Category: Audio Books

A BJ Audio Review: Not Fade Away (Hell and High Water #3.5) by S.E. Jakes and Adam North (Narrator)

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Not Fade Away audiobookTruth or dare.

Ever since superspy Cillian moved into Prophet’s building, their game of Steal the Couch has been funny to Prophet, but a thorn in Tom’s side. Then Prophet gets bored one night during an ice storm and insists on playing another simple game with Tom: Truth or Dare. In exchange for one of Prophet’s truths, Tom steals the couch one last time. 

But Prophet’s truths are never easy—Tom should know that by now—and this one raises questions neither of them quite know how to answer. In response, Tom finds himself laying claim to Prophet in the most basic way he knows how. And also finds that he doesn’t mind it in the least when Prophet returns the favor.

This one is entirely different than the others… it’s playful, fun and kinky without the usual action and guns. Considering this is largely a grouping of sexy interludes, the narrator did an exceptional job. The one thing that sorta bugged me in the narration was the way the “bebe” endearment was used… each time it sorta pulled me from the story. But totally just me, I think. Because he did an excellent job of making this a one-handed read.

The chemistry between Tom and Prophet was as combustible as even, and there was even a rare super sweet moment between them that was for me totally worth listening to the whole story just for that alone. Plus the secrets that are shared add just a bit of plot interest to the heat. Overall, more than anything, this little taste just left me wanting more. The final installment of Hell & High Water as well as the second installment of Dirty Deeds to learn more about Mal and Cillian.

Overall, this is an excellent audio series well worth listening to. The narrator stayed in character through. I dearly hope that the release of the four audios last month means that the rest of these series will finally be released this year. Crossing my fingers.

The cover by L.C. Chase fits those for the previous, it’s very sexy and it focuses on the leather band and the tattoo beneath. Love it.

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing | Audible | Amazon

Book Details:  

1 hr 5 mins, Audible Audio, 2 pages
Published December 16th 2015 by Audible Studios (first published August 16th 2014)
Original TitleNot Fade Away
ASINB016WPXL8Y
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesHell or High Water #3.5, Extreme Escapes, Ltd.
CharactersProphet Drews, Tom BoudreauxDecember 16th 2015 by Audible Studios

A BJ Audiobook Review: Daylight Again (Hell or High Water #3) by S.E. Jakes and Adam North (Narrator)

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Daylight Again audiobookBefore Prophet Drews can have a future, he must first put his past to rest.

Prophet Drews is a man on the edge, and he’s pulling Tom Boudreaux, his partner on the job and in real life, right over with him. When his old CO calls in a favor, Prophet asks Tom to join the off-the-grid rescue. But the mission raises all of Prophet’s old ghosts: CIA assassins, the terrorist Sadiq, and most importantly, John—traitor, former teammate, and Prophet’s first love.

To help bury those ghosts for good, Prophet and Tom gather the members of Prophet’s former SEAL team . . . and a spook named Cillian who’s been tailing Prophet for years. In the process, Prophet is forced to face his team’s shifting loyalties, ghosts who refuse to stay dead, and scariest of all, his own limitations.

With everyone’s lives in danger, Prophet and Tom must unravel a tangled knot of secrets, including their own. Prophet must decide how much to reveal to Tom, while Tom must decide how far he’s willing to go to help Prophet lay his ghosts to rest.

With books one and two of this audio series, I’d already read prior to listening. This one I had not, and since it’s very complex with a ton of characters, I was worried I’d be a bit lost. I needn’t have worried. The narrator did an excellent job of keeping me in touch with all the characters and his voice was easy to listen to.

This book picks up about four months after the end of the prior book, and it does finally provide a few of the moments I’d been waiting for between Tom and Prophet, and they lived up to my expectations in traditional Tom/Prophet style. Whereas book two explored Tom more, this one we get to see more inside of Prophet. I loved seeing a bit of a softer side to Prophet. Yes, in this book we see Tom and Prophet’s relationship solidified but not with flowers and sweetness. The times when they weren’t having sex showed how the act helped them both to deal with their emotions. Enjoyed BDSM elements that came into play in this one.

