Category: Audio Books

A MelanieM Audiobook Review: Drama Cruise (A Nicky & Noah Mystery #3) by Joe Cosentino and Brad Enright (Narrator)

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Theater professors and couple, Nicky Abbondanza and Noah Oliver, are going overboard as usual, but this time on an Alaskan cruise, where dead college theater professors are popping up everywhere from the swimming pool to the captain’s table. Further complicating matters are Nicky’s and Noah’s parents as surprise cruise passengers, and Nicky’s assignment to direct a murder mystery dinner theater show onboard ship. Nicky and Noah will need to use their drama skills to figure out who is bringing the curtain down on vacationers before it is lights out for the handsome couple. You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino’s fast-paced, ribald, edge-of-your-seat entertaining third novel in this delightful series. Curtain up and ship ahoy!

I’m a real fan of Joe Cosentino’s over the top murder mystery drama series, The Nicky & Noah Mysteries.  Campy with a heart is one way I love to describe them, so I had already read Drama Cruise and was looking forward to the audio version.

Drama Cruise is one hilarious story about a cruise full of professors, Nicky, Noah, their parents, and a killer out to kill of the professors one by one.  I laughed my way through the book, puzzling over the mystery, loving the interaction between men, their parents, and all the crazy wedding plans.  Really, the book is terrific.  So how did the audiobook version measure up?

Great story is still there, so is the mystery.  But somehow the narration of Brad Enright just didn’t do it for me.  His voices seemed to slide between either way too bland.  I had a hard time telling the difference between some characters unless the author told me there was a change to the hugely campy tones (think 50’s television Italian roles in comedies) used for Nicky’s parents.  I just felt that the narration swung from campy to realistic to bland which threw me off.  I felt the narrator should have chosen one tone and then just  gone for it.

Love the Nicky and Noah mysteries?  You’ll love this one but I think I would go ahead and read the ebook or paperback version.  That’s the story I highly recommend.

Cover art is the wonderful movie poster/high camp version I so love and come to expect.

Sales Links:      Amazon | Audible

Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 5 hours and 56 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Joe Cosentino
Audible.com Release Date: August 10, 2017
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B074N6Q1SB

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Friendly Fire by Cari Z and Nick J. Russo (Narrator)

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

I really enjoyed the narration of this audiobook by Nick J. Russo.  I say that up front because listening to the story unfold is always a different experience from reading the book, and in the hands of a talented and experienced narrator, an average or above average story can be even more enjoyable. That’s the case here as I set out to listen to what I thought would be an interesting story but turned out to be so much better than I expected. 

Elliot McKenzie is the CEO of a highly popular social media corporation, Charmed Life.  Ostensibly, it’s for those who want to learn from past mistakes and make their lives as good as their potential.  Against all odds, he’s succeeded, and on the surface one would think he’d be pretty full of himself, but Elliot is not like that.  He’s quite down to earth and he certainly relies heavily on his staff, including his assistant, Serena.  So when she finds out he’s been getting threats, she’s on him to call the cops—something he won’t do because his sister is running for DA for the second time around and she lost the first race because of his arrest on the eve of the last election.  He won’t let bad publicity affect her this time—under any circumstances—so Serena convinces him to hire her sister’s ex-husband, a former Army Ranger who now works for a security firm.

Lennox West suffers from severe PTSD, so much so, that he’s afraid to spend too much time with his teen daughter, leading to an even further estrangement with his ex and with his daughter.  He’s trying though—going to therapy and making an effort to hold a steady job and to spend brief periods of time with the young girl.  When he meets Elliot McKenzie, life as he knew it changes drastically.  Elliot is not what he seems to be on the outside and he captures Lennox’s attention and holds it. That the sparks are mutual leads to some pretty hot sex for the two and lays the foundation for a closeness that Lennox is certainly not used to.

When accidents and threats and outright attempts on Elliot’s life keep throwing the men together and the mystery gets heavier as it appears that more than one culprit is involved, the men risk losing their independence as they see they need each other.  Does it help that Elliot’s presence in his life seems to increase the time Lennox gets to spend with his daughter? Definitely. 

