Bryn

Fun read!

Rezensiert am: 27.02.2022

This was a fun read. The world building is done very well, the races are in many ways familiar and yet K. M. Shea puts her own unique spin on them to make it interesting and fresh. The characters are handled similarly; the female lead is strong and sarcastic (which is kind of a trope for this genre) but also feels genuinely warm, smart and is a hard worker that I can actually admire. The vampire lord is reserved and mysterious but has a unique sense of humor. The plot was handled really well, too, and I was kept engaged the whole time.

The narrators are great. Alister Austin doesn’t get to read much but his voice is smooth and perfect for the role and he portrays the aloof vampire well. And Natalie Duke is amazing at acting without over acting - she brought so much life to Hazel and made even small pieces of dialogue sound like an actual conversation (as opposed to a narrator just reading out loud), it was perfect!

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1 Person fand das hilfreich

Sweet story

Rezensiert am: 24.11.2017

I liked this book. It’s fun and light, the characters likeable and their slow move towards the HEA believable. They’re both not the deepest or most well rounded characters I’ve ever encountered, but I wasn’t looking for an analysis of the human condition when I chose this book, so that’s totally fine by me.
There is some drama, but not a lot and the obstacles are similarly handled: they’re there, but the characters work through them slowly and pretty smoothly (wish it was like that in real life). It wasn’t an emotional roller coaster, but again, I didn’t mind because I was looking for something sweeter. It did make me laugh out loud at home as well as chuckle in public several times though, which I almost never do when listening to audio books.
Also, I wasn’t ever bored and listened to the whole thing in only 2 sittings. It definitely kept my attention the whole time and I don’t think there are any scenes that should be cut or shortened, the pacing was perfect for the story.

I loved the voice actors, I thought they were both great, even though the way they portray the characters are different. Didn’t bother me, though, cause the way we perceive someone is different for everybody anyway.

For people who might be bothered by it: the f-bomb gets dropped quite a lot (mainly by Blake, mainly to actually refer to sex and not to swear), so if that ain’t your cup of tea, you might wanna look elsewhere.

So, was it worth the credit/money? Absolutely.

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Can't stand Knox.

Rezensiert am: 11.06.2017

A lot of the reviews I read for this audio-book were unhappy with the narration but loved the story. After listening to the sample, I thought the narration wasn't too bad and gave it a try. I made it through the first half and I am now giving up. If I'd only have an hour or two left, I might finish it just because I dislike unfinished stories, but six hours? No.

My problem, though, isn't the narration. To be honest, I didn't think it was bad at all - not great, but good. The voices are okay, the male ones deep, although they don't have much of an individual voice, so you can't tell them apart just by hearing the dialogue without the "said Knox/Jolene/whoever" bits. But again, That to me just means it's good narration instead of great narration. The pacing was nice, so was the pronunciation and I like the voice itself. The other reviews disliked that the main character sounded whiny and like a Valley Girl, but I didn't get that impression at all (one of her friends does sometimes sound like a Valley Girl, though). So, if that's the reason someone might hesitate to buy this, listen to the samples (Tip: audible.com ad audible.de have different samples) and decide if that sounds okay to you.

Now, my problem is with the writing, mainly the portrayal of the two main characters. Harper is supposed to be this super independent woman that doesn't take no sh*t from anyone, but whenever Knox pushes her around, all she does is protest slightly and then letting him do whatever he wants to do. That annoyed me, but not as much as Knox does. Now, I realise that the possessive, controlling type is often the love interest in paranormal fantasy/romance, and I'm usually okay with it, even though I do not find that sexy or hot at all, but the author takes it way, WAY too far here. Knox isn't just "rather possessive and a bit controlling" like other love interests (think alpha werewolf, for example), he... well, he checks off every goddamm point on the list of behaviours of abusive personality types. He gets insanely jealous when he notices other men just looking at her with interest (he wants kill them, in fact, and I guess we're supposed to pat him on the back for not doing exactly that - again, they were looking at her from a distance, no even trying to talk to her), he doesn't only flat out tell Harper that because he wants her as his anchor, she has no choice (same thing when taking their relationship to the "next level", he tells her that because he wants her and won't stop or take no for an answer, she doesn't have a choice), he also tells her pretty much exactly: "You're mine and I can f**k you whenever I want". I could go on, but honestly, you could play abusive behaviour bingo with this guy and hit everything (except maybe for gas-lighting and physical violence towards Harper).

