Iduna

Overall a Solid Listen

Revisado: 11-15-23

I found both the story and the narration to be neither excellent nor horrible. I know that doesn't sound glowing but I don't regret listening, particularly, as I listened as part of the audible catalog. This is a romance with some suspense and that's what you should expect. The mystery/case is neither complex nor suspenseful but honestly that's exactly what I expect when reading in this genre. I thought the story had a lot of great potential as did the characters but all of that was overwhelmingly weighed down by the sophomoric discussions regarding what was going on in the pants of the main characters. Once I realized that aspect was annoying me I was constantly rolling my eyes and felt like it was so unnecessary to a decent story. It took me away from the story at times and after I realized I had drifted away from listening I honestly didn't feel compelled to rewind.

Greg Boudreaux gives a decent delivery here. In my view, he can sometimes over act parts of a story and can get quite whiny during emotional scenes. That's not the case here.

I may try the next one in the series because what I decidedly enjoyed about this book was that the male characters were in fact portrayed as males. The most aggravating reads often seen in this genre involves two male characters but one of them written with overwhelmingly female attributes and I don't mean fem males. I can get behind fabulous characters when that's their role in a story but so many books are written like a cis romance story with the female changed to a male and some mild editing to the steamy scenes. Bravo to that aspect of this story.

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Kimberly Alexis is a Rock Star!

Revisado: 11-08-23

The narration, as always with Kimberly Alexis, is just so amazing. So much talent! I don't know how she manages to execute so many distinctive voices.

This story much better than the last and a full story here. So, let's be honest, I will continue to buy and listen to this series as long as it continues because it is unique with a cast of well developed and diverse characters and so well performed. Having said that I do find pros and cons to each entry. The most substantial irritation for me as the series progresses is the author's lack of faith in her readers to connect with the characters and the story. The repetitive recounting of so many details in each and every book (scars, eye color, the stairs, weapons, so on and so forth) has become like nails on a chalkboard for me. We are 30 books in; the dedicated readers sticking with this series don't need those refreshers. Happily, this book was lighter on those recounted details than any others in the recent past, a definite pro for me.

With so many characters you can't have them all in every book and this one had almost all of my favorites, even if some just had cameos, Jean Claude, Edward, Truth, Wicked, Nicky, Rafael, Zebrowsky, Claudia and Olaf were all here. Please, never kill off Olaf as one reviewer suggested. He's so creepy I laugh more in the books with him than any others.

On the con side for me was all of the talk therapy. I realize you can't please all the readers all the time and it seems like quite a few of the reviewers enjoyed that aspect of this story. If you're like me and that's not your favorite thing, stick with it. The action comes with a lighter dose of the therapy once her family takes a backseat to the action. I love flawed and quirky characters but I'm reading Supernatural fiction for its entertainment value and I just don't find all of the therapy speak very entertaining.

Personally, I find sex scenes to be more entertaining than therapy even if I find a lot of the characters' kinks in this series making me go, "Hmm? No thanks." To have or not to have the sex scenes seems to be a debate between readers on this series. Honestly, I can take or leave them, though I probably lean toward preferring the spicy stories. What I do not enjoy is the talking, talking, talking about the sex without it actually happening. The worst book for that was Sucker Punch but this book comes close in that regard. If you're not a fan of the sex scenes this is a book for you as long as you skip the bonus scene at the end. As an aside, I love the Wicked Truth and have been rooting for them to have another moment with Anita. I loved that they were in this story but was bummed by the tease.

In summary, if you're like me and are here for the 30th installment of this series even after the last "half book" most of us found so disappointing you're going to want to read this book. Chances are you'll find aspects of it you love and some you could do without but ultimately, you'll be happy you listened to it and be waiting on the next one.

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Dark in a Not Entertaining Way

Revisado: 10-03-23

As many reviewers have noted this is indeed a dark tale, but not the kind of dark you normally find in any sort of romance. In this story it is not the main characters that are dark and gritty it is the antagonists torturing (literally) the main characters. It is not a device to allow the main characters to meet. It is the entire story. The two main characters do get to know each other and are pushed together through horror but there is no real chance for real feelings as they are "performing" under the watchful eye of the vile characters that are physically and/or mentally abusing them.

Being uncomfortable with abuse serving as entertainment I kept waiting for that part of the story to end to get to the part where the characters and I could maybe not feel good but at least better and that doesn't happen. There is no HFN and definitely not an HEA just sort of a slow close to a chapter with portense of bad things to come if you dare to continue the series.

