Mandy

Emotional

Revisado: 02-03-25

Finally I've struck it lucky by listening to two 5 star audiobooks in a row.

This listen was so emotional. I was definitely NOT expecting the big reveal by the heroine.

Both Andi Arndt and Connor Crais portrayed the main characters excellently and I am happy that they were able to convey their characters emotions to well.... I may or may not have shed a tear. 😅

This audiobook is performed in dual narration and the story ends with a HEA (I admit that for a moment there, I wasn't sure if it would end in a HEA). I must applaud the author for the way things are written and how each event unfolds - great job.

A nice surprise was also the meaning behind the title of this book - cue the tissues.

A sweet, emotional romance.

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PERFECTION 😍

Revisado: 02-03-25

It's seldom that I give a 5 star rating for the narration part of an audiobook because I'm picky and will usually find something wrong with the way a narrator changes his/her voice for different characters or if I can't hear the emotions come through in their voices. But this was not the case here. Clariel Lee and Iggy Toma were outstanding. 👌

Both narrators were able to portray each character convincingly (book is dual pov and narration is dual) bringing this story/book to a whole new level. Add that to the fact that this is a freaking awesome story and I can only give it an all round 5 stars.

More info on the story: it's a Mafia-light, Romantic Suspense and although part of a series, it can definitely be read/listened to as a standalone (ends with a HEA). There's great banter between the MCs (Nico & Ivy) which obviously makes for good listening and without giving too much away... the action scenes are really something else - ALL the action scenes. 😏😉

I'm looking forward to more books by this author and listening to more performances by both Clariel Lee and Iggy Toma.

Highly recommend this one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Disappointing

Revisado: 01-27-25

First let me say that I ALWAYS look at the narrators before purchasing an audiobook. The reason for that is because (1) I prefer books written in a dual POV and (2) I prefer audiobooks to be read either in dual, duet or full cast.

Knowing my likes & dislikes, I went ahead and got this audiobook. Well, what a disappointment .... I kept waiting and waiting aaaand waiting for the male narrator to make an appearance. Yeah no, 99% of this book is from the h's pov and read by the female narrator (obviously changing voice up for the dialogue parts in the book / hero's voice). The hero only had ONE short chapter and part of the epilogue.

This is a long book people! Why advertise it with 2 narrators? Why not just say "guest appearance by male narrator", because that's what it came across as.

GAHHH! I'm sorry for this rant but really?!

Oh and I must add that those who enjoy steamy books will most likely enjoy this but again, when it comes to audiobooks, I prefer a little less sm3xy times, so I ended up skipping ahead after who knows the how many-th s3x scene.

Although this review and resulting rating is 100% because of my personal tastes and opinions, I hope it helps someone else to make the decision to go ahead and buy it or rather just go for something else.

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Entertaining stories

Revisado: 11-25-24 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I've decided to review each book “separately” (with a summary as a whole below) because I felt differently towards each book.

First up there's MR GRUMP:

I enjoyed how this book not only was a romance, but had the element of suspense thrown into it. Another plus is that the heroine may appear clumsy at the start but she most certainly isn't a “blonde bimbo” - Love the way she interacted with the hero's daughter. That said, I admit that I'm in no way an expert, but it did seem as if the author did her homework with regards to the therapy required which was definitely appreciated.

I would have enjoyed the book more if the hero was really more of a “grump”, especially as the book is titled as such. Either he fell too fast for the h, or I missed something (doubtful) but the grumpiness wasn't there.


Next up is MR JERK:

This story starts with f0rced proximity where there's a double booking with no other vacancy. From there it's full steam ahead with the relationship as well as the romance.

Once again, I felt that the hero wasn't really a “jerk”. Sure, there's that misunderstanding closer to the end, but was/is he really a jerk? Not in my mind. He acted the way most if not all people would in his position. The heroine isn't a pushover (for the most part) and that I liked.


Finally it's MR COCKY:

Ok, so this hero definitely fits the title. Don't get me wrong though, he might be “cocky” but it's almost innocently so. That's because he is only telling the truth - “I am hot, I am rich”. Is adorably cocky a thing? If it is, then this hero is the poster boy (man) for it.

The plot revolves around fake dating and for that reason the relationship also evolves quite fast.


Summary:

I'm not too sure about the “bossholes” title because that's just not the way I saw these heroes. Someone else might think they are really bossholes who knows. I guess it's up to personal preference.

I did appreciate that although all 3 stories are steamy, they weren't super hot - I prefer audiobooks having less s3x scenes than when I'm physically reading a book. Again, that's personal preference so it's up to others to decide.

As for the narration ... I was pleasantly surprised that this was a Duet narration (books are written from a dual POV) - where the hero's part is read by the male narrator and heroine's by female. There was one thing about the male narrator that was slightly off-putting to me (pet peeve of mine) it was the way he distinctly inhaled - yuuup, you can clearly hear that big breath been taken before he starts reading again. 🫣 The female narrator did a stellar job.

As a whole, I give the audiobook(s) a rating of just below 4 stars.

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Too predictable

Revisado: 09-13-24

Both narrators did an impressive job of the reading (dual narration) and I'd willingly listen to books performed by them again.

As for the story itself, it was too predictable - what turned out to be the biggest "surprise", was something that was clear from the start (well, it was to me). I wish the author added a bit of suspense and/or action to make the story more intriguing/entertaining. The opportunity was there with the "overly enthusiastic fan" but unfortunately it was so.

The hero was sweet and had a couple of jealous possessive scenes - more subtle than anything over the top and the heroine was much the same.