Having read the first book of the Dirty Deeds series and waiting impatiently for book  two for a while, I was pleased to see some bits of the relationship between Mal and Cillian come out in this story. It was also enjoyable to see more of Remy from book two and to finally see a few of the baddies get their due. Alas many more wait in the wings, including the ever-mysterious John.

As I’ve come to expect from this series, this book is packed with hot sex, action, ass kicking, fighting, interrogating, and even jumping out of airplanes. And the plot moved along very nicely in this one with quite a few of the questions about Prophet’s past with John being revealed, while still leaving much open and ending on a cliffhanger that will have me loading book 3.5 onto my iPhone tomorrow.

A few things I saw as inconsistencies kept me from giving it a higher star rating, such as in one of the final scene, Prophet’s wrists are tied behind his back and jerked viciously enough that he states he knows he’ll need them in casts again, but in the next chapter a few weeks later, they are not in casts and no mention that they had been. And the twist at the end didn’t sit “right” to me given what we know of all these men’s skills. Perhaps that will change as I read the next book, which I am eager to do, but I know that one is just a short and the knowledge that the final book in this series is unavailable at this time and quite a bit overdue makes me sad.

The cover by L.C. Chase fits those for the previous books in the series but isn’t as sexy as those prior.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Audible | Amazon


Book Details:  

6 hrs 57 mins

Audible Audio, 7 pages
Published December 16th 2015 by Audible Studios (first published May 2nd 2014)
ASINB016WPY4R6
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesHell or High Water #3, Extreme Escapes, Ltd.

A BJ Audio Review: Long Time Gone (Hell and High Water #2) by S.E. Jakes, Adam North (Narrator)

Rating:  4.25 stars out of 5

Long Time Gone audiobookWhen a tornado meets a volcano, nothing is safe.

Soldier of fortune Prophet Drews always worked alone—until Tom Boudreaux became his partner. But when Tom walked away three months ago, ostensibly to keep Prophet safe, Prophet learned the true meaning of being alone. Everyone knows that Prophet, a Navy SEAL turned CIA spook turned mercenary, can look after himself. Which means he must’ve driven his lover away.

Even with half a world between them, Prophet can’t get the man out of his head. Maybe that’s why he’s in New Orleans in the middle of a hurricane, protecting Tom’s aunt. But the only looter around is Tom, bursting back into Prophet’s life. It turns out that Prophet’s been stuck in Tom’s head—and heart—too.

Their explosive reunion gets even hotter when Tom is arrested for murder. As they fight to clear his name, they delve deep into his past, finding enemies among everyone they meet. Staying alive in such a dangerous world is hard enough, but they soon discover that fighting to stay together is the most difficult thing they’ve ever done.

Once again, I enjoyed the narrator’s performance and felt he added extra dimension to the story with the accents and drama he brought. The voices for each character were clearly discernable and well in character with the guys as  I’d envisioned from having previously read this book. His pacing was never rushed and kept me eager to listen.

From the beginning, this story is a roller coaster ride of nature’s fury, sex, intrigue, secrets revealed, action, and more sex. My favorite scene in this book by far is the hurricane sex scene in New Orleans. In fact, it’s right up there as one of the most memorable sex scene’s I’ve read in a m/m story. Oh my, that is definitely a one-handed read or listen, in this case. Tom and Prophet were already combustible together, but put them in the midst of a raging storm and the hurricane around them pales into perfect background music. Damn, that was hot as heck. Aside from that scene, there are numerous other heated interludes. IMHO, just enough to keep that fire burning without being too much.

Here we delve very strongly into Tom’s past in the bayou; allowing us to get a much better picture of the man as we see it all unfold. I won’t reveal too much more than the blurb has already shared as don’t want to spoil it. But we meet some characters in this story that I found very interesting. And the settling! New Orleans and the bayou country has always been a place I’d like to spend a longer time visiting (been there only briefly), and this book did an excellent job of making me feel the heat, humidity, social climate and wildlife. Excellent sense of place.