Having said all of that, the story is well written, well paced with defined characters. Blessedly, the story is not weighed down by any inner monologuing and was well edited.

As for the narration, another reviewer's use of the word glacial is spot on. In fact, the speech is so slow I believe it has to be production that slowed it down (maybe for a longer story?) as nobody naturally talks that slow. The narration is more than tolerable if you just speed it up through the app. I listened at 1.15 and found it sounded much more like natural speech and the narrator does have some range in character differentiation. I did not find his narration as bad as other reviewers proclaimed but again that could be because I use the speed up remedy.

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Chef's Kiss to this Series, Author and Narrator

Revisado: 09-24-23

If you're this far into this series you know how awesome the writing and it's performance on audio are. This one does not disappoint. I wish I could stumble my way on to Horse Tor or shipwreck onto Light Island and join these wildly diverse and fun characters.

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Yay, so happy for this surprise addition

Revisado: 05-10-23

What a fantastic ending. I laughed a lot, teared up a little and loved it all. I'm so going to miss Christian and Raven.

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Kept me engaged for the full 17+ hours

Revisado: 12-22-22

This book was definitely not boring. I'm not sure what that other reviewer listened to. The story stands out for being so different and well written. I love imperfect characters and the two MCs here we're perfectly imperfect. Both narrators were stellar. I rarely give five star reviews but I couldn't find anything to complain about here. Hoping the other books in this series will soon be on Audible. 🤞

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Decent story, dragged down by monologues

Revisado: 12-20-22

The premise of the story was quite good and it had great potential. The characters were pretty good as well although I'm not a fan of persistent self-pitying. Unfortunately, the story was dragged down by constant inner monologue from both characters. It's my least favorite writing technique and without it here this story would have been far more interesting and sufficiently snappy to keep you on the edge of your seat. As written, with the momentum stopping monologues, I found myself wishing I had read the book rather than listened (although I do enjoy Russo's narration) to be able to skim past those parts.

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Fluff and Air

Revisado: 11-20-22

I was drawn to this by the panel of excellent narrators but I should have heeded another reviewer that described the story as sweet and fluffy. If you take out the few intimate scenes, this story seemed more suited for an adolescent audience in terms of "humor" and silliness. However, I believe even adolescents would expect more in terms of world/magic development. The world building was so thin we never really learned the purpose of a Mage's familiar. the Mage-familiar Bond was described as a magical one but the only thing we learned about familiars is that they got bad feelings in their chests when away from the Mage in the early stages of the bonding.

I found no weaknesses in the technical aspects of the writing but the content was not for me. Definitely a fluffy, silly and saccharine sweet read/listen. If that is what you are in the mood for, the performance is excellent and makes this listen a good choice.

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Excellent story, well read

Revisado: 10-24-22

This was a wonderful book. a rare spin-off that's as good as the original series. Like another reviewer said, I was surprised I did not miss Oliver and Dayton because this story was so engaging. I very much look forward to the next book in the series.

I'm surprised by all of the reviewers complaining about Joel Leslie. I have always found him to be a fine voice actor when reading predominantly male parts. He has excellent timing and pacing for dialogue, bringing to life humor and irony exactly where appropriate.

It took me quite some time to get used to the narrator on the original series. I kept listening because the stories are so good but I was glad to have a new narrator here.

I very rarely give five star reviews but I thought this title and performance warranted a top review. Definitely worth the credit.

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Saccharine Sweet

Revisado: 04-05-22

if you're reading Sports romance for some alpha males this book won't do it for you. The writing style is good and no editing complaints, so that's definitely a plus. Also, the narration is awesome. The characters and the plot were all just too sweet and perfect for me. Moreover, I had a hard time getting behind the insta-love between these guys. There was no real explanation for why they fell immediately in love and were willing to change their lives for each other.

I know there are plenty of folks who love cavity inducing stories and this is definitely one for them. For me, I'm selecting Sports romances in an effort to get away from the tropes and cliches found in so many m/m romance books, to hear the stories of regular folks falling in love and I have penchant for the so called alpha males. As such, this story wasn't for me.

Having said that, Nick Russo makes it a good listen. I don't think I would have finished the book had I been reading it but I was happy to listen to Russo's narration throughout errands and house cleaning.

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