audio book – Meandering Michelle

I was suggested The Riley Brothers series by E. Davies by someone who knows I’m a sucker for hockey stories. Surprisingly, the entire 40-hour series was on sale on Audible for just 1 credit! It sounded like a steal and the series had some good reviews, so I went ahead and spent the credit.

Kind of wish I hadn’t.

There isn’t anything particularly wrong with the story or even the narration of it… it just didn’t work for me.

Up and coming hockey player, Cam Riley (one of the brothers), has to give up his dream of joining the big leagues when a medical condition causes him to pass out whenever his heart rate is too high for extended periods of time. He heads home where he meets art director, Noah Clark, and sparks fly.

Even as their relationship grows, Cam chooses not to tell Noah the entire truth about his condition and that he’d been a professional hockey player. But his condition doesn’t let him keep those secrets for long and the truth comes out.

There isn’t much conflict between the two, even with all of the lying, and they resolve things easily. Cam gets his surgery, recovers, and they live happily-ever-after.

Oh, and Noah’s uncle is a beekeeper. Cam ends up working for him, which is where the title Buzz comes from… I thought that was cute.

Like I said earlier, it’s not a bad story, just not for me.

Series: The Riley Brothers, book 1
Format: Audible audio book
Publisher: Audible
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Links: Amazon || Goodreads

As a young gay man—and a werepanther—all Jin Rayne yearns for is a normal life. Having fled his past, he wants nothing more than to start over, but Jin’s old life doesn’t want to let him go. When his travels bring him to a new city, he crosses paths with the leader of the local were-tribe.

Logan Church is a shock and an enigma, and Jin fears that Logan is both the mate he fears and the love of his life. Jin doesn’t want to go back to the old ways, and mating would irrevocably tie him to them. But Jin is the mate Logan needs at his side to help him lead his tribe, and he won’t give Jin up so easily. It will take time and trust for Jin to discover the joy in belonging to Logan and how to love without restraint.

Change of Heart by Mary Calmes sounded like a really good book and the print version might live up to my expectations of it…

Sadly, the narration of this story left much to be desired and I nearly didn’t finish the book because of it. There were many points in the story where I found myself not liking anything about the story only because of the way it was being read to me.

I know of many non-professional narrators who could have read this story and transformed it into a wonderful audio experience, but Sean Crisden just did not deliver that kind of performance.

I’m not sure what effect the narrator was going for in the reading of this story, but it was way of the mark for me. Jin was at times too whiny and at others too blasé about everything going on around him. And, while Logan was supposed to be the strong, alpha male of the story, the narration came across as pushy and fake every time Logan was speaking.

I truly believe that if I’d read this in a print format then it would have been an entertaining story worthy of more than the 2/10 I’m giving it… mainly because I wanted it to be good.

Series: Change of Heart Series, book 1
Format: Electronic audio book
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Source: Tennessee READS
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Links: Amazon || Goodreads

Tag: audio book

Book Review | Buzz by E. Davies

Book Review | Change of Heart by Mary Calmes