I felt the deepening of the connection between Tom and Prophet, and it seemed to build very naturally as both men begin to let down their guards and allow each other further in. The ending didn’t tie things up with a bow, but thankfully it was a bit more of a HFN than we got in book one at least. It seems as much as we learn about these two, the more there is we don’t yet know.

Cover art by LC Chase: The displays the tattoos on Tom’s back this time, not quite as detailed as the dreamcatcher on book one’s cover, but still hot and fitting to the story.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Audible | Amazon


Book Details:  

December 16th 2015 by Audible Studios, 7 hrs 52 mins
Audible Audio, 8 pages
Published December 16th 2015 by Audible Studios (first published October 28th 2013)
Original TitleLong Time Gone
ASINB016OXU8WQ
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesHell or High Water #2, Extreme Escapes, Ltd. setting

A BJ Audiobook Review: Catch a Ghost (Hell and High Water #1) by S.E. Jakes and Adam North (Narrator)

Rating:  4.25 stars out of 5

Catch A Ghost AudiobookEveryone knows that Prophet—former Navy SEAL, former CIA spook, full-time pain in the ass—works alone and thinks only about the trouble he can cause. But his boss, Phil Butler of Extreme Escapes, LTD., has just assigned Proph not only a new partner but also a case haunted by ghosts from Proph’s past. Suddenly, he’s got to confront them both head on.

Tom Boudreaux—failed FBI agent, failed sheriff, full time believer in bad luck—is wondering why the head of a private contracting firm has hunted him down to offer him a job. Still he’s determined to succeed this time, despite being partnered with Prophet, EE, LTD’s most successful, lethal, and annoying operative, and even though the case is also resurrecting his own painful past.

Together, Prophet and Tom must find a way to take down killers in the dangerous world of underground cage matches, while fighting their own dangerous attraction. And when they find themselves caught in the crossfire, these two loners are forced to trust each other and work together to escape their ghosts . . . or pay the price.

If you enjoy alpha males and need heat in your m/m books, look no further! Grab this series right the heck now! If I had three words to describe this story, they would be “intense” and “flaming hot.”

Prophet and Tom together are like a volcano gouging out steam and flames and hot, sizzling lava. Okay, yeah, sometimes the refractory time is really short and their uh, hardiness borders on unrealistic. But there is no doubt at all about their chemistry, and both are well-realized characters with complex backstories which come strongly into play in this series. A few times the backstory on Prophet got a bit complex for me to follow easily, especially given the often fast pace of the storyline. There were a lot of people and details and twists and turns to keep track of… especially as it neared the end. This ending is left largely unsettled as far as the relationship, so its not a HEA/HFN. But  it totally makes me want to read on in the series and get to know what happens with these guys.

I’d already read the book and rated it four stars, but since I’d purchased but not yet finished reading the whole series, I was intrigued when it came out on audio. The narrator was new on audible, but I decided to take a chance and see if the narration would add another dimension to this previously enjoyed story. It totally did! I adored Tom’s Cajun accent… and both men sounded pretty much as I’d imagined. I had no trouble telling the speakers apart. It’s sometimes hard for me to say whether I prefer the audio or reading experience, mostly because only rarely do I partake of a story in both formats. Overall, I enjoyed the audio and the one small part where I felt the book was a bit better had pretty much nothing to do with the narrator. Near the end, in the parts there’s a part where a lot is going on, it was even harder for me to take in and visualize when heard than when reading. Probably because in print, I can read back over a sentence here or there if there’s a need to ground myself more firmly in the details. Since I’m most often driving when listening to audio, rewind isn’t something I do.

The audiobook cover is basically the same as the book… and it’s perfect for the story. The tattoo is just as imagined and love the nipple bar! Beautiful, sexy, hot cover.

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing | Amazon |  Audible  | Buy It Here


Book Details:  

Audible Audio, 9 pages, 8 hrs 3 mins

Adam North (Narrator)
Published December 16th 2015 by Audible Studios (first published September 7th 2013)
Original TitleCatch A Ghost
ASINB016DW5VUC
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesHell or High Water #1, Extreme Escapes, Ltd.December 16th 2015 by Audible Studios