter.

Within These Walls and Beyond These Walls are the two books. Yes, you'll cry, but you will also laugh, a whole lot, and most importantly, you will still love Lailah and Jude and remember them long after the books end.

If you are like me, and always have an audiobook queued for shopping, skip these two in public. I traumatized a couple of Trader Joe's employees who were quite concerned over my tears in the wine section. I never considered myself a person who "bursts" into tears, but it happened.

It goes to show that listeners all have their own views on what makes a powerful narrator, I thought both were perfection.

Thank you, J.L. Berg!

Beautiful story!

I absolutely loved this book. It is sweet, hopeful and quite a bit sexy. It’s going on my Favorites List! The narration is perfection!!

Within These Walls

This was a sweet story. Pretty predictable, but a feel good HEA.

The problem was the narration. I read the first review that said the female narrator sounded like William Shatner, and I couldn’t agree more. Awful! The male narrator sounded so young, it was hard to picture him with a slightly “alpha” personality that was running a multi-billion dollar company. What was worse, was his female voice. His voice for Leighlah made her sound like she was 12, which made their interactions weird, and his older woman voice was just creepy. If these two narrate the next book in this series I’m going to have to say “no thanks”. Overall this could be a much better book with new narration.

BEAUTIFUL LOVE STORY

I loved this book lots of twist and turns
I would recommend this in minute
Yes it had me crying more than once

Suddenly a expiration date appeared on this book

UNABLE TO FINISH AS AN UNEXPECTED EXPIRATION DATE APPEARED ON THIS BOOK.
It was included in my membership, then this date saying available until 14/10/22 popped up. Not able to finish in time.
Ridiculous!!!
It’s either included or it isn’t Audible!

Have given 5 stars all around otherwise my reviews do not appear. Anyone else noticed this censorship??🤔

The book was ok until I couldn’t access it any longer. Can’t say more than that☹️

Healing Love Story

For anyone who has ever gone through the hospital rollercoaster and lost a loved one, read this book - it will be healing. Worth every tear and heartache, the HEA here is unexpectedly perfect and extremely well done. Applause!

Beautiful

Fantastic story, from a sad beginning to a very beautiful ending, this book has it all. It’s a must read you can’t miss it.

Boring

The narration was good but oh my God, this book was so boring. I really had a hard time finishing it up. too long for nothing

review

fantastic loved it cried laughed shocked a little bit surprised over whelmed need a ?

So Good

This story is so sad but yet so good, I really enjoyed it, Had subject to write about but yet so well written and I would definitely recommend. Loved Jude and so glad he finally got his HEA after so much heartache. Brilliantly written.

an enjoyable listen

the narration was a great performance from both narrator's, bringing life to both characters. the story of each of the characters was heart felt and well written. an enjoyable listen and I'll be going straight into the next book.

Pleasantly surprised

So I didn’t finish this book thinking I can’t take the ending IF the main character died! But read book 3 and thought I had to come back and finish this! And so glad I did. Absolutely love it and can’t wait for book 2.

I cried and smiled and swooned.

Just a fabulous book that I'm so pleased was written and made into an Audio book.
The characters are believable up to a point. However, the love story is compelling, and made me cry tears of empathy for Jude as he spills his heart to Leilah. Jude is very swoon worthy and loveable.

Beautiful and emotional

Lailah and Jude relationship was highly complicated as they both have their own struggles. Their story is emotional and beautiful and I loved it.