Category: Audio Books

A Lila Audiobook Review: Running Wild by SE Jakes and Narrated by Dorian Bane

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

runningwild_audiobookSean Rush is an adrenaline junkie. That’s why he was in the Army, why he steals and races classic muscle cars… and why he can’t stay away from bad boy Ryker, a Havoc Motorcycle Club lieutenant. Fortunately, Ryker can’t seem to stay away from Sean—he’s spent the last eight months breaking into Sean’s apartment and stealing into his bed, leaving Sean physically satisfied but increasingly restless.

Sean has always avoided relationships. He likes to come and go without being controlled. And Ryker is possibly the most controlling man he’s ever known. Still, he finds that he wants more from Ryker than their silent nighttime encounters.

Then one of Sean’s thefts goes bad, and Ryker’s protective instincts kick into overdrive. He takes Sean to the Havoc compound, determined to keep him safe. But Sean’s past threatens the safety of Havoc—and everything Ryker holds dear. Worse, Ryker’s hiding secrets of his own. Soon it’s obvious that the adrenaline rush can’t keep them together anymore. But maybe love can.

Running Wild is another good book by this author. It isn’t as detailed as others in her series, but it’s interesting enough to carry a new series. The concept was good, but the delivery fell short. It became predictable and cliché at parts.

I love Ryker, but Sean needed to grow up. Their relationship started strong, but then it turned more into an MF motorcycle book. Some of the scenes and the way Sean acted were easy to gender swap. I wanted Ryker and Sean to actually sit down and talk. Not pretend they were listening to each other, and not putting the club before their relationship.

One of my favorite parts was during the MCs’ separation. Perhaps because we saw another side of Sean—a more mature man trying to put his life back together and taking control. For me, the friendship between the rival motorcycle club president and Ryker stole the show. I wanted to know more about them. Maybe with Sean in the mix.

Overall, an entertaining story with likable enough characters. It lacks the emotional connection from other books from this author, but it’s a good one to start a somehow related story.

Narrator: The narration was pleasant but not remarkable. Dorian Bane did a good job getting the characters’ voices to differentiate from each other. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about MSNBC reporter Craig Melvin. I felt as if he was narrating the story, and I didn’t mind. 🙂

The cover for the audiobook is an adaptation of the e-book version created by L.C. Chase. It’s interesting, and let the reader see the road from the rider’s perspective.

Sales Links:  Riptide | iTunes | Audible

Audiobook Details:

Narrator: Dorian Bane
Length: 7 hours and 15 minutes

Published:  September 26, 2016 (Audio Edition) by Riptide Publishing
ASIN: B01LXXFCMM
Edition Language: English

Series: Havoc

Book #1: Running Wild

 

Alisa Audiobook Review: Corey: The Atherton Pack 3 by Toni Griffin and Narrator Nick Flint

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

corey-audio6x6_2_origCorey Jones has always maintained he didn’t want a mate. After falling for his college professor and having his heart broken, he vowed to never go there again. Now, his decision to remain single is put to the test when he meets his Alpha’s new personal assistant, Ethan Davies, and discovers the man is his mate.

 

After growing up in the foster care system all Ethan ever wanted was a home and someone to love him. He’s overjoyed that his recent move has brought him to his mate. Ethan’s happiness soon turns to devastation when Corey walks away from him and their bond.

 

Ethan is forced to walk a fine line between respecting his mate’s wishes and refusing to give up on the one thing he’s wanted his entire life. With Ethan’s determination, an interfering brother, and pack members too interested in his personal life, Corey may not stand a chance.

 

This is a wonderful addition to the Atherton Pack series.  Corey has a nice life working for his best friend and alpha, while he keeps himself away from relationships he lives a mostly happy life.  Ethan grew up in foster care and hasn’t had the connection of a pack and family (blood or otherwise) and jumps at the chance to get that when he comes to work for Ben.

 

Corey was devastated when his heart was broken in college and he walks away from Ethan at first, despite what his wolf wants.  Ethan is determined to win Corey over and is willing to take as long as needed for it to happen.  Throughout this story I could feel for both of these characters.  The story is told from both of their views so it is easier to know what the characters are thinking.  As with the other books in the series I love that these two work towards a future instead of jumping into bed together.

 

Nick Flint did a wonderful job narrating this story.  I was able to understand the characters through the voices and emotions he portrayed.  Even though this is a book I have read it felt new to me listening to him tell it.

 

Cover art looks great and follows the pattern for the series.

 

Sales Links: Mischief Corner Books | Audible | Amazon | iTunes

 

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook, 3 hrs 23 min
Published: September 20, 2016 (ebook, 2nd edition, published February 11, 2015) by MCB
Edition Language: English

Series: The Atherton Pack #3

A MelanieM Audiobook Review: Fear of Frogs (Brimstone #2) by Angel Martinez and Narrated by Vance Bastian

Rating: 4.5 stars out of  5

fear-of-frogs-audibleWhile Shax recovers from a near fatality, his shipmates have been busy. He’s rather proud of them taking the initiative and finding them a lucrative cargo run. His pride turns to outright horror, though, when he finds out what sort of cargo. Unfortunately, he’ll soon discover that a healthy fear of frogs doesn’t prevent frog-driven disasters. Time travel has never been so messy.

