Gamma

By: Cass Carlton

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

This series is best read in order. Annabelle was separated from her friends, the other two cell block brides that their government gave a choice to.

Life in prison or freedom on an alien planet. Except it never quite worked out the right way. Pirates intervened. But just when the pirates turned out to be not so bad, in swooped the alien bounty hunters.
And then the government agents.

That’s where life turned to hell in a handbasket. Annabelle, formerly known as Gamma was now stuck on a government ship with Captain Cutie Pie, a verifiable jerk, and his Commanding Officer, an even bigger jerk. And too sexy for his own—and her own—good.

Low Angst Light Action Romance Listen

Definitely recommend it if you want a bit of action, lightly spiced romance and low angst.

There were a few plots that could have been explored and developed to ensure listener satisfaction.

I'm a bit disappointed with the light justice the author metes out to the antagonists in her books. When readers or listeners become enthralled by a story and are introduced to the evil dudes or dudettes who are dastardly, we want the great relief of seeing karma dished out to them.

Giving us a quick summary of justice served off the page and then quickly running to a scene where the main characters are banging for joy ruins the mental climax we expect to feel when a story peaks and is resolved.

We want to see the justice meted out to these vile villains in the story. And for relatability, when the leading man is part of a group that murdered refugees, you want to clear up his involvement or lack thereof. This way this gut-wrenching moment plays a more defining moment to endear listeners or make us want to skin him alive. Every plot point should strengthen the story in such a way where the listeners feel absolutely bewitched by every scene. When the book ends we should be wondering "What the hell do I do with my life now?"

These are just some of the minor issues that annoyed me as a picky reader/listener.

Overall, if you are looking for something light with a good amount of spice to listen to then this book is a great option. The virtual narration is also good. It's not very emotive but it gets the job done.

You get what you pay for

The story itself was perfunctory, with flat dialogue and zero chemistry. It didn’t help that Virtual Voice was robotic and didn’t differentiate between characters. Half the time, I couldn’t tell who was speaking.

The whole thing just felt lazily slapped together. The summary tells you it’s important to listen in order, yet can’t be bothered to tell you what the order is. Whatever the proper order, this is not the first book. Even for free, however, I will not be moving on.