The story is highly enjoyable as told by Nick J. Russo who uses a deep, rough, slightly Southern accent for Lennox and a well-paced, business-like, professional tone for Elliot’s voice.  The women in the story don’t sound the least bit fake, and in fact, at times I forgot a man was doing their voices.  My enjoyment only increased as the mystery got more complex, the men got closer, Lennox got to spend more time with his daughter, and the threats and danger to Elliot escalated out of control.  My only downside was that the couple didn’t commit to a solid future together.  Possibly the author has plans to bring them back in a sequel, and that’s something I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing.  So though the guys are together at the end, I’d call it more of a HFN rather than a HEA—still good—just not where I wanted them. 

I definitely recommend this to those who like a murder mystery—in this case attempted murder—in a contemporary MM romance with well-rounded, interesting characters.  It’s likely obvious by now, but if I must say so outright, I highly recommend the audiobook version. 

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Cover art by LC Chase depicts the rear view of a man holding a gun down at his side. Done in black on gray and with a smudged look—somewhat like a watercolor effect—the only part of the cover that stands out from a distance is the bright “fire” red title of the book.  I don’t think the cover adds any appeal at all and would not induce me to purchase it.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Audible | Amazon | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Listening Length: 8 hours and 5 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Audible.com Release Date: August 10, 2017
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B074N5PZCH

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Submission (Deviations #1) by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne and Narrator: Maxx Power

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Noah is a man in need of submission but hasn’t had any luck finding just the right Dom.  He’s had one contract with a Dom who never found anything to praise him about and was heavily into pain, and one contract with a nice guy who committed the cardinal sin of leaving the room while Noah was in bondage.  Though they are still friendly, Noah cannot submit to him.  He’s done scenes with Bradford, owner of the local BDSM club and Bradford recommended him to Tobias, a very experienced Dom who doesn’t currently have a sub.  Noah comes highly recommended to Tobias and vice versa.  This story is about their early months of navigating the waters between Noah’s needs and Tobias’s desires. 

While interesting, and with a conflict thrown in by Phan, Tobias’s former sub who seems to be present all the time at the club and is also still friends with Tobias, the audiobook seemed to drag for me during the scenes in which Tobias and Noah did role play.  I think that’s directly due to the fact that it was an audiobook rather than an e-book and the voices narrator Maxx Power gave the two men did not lend themselves to the particular historical scenarios the men chose to role play.  Also, there were a lot of sex scenes and I’m sorry to say that after awhile they became ho-hum so I was somewhat bored by about three quarters through and looking forward to the end.

I would have preferred a deeper, more masculine voice for Tobias—one which matched his body size, real life profession, and role in the BDSM community.  By the same token, Noah is a cop and his soft, almost feminine voice did not fit the description the authors built for him early in the story.  A few obvious mispronunciations also pulled me out of the story—most notably read—pronounced as reed when it should have been pronounced as red.  So I can’t give points for the narration.    

Overall, I would like more about the MCs so I may read the other books in the series, but I’m not sold on them yet, and I’m not sure I’d listen to more audio of this series. If you like BDSM with lots of steamy sex scenes, this is a good one to pick, but I can’t recommend the audio version. 

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The black-and-white cover art depicts cuffs and a flogger in black tones on a white background.  Looking at future books, it appears this theme is continued with the cover showing a black-and-white picture of a symbol of the BDSM topic.  For example, the next in the series is Bondage and that cover shows a rope.   It’s an effective way to tie the series together.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 8 hours and 56 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Tygerseye Publishing LLC
Audible.com Release Date: May 17, 2017
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B071Z73FYW

A Lila Audiobook Review: Well-Tailored: A Thorne and Dash Companion Story by Silvia Violet and Greg Boudreaux (Narrator)

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

 

Marc longs for a grand romance, but he doubts he’ll ever be that lucky. Then he meets Darius, an arrogant tailor who pushes all his buttons. When Darius offers him a job, Marc hesitates—he needs a direction for the future, not another man who doesn’t believe in relationships.

 

Darius lives by a few unbreakable rules: never sleep with employees, fashion should be simple, and romance is for fools. Marc, with his shimmery sweater collection, makes him want to break every single one.