I read  Fear of Frogs (Brimstone #2) by Angel Martinez as part of a Brimstone collection (Brimstone: Demon Owned & Operated (Brimstone #1-3) and loved it then.  But I’m always curious to see what new elements a good narrator can highlight or expose that I  never noticed before in a story that I’ve previously read so I was delighted to listen to Vance Bastian narrating Fear of Frogs!

What a joy all over again!  Spawning frogs, the wild west, demons in love, , but  most of all our demon prince Shax, his demon best friend Verin, his fallen angel lover Ness, that crazy drag queen I.A.. Ivanna and more on the spaceship Brimstone.  Vance Bastian does a beautiful job of capturing the many personalities of the crew of the Brimstone.  Bastian slides from our main couple to the outrageous drag queen I.A. to the gruff Verin to the cowboys and back to our fallen angel with ease.

I thought I could type and listen since I already was familiar with the story but before I knew what was happening my typing got slower and slower as once more I got caught up in the recovery of Shax and the anxiety of Ness, his lover, their predicament after the event of “the frogs”, and boom! I was listening and not typing at all.  As the events I already knew about unfolded, it all seemed so fresh.  And yes, I loved it more.

I never did get back to my typing.

I just sat back and listened as Angel Martinez’ wonderful story played out through the wonderful voice of Vance Bastian and the crew of the Brimstone got into some pulse quickening adventures and then triumphed once more.  I hated for it all to come to an end.

So here is another audiobook recommendation for you.  It made a book I loved even better.  Are you a fan of science fiction, Angel Martinez, humor in space or all three?  Throw in a narrator guaranteed to bring it all to life and you have Fear of Frogs (Brimstone #2) by Angel Martinez and Narrated by: Vance Bastian.  I can’t wait to the others to come out on audiobook as well.

Cover art by Freddy McKay is fanciful and perfect.

Sales Links

Mischief Corner Books LLC

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Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio, First
Published 2016 by Mischief Corner Books, LLC (first published February 20th 2014)
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series Brimstone add to your Goodreads shelf here:

An Alisa Audiobook Review: Opposites (Opposites #1) by T. M. Smith and Greg Boudreaux (Narrator)

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

opposites-audioIn the year 2081 our planet survived global warming of an apocalyptic scale. When the dust settled and the water receded Dr. Anthony Smith, one of only a few hundred survivors of GWI, started society anew. Having come to the conclusion that injudicious breeding played a huge role in the destruction of Earth as we knew it in the twenty first century, he worked closely with other survivors to isolate the Dionysus gene. This gene has the ability to manipulate human DNA to ensure that all male children be born gay, and all female children be born lesbians. A new society is born.

 

In the year 2300 Dr. Smith’s descendants are ushering in the twenty fourth century having maintained control of the government that still rules society. Twins Aiya and Aiyan are preparing to meet their matches and take control of House Gaeland, the current ruling House. But not everything is as it seems.

 

Love is Love, it knows no gender and doesn’t conform to restrictions and boundaries. Aiyan has found his soul mate in Kaden, the prince of House Devi that he is matched with and eventually marries. But when the person Aiya falls in love with tests the boundaries put in place after GWI, all hell breaks loose. And in the midst of one secret unraveling, another will emerge. There is a growing anomaly that threatens to destroy over two hundred years of progression. This anomaly is known as Opposites.

 

This was an interesting book and a bit different from what I usually read.  There is a lot going on with along with a large number of characters to keep track of.  Each person has a set of both mothers and fathers since they are primarily homosexual in this world.  Most of the focus is on Aiya and Aiyan’s relationships and those directly connected to them, soon to be spouses and their families.

 

This story is told from all points of view at some point which can make it hard to keep track of what’s going on or who we are listening to at the moment, it probably took me until about a third of the way in the story to be able to keep better track of everything once I learned the characters.  The author did a great job of building the story and the world around these characters, there was never something missing in the world, sometimes there was a bit more explaining than I thought was necessary.  I was left wanting to know what will happen in the next story due to the ending, but am not going to spoil it for anyone.

 

Greg Boudreaux did a nice job narrating this story.  The different voices for the characters made it a bit easier to keep track of what was going on.  He did a good job of separating the numerous characters that we see which helped.  While he separated the voices I got most of the characters emotions from the writing than from his speaking.

 

Cover art is nice and catches your eye.

 

Sales Links: Audible | Amazon

 

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook, 6 hrs 16 min
Published: September 22, 2016 (ebook first published June 1, 2013)
Edition Language: English

Series: Opposites #1

Audiobook HIghlight with ‘Writing the Dystopian edge’ by T.M. Smith and his Opposites audiobook release! (guest post and giveaway)

Opposites is now available on Audiobook 
Written by T.M. Smith
Narrated by Greg Boudreaux

Writing the Dystopian edge by T.M. Smith

Hello everyone, and thanks for stopping by Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for their stop on the Opposites Audiobook tour. I thought I’d talk about the Dystopian edge to the world that I created for Opposites. I’m a huge fan of books like Dune, The Lord of the Rings and the Matched series by Allie Condie. I pulled elements from these three series when I started writing Opposites.