Regrettably, this won't be added to the "I'll never forget it" list.

Reasonably slow burn
Dual POV
Standalone with hea

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Blurb is a big spoiler and....

Revisado: 08-13-24

Well, it's official, after listening to this, I realized that I really don't like pet names for a hero, especially "baby". I was also not a fan of the shortening of the hero's name - Collin to "Col" ... yeah, no thank you.

As for the story, uhhh so the blurb gives away the biggest spoiler in my opinion. I found the 1st part of the book kind of boring. It's basically instant attraction / love at first sight for both the hero and heroine and all gooey sweetness until finally we get some action when the blurb comes into play. Honestly, this was close to a DNF for me and for the record, I'm closer to a 2½ star than 3 stars.

Also, the female narrator had me all confused and unfortunately, not in a good way. The reason is because although I think she truly is an above average narrator, her narration varies -> everything sounds smooth and well read/spoken during the dialogue parts of the book (for the heroine as well as for the hero & secondary characters) but once she switches over to the heroine's inner monologue, it sounded "choppy" (pauses where there clearly shouldn't be any) as well as nasally.

I'll leave it at that and hope I didn't come across too judgemental. 😕

Book details:
Instant attraction
Can be listened to / read as a standalone
No real OW drama
No cheating
Amnesia
HEA

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Above average but....

Revisado: 08-07-24

The story itself was above average and entertaining with a grumpy hero and sweet heroine. Yet it wasn't quite a 4 star because I found my attention drifting during certain scenes when it went on a little too long.

The narrators: Carly Robins did a awesome job and was both expressive and a pleasure to listen to. I have however noticed that Rock Engle can be a "hit or miss" and this performance leaned more towards miss --> when narrating as the hero it was a hit but there unfortunately wasn't much difference in his voice when reading parts for the hero's driver (male) and his voices for the female characters sounded a bit strange. 😕

Dual pov story
Dual narration
No cheating
No OW drama
Standalone - ends in HEA

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Grit those teeth and you'll get a oh so satisfying epilogue

Revisado: 07-26-24

I really enjoy being surprised by an audiobook. More so when I have read and loved the book beforehand, and this is exactly what happened here.

Admittedly, when I first started listening to Scorned Vows I was skeptical because the narrators didn't sound exactly how I imagined the main characters whilst reading it, but the more I listened, the more I enjoyed it. They brought the story to life by convincingly conveying Luca & Natalya's emotional journey. All the pain, anger and love could practically be felt in their words. Heck, even the worry, frustration and fear came out. And thank goodness for that, because having a hero like Luca (anti-hero? morally grey hero? villian-to-hero hero? 🤔), the emotions needed to flow. -> This is the only warning I'll give that Luca is an A-grade alphahole in the beginning buuuut hang in there, he gets a rude awakening in the form of karma. 😉🤣

As for the heroine… Natalya's growth & transformation once again brought a smile to my face.

*** Adding this here for those who want to throw in the towel at a certain point - you will know when 😏 - just as I said before about Luca, HANG IN THERE.***

A teeny tiny bit of criticism that I could give, hence the deduction of 1 star for narration - is that the male narrator should alter his voice more when talking as the different male characters. It sounded too similar most of the time making it difficult to distinguish between characters. That said, he has no problem doing this for the different female voices and is quite good at impersonating a female. Go figure. lol (The book is written in dual pov and audiobook dual narration.)

Overall I loved the story enough to purchase both the book and audiobook. It's a romantic suspense that can be enjoyed as a standalone and ends with a HEA. All you need is to grit those teeth when you feel like ending the hero to get to that oh so satisfying epilogue.

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Short & Sweet Romance

Revisado: 06-09-24

Great Narration. Story itself is nothing spectacular. Don't get me wrong this novella is definitely not bad.

It's a sweet romance that ends with a HEA so can be read/listened to as a standalone. I actually would consider it to be slightly above average taking into account the length and everything the author managed to pack into it (without it being rushed). But there wasn't anything really that I would describe as mind-blowing.

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Surprising and entertaining

Revisado: 04-30-24

First and foremost, let me say this is a STANDALONE- something that I wanted to know before I purchased it. Hopefully that helps others who are also wondering when seeing the words "Trilogy" after the book's title. As far as I can gather, there will be 3 books but each book will be a different couple (only assuming but as this ends in a hea for this couple, I would think the next 2 books are for the H's Brothers??).

As for the book, to be honest, I don't know if I would have enjoyed this story as much as I did if I had actually READ the book.

Let me explain ... this is definitely on the darker, gorier side of romance BUT, the way it was narrated by Joe Arden and Lucy Rivers had me giggling and laughing at scenes which I most likely would have cringed (and/or gagged) at had I been reading the book. So if you want to take a chance at either the book or the audiobook, please do heed the authors trigger warnings on the content.

ALSO, I will admit that I was a bit wary to purchase this because I'm not really been a fan of the way Mr Arden narrates -> to me he usually sounds too monotone. But in this audiobook he really did a stellar job in conveying the heroes emotions, even I will acknowledge that. Similarly, Lucy Rivers held her own and is a good complement to Joe Arden in Butcher and Blackbird.

It's actually quite a good story in my opinion and has a twist that I did not see coming (unlike some stories where you just "have that feeling" or can "guess" the twist, this one was quite a surprise). Maybe the narrators were just so engaging, but I really didn't see it coming until it was right there.

Overall excellent narration and very good story. Quite entertaining.

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