 

They quickly give in to desire, but Darius wants to protect himself and Marc refuses to repeat past mistakes. It’s only when they let go of assumptions, that love has a chance to take hold.

 

Well-Tailored is a nice addition to the Thorne and Dash trilogy. Marc and Darius played an important role in Thorne’s and Riley’s love story, and now, they return the favor. In this story, we get to see some of the scenes from the previous book from Darius’s and Marc’s perspectives. Both stories run parallel, and as the author mentioned, this book can stand alone, but for maximum enjoyment, it’s better to read them in order.

 

The MCs’s relationship takes time to develop but their connection it’s easy to see from the very beginning. The author gives us a more in depth view into the events unfolding since their first meeting to the HEA. Most of this we saw from Riley’s POV in Personal Alignment but we get to savor Darius’s and Marc’s faults and dreams this time around.

 

The combination of Darius’s dominant side and Marc’s eagerness add spice to this story. They worked together well, not only in bed but professionally. They both see the potential in each other and with small details, they take care of the other. They were not looking for a relationship but couldn’t get enough of each other. It’s lovely to see them getting comfortable in their skins and building a space in each other’s’ lives.

 

The story is well-written and we get to see all the previous characters, plus some new addition.

 

Greg Boudreaux continues to voice this series seamlessly. The characterizations stay constant, allowing the listener to get back into their world without delay. Their voices are as relevant and their personalities.

 

The cover by LC Chase goes perfectly with the story and the characters’ descriptions. Also, it matches the Thorne and Dash series covers, but it keeps its individuality.

 

Sales Links:  Amazon | iTunes | Audible

 

Audiobook Details:

 

Narrator: Greg Boudreaux
Length: 6 hours 50 minutes
Published: July 27, 2017 (Audio Edition) by Silvia Violet Books
ASIN: B0747ZWGH4
Edition Language: English

 

Series: Thorne & Dash
Book #1: Professional Distance
Book #2: Personal Entanglement
Book #3: Personal Alignment
Companion: Well-Tailored

 

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Learning to Love by Felice Stevens and Derrick McClain (Narrator)

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A very definite love story, this is the story of chef and caterer, Gideon Marks, owner of Garden of Eatin’.  Gideon lands the job he’s been looking forward to when he secures the catering of the function sponsored by the synagogue where he grew up.  He’s been away ten years and is back to prove he’s much more than anyone ever gave him credit for. 

Growing up poor and being called stupid by teachers and classmates did nothing to help his self-esteem, but now that he’s a business owner with his best friend, Rico, and has secured this job, he’ll prove he’s more than anyone ever thought.  The thing he doesn’t realize is that the  dyslexia that earned him the “stupid” label as a kid is something that can be treated now and his hurt and resentment, in large part, was more about what he thought people thought of him than what they actually did think.

Case in point, Rabbi Jonah Fine, former classmate and gorgeous man who now seems to be pursuing Gideon for more than just his food.  Apparently Jonah harbored a secret crush on Gideon and never acted on it since he wasn’t out in high school.  But he pursues him strongly now, and together with Jonah, Gideon learns how to love—not just Jonah, but himself, with a dawning self-esteem and a pursuit of therapy for his learning disorder and with communication with his father who had abandoned him in childhood and has come back now to beg forgiveness.  Gideon is the only one on the receiving end of help though.  Not even realizing it, he helps Jonah overcome his own personal hurdles as his father retires and he takes over the role of rabbi at their synagogue.   

A very well narrated audiobook, Derrick McClain brings these characters to life with fantastic vocalizations and a well-paced narrative.  The story is sweet and sexy and just what I needed to bring a smile to my face on a gloomy day.   

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Cover art by Reese Dante. The attractive cover features a very handsome man, no doubt representing Gideon. 

Sales Links:

AMAZON US: http://amzn.to/2weRJAQ

AMAZON UK: http://amzn.to/2wevxad

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook
Published July 14th 2017 by Felice Stevens (first published April 30th 2016)
ASINB073VV9ZBK
Edition Language English