In Dune, people don’t have last names, they have Houses. Since Opposites took on this elemental saga with a huge cast of characters, I decided not to give the characters last names, but to give them Houses that they’d be tied to. So you have Aiyan of House Gaeland, Kaden of House Devi and so on. There’s also the intricate storyline in Dune with the worms and the drought, there are similar elements in Opposites with ‘Global Warming Ignition’ or GWI as I refer to it within the story. Opposites is set some 200 plus years in the future after Global Warming basically ignited and annihilated our planet. Society was reborn from the ashes and the Houses were created and the smartest people still alive are put in charge of these Houses.

Tolkien’s epic saga is one of my favorite books, series and movies. While this is an older series, it’s still wildly popular and, dare I say, almost a cult classic in its own right. I love the costumes, the era, the weapons and sword play. I included this ancient but recent style of clothing and weapons in the Opposites series. I also tried to keep the clothing and weapons somewhat liken to the area or region that the specific characters were from. I think I had the most fun with House Devi when describing culture and clothing, especially the Mehndi.

The Matched trilogy is exactly what the title says. It’s a future society where everyone is matched, sometimes without having even met each other. It’s what can happen when you’re incompatible that really plays into the story. Taking it one step further, what if in this society I have created where as being Gay/Lesbian is the norm, one of the royal houses children is very much straight? She’s matched to a young woman that she very much admires and loves, though not the way it was intended. How will the relationship shape these two women?

I promote the Opposites series as Dystopian SciFi because there are elements of both in the world I’ve created. If you’re a fan of either sub-genre, I’m confident you’ll enjoy this series. But at its heart, Opposites is about romance, passion, figuring out who you are and deciding that the person you want to be is up to you… not some preconceived notion of what a relationship should be. I hope you’ll grab a copy, Greg Boudreaux really outdid himself with all the various accents and characters. Each dialect is accurately portrayed and brought to life with rich accents and nuances.

In the year 2081, our planet survived global
warming on an apocalyptic scale. When the dust settled and the water receded,
Dr. Anthony Smith, one of only a few hundred survivors of GWI, started society
anew. Having come to the conclusion that injudicious breeding played a huge
role in the destruction of Earth as we knew it in the twenty first century, he
worked closely with other survivors to isolate the Dionysus gene: the gene has
the ability to manipulate human DNA to ensure that all male children be born
gay, and all female children be born lesbians. 

A new society was born

In the year 2300 Dr. Smith’s descendants are
ushering in the twenty fourth century having maintained control of the
government that still rules society. Twins, Aiya and Aiyan, are preparing to
meet their matches and take control of House Gaeland, the current ruling House.
But not everything is as it seems. 


Nature vs Nurture 

Love is Love… it knows no gender and doesn’t
conform to restrictions or boundaries. Aiyan has found his soul mate in Kaden,
the prince of House Devi, that he is matched with and eventually marries. But
when the person Aiya falls in love with tests the boundaries put in place after
GWI, all hell breaks loose. And in the midst of one secret unraveling, another
will emerge. There is a growing anomaly that threatens to destroy over two
hundred years of progression. This anomaly is known as Opposites. 

*WARNING* Opposites is an Adult Dystopian
majorly M/M novel that contains explicit sexual content and relationships
between gay, lesbian and straight couples. There are brief scenes of violence. 



Opposites: Audible | Amazon Audio | iTunes

Meet the Narrator of the Opposites series; Greg Boudreaux. 
The spicier side of the oh so amazing narrator, Greg Tremblay, Boudreaux brings the more erotic LGBT titles to life like the Opposites series by TM Smith – the Fitting In series by Silvia Violet and the Assassin/Shifter series by Sandrine Gasq Dion, just to name a few! 

You can find Boudreaux on Facebook, Twitter or Audible.

 
☆  ☆ The Opposites series Audiobooks and links ☆  ☆

Opposites: Audible | Amazon Audio | iTunes
The Library, an Opposites novella: Audible | Amazon Audio | iTunes
The Cellar, an Opposites novella: Audible | Amazon Audio | iTunes


 

Opposites
The Opposites series, book 1 
The Library 
An Opposites novella {book 1.5} 

 

Appearances
The Opposites series, book 2 

 

The Cellar 
An Opposites novella {book 2.5} 
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon DE | iTunes

Coming Soon: Snapped, Opposites series book 3

 

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A military brat born and raised at Ft. Benning Georgia; TM Smith is an avid reader, reviewer and writer. A Texas transplant, she now calls DFW her home. Most days she can be found curled up with a good book, or ticking away on her next novel.
 
Smith is a single mom of three disturbingly outspoken and decidedly different kids, one of which is Autistic. Besides her writing, she is passionate about Autism advocacy and LGBT rights. Because, seriously people, Love is Love!
 
Author links: Amazon || ARe || Smashwords || Website || Facebook || Twitter 
Goodreads || Pinterest || Youtube

 

 

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