Audio Book Review: Midnight's Kiss by Thea Harrison

Midnight's Kiss 
(Elder Races Series, Bk #8)
by Thea Harrison
Narrated By: Sophie Eastlake

Blurb: 
In the latest Novel of the Elder Races, two souls who have long buried their passions are about to be consumed…

Ever since their scorching affair ended years ago, Julian, the Nightkind King, and Melisande, daughter of the Light Fae Queen, have tried to put the past behind them—and distance between them. But when a war breaks out between Julian and Justine, a powerful Vampyre of the Nightkind council, they find themselves thrown together under treacherous circumstances…

Kidnapped as leverage against Julian, Melly is convinced that her former lover won’t be rushing to her rescue. But when Julian gives himself up to save her, they both end up Justine’s captives. Armed only with their wits and their anger, Melly and Julian must work together to escape. But will they be able to ignore their complicated history, or will the fiery passion that once burned them blaze again?

Available for purchase at 

            

Viviana's Review: 

This has become a comfort series for me.  My “go to” series when I want to read a good story. “Midnight Kiss” is just that, a good story that came along right when I just wanted a fun read for me.  

We were introduced to the hero and heroine in the previous book "Night's Honor" and the animosity they had for one another was evident.  You just knew something BIG had occurred and that BOTH, yes both still had feelings for each other regardless of what they said.

The heroine is spunky and completely independent.  She does not falter or play the damsel in distress. The hero, while a complete Alpha Male, is not a total ass.  The reader is given glimpses of their past love and even the obvious current connection and we get the idea of what happened or rather what the hero believes to have happened.  Throughout the majority of the book the heroine does not really know why he broke things off except he believes she was unfaithful and of course she argues to the contrary, and he does not believe her.

When they finally do actually talk about the “why” the relationship ended with details, a plot is discovered, and they realize they have been played.  Okay - here is where I knew from the very beginning what was going on, and I so hoped the author was not going to play the obvious card but she did.  Sigh.  I was disappointed.  Perhaps it was so obvious to me and the “How didn't anyone ever question that at the very beginning?” because I happen to be one (sorry, not saying due to spoilers… read and you’ll know) or what, but yeah it was just so obvious. It's also been done before! Another romance trope! Arg... so very disappointed. 

The story line or ARC from the previous book does continue into this one, you might be able to read it as a stand alone, but I think this would dilute some of the emotion, and you may find yourself a tad bit lost with some of the information and perhaps even players.  I loved the previous book, so I would recommend you read it.

Narrator's Review: Ahh Sophie Eastlake, how do I love thee as a narrator, let me count the ways.... YOU FREAKING ROCK! Sophie continues to bring this series to life! Throughout the book, I forget she's a female narrating male voices. She's THAT GOOD!

Overall, a comfort read that provides the reader with the HEA we want and a good read.

 Rating: 3.5 Stars - I REALLY Liked It

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from PENGUIN GROUP Berkley Sensation in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.

Audio Book Review: Easy Love by Kristen Proby

Easy Love
(Boudreaux Series #1)
by Kristen Proby 
Narrated by Sebastian York , Rachel Fulginiti
Published by Audible Studios

Blurb: 
Sexy. Intriguing. Easy. Eli Boudreaux's family has built ships and boats in Louisiana for generations. He comes from a hardworking, wealthy family, and his empire is growing by leaps and bounds. At 30 he is the youngest CEO ever to head Bayou Enterprises, cochairing with his eldest brother. His head for business and his no-nonsense work ethic are also quickly making him the best the company has seen in generations. His staff admires him, women adore him, and Eli's family is solid. But he's recently discovered that someone on the inside of his business is stealing from him, and he's determined to find out who.

Kate O'Shaughnessy is hired by companies all over the world to slip inside and investigate every member of the organization, from the CEO down to the custodial staff, to find the person or persons responsible for embezzling. She's excellent at blending, becoming part of the team, and finding the weakest link. She's smart, she's quick witted, and she's now been hired by Bayou Enterprises, specifically Eli Boudreaux.

The attraction is immediate, and the chemistry is off the charts, but Kate has heard all about Eli's playboy past, and she has a job to do. Sleeping with the boss isn't a part of that job, even if just the sound of her name rolling off that Cajun tongue and the way he fills out a designer suit does make her sweat. Eli's Southern charms surprise Kate. The man whose reputation labels him as a ruthless, callous womanizer is not the man she's coming to know intimately. He's generous and protective, and he makes her smile.

Cracking through Kate's cool, reserved demeanor and discovering her love of sexy, expensive lingerie is a challenge Eli can't resist, but her sweet nature, love of family, and sense of humor pull at him in ways no one else ever has. But when the person responsible for trying to singlehandedly dismantle Eli's empire comes to light, and it's time for Kate to move on, to what lengths will Eli go to keep the woman he's fallen in love with by his side?

Available for purchase at 

      

Viviana's Review: 
The premise of this book was interesting, nothing too "crazy" or "out there" either. Sometimes, you just want to read a solid good story. This was one of them. Boy meets girl. He's intrigued. Girl meets boy and she's intrigued. They have chemistry and thankfully, they don't deny it or play the "no we shouldn't gave for over half the book. They are adults and both took the ownership of stating what they wanted. However, this is romance and we know what's going to happen. 