Now, I know a lot of readers enjoy this the controlling "You're mine!" type of love interest in books and again, I can usually still enjoy the book even if this isn't my favourite type. But romanticising the kind of extreme behaviour Knox shows I can't ignore. I don't want to be thinking "Girl, RUN! As far and fast as you can!" while listening to a romantic/erotic story/scene. I don't want to be constantly thinking "If this was real, it would end badly for her", either. The only reason why Knox's behaviour isn't a "problem" in the book is because Harper just lets him do whatever and because she doesn't mind the things he's doing (or when she does only protests weakly and it's portrayed as if he knows best anyway). This is a book and not real life, so I guess it will go on like this and they will be "happy", but yeah, I'm done.
To make my point more clear, let's compare this to a well known series with an incredibly physically strong, possessive and controlling male lead: Curran from Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series. There is a very clear difference between Knox and Curran: Curran respects Kate, as a person and a fighter, and he shows this through his words and actions. When she says no to him, he might roar and argue, but he doesn't just dismiss it as if her no means nothing. And Kate does say no, she doesn't just agree to whatever he wants. She is her own person and stays that way. That's why, even if I personally wouldn't want to date Curran, I can see why they're perfect for each other and I actually got invested (still am) in their romance. Sadly, this wasn't the case here.

If you're like me, better look for another book. If you don't mind Knox's extreme behaviour and are looking for a book heavy on sex (not really romance, though. They're relationship is driven by lust and possessiveness, not tender feelings) and light on plot, then go for it.

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10 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Not for me - gave up after 30 minutes

Rezensiert am: 09.06.2017

I knew by the cover and the description that this focuses on romance/sex instead of action, and I usually prefer the focus to be on action, but I thought "why not?" Sometimes I'm in the right mood and a well written romance-heavy book is just what I want. I gave up on this 30 minutes in and I am returning it.
In these 30 minutes, we get a prologue from his perspective, we get an introduction to our heroine who trespasses into private property without thinking twice (by climbing over a 10 foot fence, no less) and said heroine gets first surrounded by a bunch of military-looking guys with big guns and then kidnapped by one of them - aka the love interest. She is scared, tries to escape, and instead of talking to her or explaining things, he just leaves her in a locked room for hours. When she tries to escape again and hits him over the head doing so, he throws her in the trunk of his car and drives to his parents. So far, I wasn't impressed by the plot, the writing style or forced humour, but I was still okay with continuing, hoping it would get better. This was about 25 minutes in. But then the "heroine" looses all fear of him just because she sees his parents and they look elegant and refined (wth does that have to do with anything?) and another minute later she is suddenly kissing him and thinking that he is everything she's ever wanted. Also, have I mentioned that she takes NO TIME at all to accept that shapeshifters are a thing? She thinks he's crazy at first when he tells her she's his mate (nothing 'bout the shifting bit), but then she sees someone else shift into his animal form, he's like "Oh yeah, we're all animal shapeshifter here" and she's like "Well, I've seen it with my own eyes, so it's true. Okay, moving on." Just, no.
Naturally, since I've only listened to the first 30 minutes, I don't know if it gets better after that. Also, I've stopped in the middle of their first make out session, so maybe she comes to her senses afterwards. Or maybe not. But I'm not willing to spend more time to find out.

The narrator is okay. She sounds too breathy for my tastes, especially because she does so right from the start (and all her voices do, even the male ones... so maybe it's just the way she sounds normally) but I could ignore it after a few minutes. Not my fave, but not a deterrent either.

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1 Person fand das hilfreich

Lots of sex, little action

Rezensiert am: 05.11.2016

This book focuses heavily on the romance between the two main characters, with a lot of sex and talking about the reasons for and against becoming an item. The action and enemy defeating part of the story is really more of a subplot and accounts for... maybe 30% (it felt like even less to me, about 20-25%, but I'm being generous because I suspect that my preference for more action-heavy plots is influencing my perception quite a bit here). Also, there wasn't much depth to the romance plot. But that in itself is fine, if that is what you're looking for.

My real problem lies with the male lead and the heroine's friends: They're both deciding a hell of a lot without asking her. I don't care that she really likes him (deep down, even though she can't admit it); I just can't stand it when there's things like the heroine's friends deciding that he's 'perfect for her' and then help him being pushy - which this guy is. He is described over and over as a 'nice guy', but ... the way he behaves is not my definition of an actual *nice* guy. He's not a complete douchebag, but he's basically decided that she is perfect for him without really knowing her and also, after some time of mild flirting, that he has 'waited long enough' and then wants total commitment NOW. Seriously, the last thing he does (I'm not gonna spoil it) would be a total deal breaker for me (and her friends help him do it...), even in literary fantasy land, where possessive and decisive alpha-males are hailed as the nonplus-ultra of the male species.
(To be fair, he is not the 'push you against a wall and forcefully kiss you until you submit' kind of pushy, which is probably why he's called a nice guy. But he has decided he wants to marry her and grow old with her before ever being intimate or even just having a meaningful conversation with her, and he expects her to come to the same conclusion without even taking the time to get to know/date her. So, you could say he's not physically pushy, but emotionally.)

The narrator does a good job. Sometimes she uses the wrong voice (usually that's when there is a single line of dialogue without 's/he said' and you have to infer from the context who's saying it) and the voices could be more distinct, but all in all, I liked the performance and it was easy to listen to.

I'm probably not going to buy another book from this author any time soon, because this was not my cup of tea. But the writing wasn't bad, so I would recommend this for people who are in the mood for a story that focuses on romance and sex and don't mind a pushy hero.

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