Audiobook Review: Conviction by Nicole Edwards

Book: Conviction (Club Destiny #1) - Unabridged
By: Nicole Edwards
Narrators: Sabrina Brooks, Jay Crow
Length: 10 hours and 44 minutes
Published (audio): January, 13, 2015
Published By: Blackstone Audio

My Thoughts: Conviction is a blush worthy steamy novel where two strong personalities come together to produce one HOT result.

Told in alternate POV, we follow Samantha and Logan. She is a program manager in a small Texas field office who is hired for a position at the headquarters office of the firm, and he is an executive of that same firm, the man who hires her, and her new boss. Quickly, these two develop a liking for each other and despite Sam's misgivings about dating her boss, she can't fight the feelings she possesses. The two embark on a relationship that had my mouth literally watering, and sweat break across my brow at the heat.

The story itself wasn't that different than what you get in any other, the powerful older man executive with a strange fetish and deep sexual experience who meets the somewhat inexperienced (at least by comparison) younger woman and upends her entire ideals and sexual morals. Where it differed is the kink was completely out of this world. Nicole Edwards definitely knows how to write a sex scene. Rarely before have I heard a scene that actually made me blush and get a bit short of breath, but this was definitely the case. Unfortunately though, the rest of the story sort of fell flat. Most of the secondary characters were there for no reason other than to fill the story (though I recently learned that some are coming back in the other novels), there was a definite amount of insta-love, and I often just wanted to smack Samantha for her childish and annoying ways leading me to wonder why Logan even tried.

The narration, however, was quite good. Sabrina narrated for Sam and did a great job, albeit contributing a bit to the whiny ideals I had about the character. Jay narrated for Logan and his voice perfectly fit the voice I had in my head for Logan. They both do a fairly good job with all the varying voices of the characters, and their pacing is just perfect.

I give this story 4 stars, my average for the wonderfully steamy kink, and the pretty great narration, plus the average story and characters.

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Book: Paper Towns
By: John Green
Published: September 22, 2009
Published By: Speak

My Thoughts: After reading Looking for Alaska and The Fault in out Stars by John Green, I was wholly on the John Green Bandwagon, and though Paper Towns was a beautifully written book just like all other John Green books, I just didn’t much like the story itself.

We follow Quentin also known as Q who is supposedly in love with his neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman (she’s one of those people whose entire name needs to be said). He doesn’t know her much besides the fact that she’s his neighbor and she’s popular and she goes on amazing adventures, but that all changes when she sneaks into his window one night and the two go on an adventure together before she disappears completely from his life.

She leaves clues though, and Q believes that she’s left them for him to find her, so he and his friends, believing she may have committed suicide but hoping she hasn’t, follow the clues like breadcrumbs in order to find her. Along the way, Q learns a lot about the way people view each other, vs who people really are inside. He learns that though you may think people are more than they are; that at the end they’re still people.

It’s a good book full of deep philosophical thought and things that make you remember it well after the book, just like with all John Green books. Unfortunately though, I just didn’t much like Margo Roth Spiegelman. I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, and I just never was able to connect with Q’s journey in that way. Despite the fact that it was a good book, it just wasn’t for me. I give it 3 Stars.

Audiobook Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Book: Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1)

By: Pierce Brown

Published: January 28, 2014

Published by: Random House

My Thoughts: Red Rising is compared to the Hunger Games, and to Enders Game, and though I could see similarities when I looked for them, it is in a class all its own.

Red Rising follows Darrow, a “Red.” They’re the miners of Mars, and their job is to collect elements from below the surface of mars to make the surface inhabitable for humans and the “weaker” colors like the Golds, the Blues, and the other colors. Each of the colors has a job, and the Reds are told that they are humanity’s last hope, that they are the pioneers. Only everything he has been told is a complete lie.

He learns that The Golds have been using them as slaves. One day though, Darrow’s life changes and he disguises himself as a Gold and joins their command school, to compete in the battle to be the best of the Golds. What ensues is a battle unlike any I have ever read before.

I don’t often read books from male POV’s, but this book makes me rethink that. Sure there were no references to hard packed abs, but there were also thankfully no references to swelling breasts despite there being a hint of romance. This was all action and internal thought, and awesomeness. I also usually don’t like books with their own slang terms, but this one didn’t overdo it, and they added a bit of something to the book instead of taking away from it. I can’t even do this book justice.

The Narration of this book was awesome. The Narrator had just the right tones to adequately portray all the varying characters and completely brought the book to life for me.

I give this book 5 huge stars. I would recommend it to fans of dystopian novels and science fiction. If you liked the Hunger Games or Enders Game, or even Poison Princess by Kresley Cole, then you would also probably like this one too. Its full of action, and backstabbing and secrets and lies and tells you that despite all the dividing lines between classes, everyone has good and bad inside them.