However, as we know, the journey is the fun part. I really did enjoy getting to know all of the characters. Kristen, the author, did a fantastic job of setting up the series for the future books, by introducing each of the siblings in the Boudreaux family. And what a family! Smart, sarcastic and they love each other! No doubt they will kick the ass of anyone who mess with one of their own! 

One thing that was interesting is in the blurb, it tells you what a "ruthless, callous womanizer", however, that's so not what we get to know. Now... its one thing to lead a woman on. It's totally another one to be upfront and tell them, no strings. If that's what a woman is okay with, then turns arounds and says she wants more... the thing is, he was honest. He told you, you're only getting one night or rather no strings. So, not sure calling him ruthless or callous is necessary, either. So the entire time he's with Kate he's sweet and kind and honest and adorable and attentive. Its completely obvious he's into her but even with the way he treats her and she calls him out on his charm or hospitality, he turns around and says things like "mama raised us to respect woman" or something like that. again, not ruthless. I think we need to stop trying to categories men as the "bad guy" because the have "one night stands" or have been known as "play boys" when they don't lead women on and are honest with them. Anyways....

Oh... the reason why Kate was brought in... to investigate the theft. I do wish there was more about that. I whole purpose of her being there was to find the individual who was stealing the money, but we got nothing regarding that, except for the very end and that felt sort of rushed. We got a WHOLE lot of Eli & Kate and it was their story... I just wished we got to see Kate doing her thing... you know?

Narrator Reviews: 
When you see that there is a both a female and a male narrator, you can't help but wonder how this is going to play out. Will they be interacting with each other (meaning she reads the female characters and he the males) or will each be assigned chapters (many books are now written in the POV of the character). In this case, its done by the POV of the characters.

The prologue is read by Sebastian as its in Eli's POV and immediately I'm drawn into the story by his voice. It's deep, His female voices are soft but not overly so where its too high pitch or overly done. He provides each of the other male characters their own unique tones that the readers will recognize each of them as he narrates.

Rachel also does a really good job with the different voices, however, she provided a creole accent to the Boudreaux family as they are from New Orleans. 

I found it interesting and sort of weird that Sebastian didn't do the accents for the characters while Rachel did. Makes me wonder how the whole process for the narrators goes and things were or were not discussed. Does it matter? Did it make me enjoy it less? Uhm.... it was weird. One minute I'm listening to this deep, sultry male voice narrating and then they swap and Eli has an accent... I guess you get used to it.

I will say, I did look up what other books Sebastian narrates and have added many to my audio wish list...

Over all, this was a very good "read" and I enjoyed the audio book very much. I think I enjoyed the story much more because it was in audio book. I've seen the book cover a few times and read the blurb, but never picked it up until now. That's saying something, right? There were a few twists in the stories with a supporting character that I'm sure was laying the foundation for their story down the line and the epilogue gives you an idea who the next hero and heroine will be. I will definitely be picking up this series via audio book! 

Rating: 3.5 Stars - I Really Liked It

Disclaimer: 

We received a complimentary copy of the audio book from the Audible Studios, in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review. 

2014 Audio Book Challenge Wrap Up

This is the second year The Book Nympho and Hot Listens team up to create the Audio Book Challenge and its the second year that I have participated. I LOVE audio books and believe them to be a great resources to readers and a great asset to authors. I've listened to a lot of audio books this year and some were re-reads which I LOVED doing as the first time around, I devoured the books that some of those small but important details didn't stick. I'm going to share with you my favorite ones in Audio book and the why!

Favorite Series:

This year, my all time favorite Audio Book series is a tie between The Mageri Series and The Seven Series by Dannika Dark! The narrator, Nicole Poole, does a great job of giving life to each of the character and providing unique tones, accents, personalities, etc. These two series in audio were a re-read for me and loved it! I realized small "bread crumbs" that Dannika includes but missed during the first pass of reading since I was so engrossed in the story!

Another great audio book series is Darynda Jones's "Charlie Davidson" Series! Lorelei King is the narrator for this series and she freaking rocks!! Her narration brings Darynda's world and characters to life!!

New to me series and LOVED IT! 

This was the first time I "read" a book by Joanna Wylde and WOW! Talk about falling in love! While REAPER'S STAND is the fourth in the series, I wasn't lost nor did I feel like I was missing something. Instead it made me want to read the previous books!

This audio book had two narrators - one female and one male but they took turns narrating based on who's POV the chapter. At first I was a tad bit disappointed BUT it worked for this book and it made complete sense based on how the book was written.

While both narrators did a great job, Sean Crisden made the audio book for me. He captured Reese's character perfectly! I so looked up what other books he has narratored and added them to my TBR list. Turns out, a few were already on the list. :)

Can't wait to start the new year as there are so many more books to listen to!!

Have you found a new series via audio that you fell in love with? 

2014 Audiobook Challenge

You guys asked for it and the Audiobook Challenge back for 2014! Join The Book Nympho and Hot Listens for the 2nd year of great audio books.

Audiobooks are great for those times you want to read but can’t for some reason like driving, doing chores, working out, or if you’re one of the lucky ones like me, listen to them at work.
I know some of you are thinking, audio books? Pass. I thought that once too. But when you find a great narrator they can make the story even better. There are some series I will only listen even if I can get the Arc I’ll wait until the audio is available because the narrator does such a great job bring the book to life.

Reading Challenge Details:

• Runs January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014. You can join at anytime.
• The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2014 than you did in 2013.
• Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)
• ANY genres count.
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Shelfari, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.
• If you’re a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweeting about the challenge.