Audiobook Review: Rented Heart by Garrett Leigh Narrated by Dan Calley #Review #Giveaway

Title: Rented Heart 

Author: Garrett Leigh

Narrator: Dan Calley

Length:  5 hours, 42 minutes

Publisher: Audible

Reviewed by Sammy 

Synopsis

LAMBDA Finalist 2017

Ex-surfer-turned-businessman Liam Mallaney moved back to Holkham, Norfolk, to mourn the loss of his husband. Grief and loneliness keep him a solitary figure, and he likes it that way. There’s no room in his broken heart for anything else.
Rentboy Zac Payne left London and most of his demons behind, but he still only knows one way to make a living. When he spots Liam in a club one night, it seems he’s found his mark. But Liam proves nicer — and their connection far deeper — than he’d bargained for.
Their arrangement quickly becomes too complicated for Zac, who has other things on his mind: namely his BFF and wayward flatmate, Jamie. Zac owes Jamie the world, and even as Jamie’s drug addiction destroys all they have, Zac won’t leave him behind.
Besides, Liam knows nothing of Zac’s home life, too caught up in his own head to think much beyond the crazy heat he and Zac share. But when trouble comes to Zac’s door, putting his life in danger, Liam must set his grief and anger aside to pick up the pieces

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Review

Rented Heart by Garrett Leigh follows the story of one recovering addict/hooker’s journey from the pit of poverty and struggle to the arms of a man who has lost the love of his life and the joy of living. Zac has been on the streets for way too long and yet he knows little else or feels he deserves anything more. But if he is going to make it and keep the roof over his head come winter then he has to find some more regular johns to make money. When he spots the gorgeous blond outside the club he decides to give him a go and from that moment on Zac will finally find the one thing that has always eluded him—the desire to be something more than the hooker he knows he is.

Liam spots the pretty man across the street and is intrigued. Even the booze he has already ingested isn’t enough to keep the dull pain of his loss in check but still he can’t believe he agrees to go home with a prostitute. But there’s something about Zac that will stay with Liam well beyond that one night and regardless of his mind screaming at him not to see the guy again, Liam does just that. Not only is the sex additive but everything about Zac appeals to Liam—now if only he could be sure that Zac wants to be with him for something other than the money he makes.

Rented Heart is a beautiful hurt/comfort trope—a second chance love story between two men who both have already lost too much in their lives. With beautiful moments of intimacy and even better sections where Liam and Zac learn about each other, this novel steals my breath away. It is raw, unfiltered and emotional and I loved every moment.

Dan Calley’s rich variety of English dialects only added to an already luscious story by Garrett Leigh. With a nice pace for the non-dialogue passages, Mr. Calley’s real talent shined through as he voiced the various characters of the story. I do think the timbre of both Zac and Liam is a bit too similar—particularly in the beginning narration. Because they were both low and similar, it made it difficult to determine who was speaking when because the voices sometimes sounded the same. I was also surprised at the lack of differentiation in their accents—I had imagined Liam might have sounded more posh than Zac but still the intensity in Liam’s tone set his voice apart just enough.

I do believe the strength of Mr. Calley’s ability to infuse emotions into the various scenes of intimacy between Liam and Zac really stood out. This narrator can make you feel the hesitancy and then the almost nonchalant capitulation in both Liam and Zac as they question their actions. It all has to do with the masterful way Calley uses pausing and pacing to create tension and highlight important moments in the story. I think author Garrett Leigh really found an excellent narrator to bring their novel to life.

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Audiobook Review: Prophesy~ by A.E. Via Narrated by Nathaniel Black #Review #Giveaway

Title: Prophesy
The King & Alpha Series book 1
Author: A.E. Via
Narrator: Nathaniel Black
Length: 6 hours 50 minutes

Reviewed by Morningstar

Synopsis


Justice Volkov is the youngest Alpha Zenith to ever lead the wolf shifters. Following in his father's large paw prints was a responsibility he met head on. Now at age 33, he is alpha of the alphas. As a direct descendant of the original Siberian pack, his wolf is bigger and stronger than Justice himself is sometimes able to control. His wolf howled long and hard, but Justice kept it inside. It felt like a bass drum beating against his rib cage. The harsh breaths, angry snarls, and the determined pacing inside him were overtaking him. Justice takes his role of leadership and his legacy very seriously. He has little time for romance, not to mention a true mate. His packs are his priority. With a human government trying to regulate them, an uprising of rogue shifters, and a violent team of scientists trying to experiment on them, Justice has his hands way too full.
Chadwick "Wick" Bentley is not enthusiastic when the captain of his escort tells him he has to leave his comfortable London home and go back to the States. As the Vampire King, he has no choice but to get his species back in line before they cause anymore chaos. At over 100 years old, Wick is no one to trifle with, but his smooth, charismatic manner makes him quite unique, despite the negative reputation vampires have. Wick has had nothing but time up to this point. He doesn't feel the need to make issues pressing. Nothing is urgent in his life. Until he meets Justice. His beloved.
"Natural enemies can't be mates." Or so Justice thought. He knows his skepticism and rejection is hurting his mate, so while he fights their connection, Wick gets help from a source very close to Justice to help him win his beloved's heart. Wick is a force all on his own, but when he's blessed with a special gift from the Mother herself, not even Justice's powerful wolf can prevent the prophesy from being fulfilled.
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Review

I easily fell in love with the characters before they even fell in love with each other. Their storyline was well paced and fleshed out and not once did I want to skim or get bored because everything from the action to the internal thoughts were important and drove the story forward.

I do wish there was a bit more world building because what we do know we find out only through internal thoughts about the tenuous truce between humans and paranormals but not much else and as great as her characters are (not over the top alpha stuff but true emotions of two men who are true mates of a warring species) there needs to be more build up to the lore of the authors world to give the reader a true understanding of everything. An example was with the “mother” that visits Justice. I was a little confused here and there as to whether she was “mother” as in their god or really just his mother because the language used seemed to switch from one to the other.

Justice and Wick were both great, truly. I think Wick needed a bit more fleshing out, he fell flat at times, but really, they were both flawed characters that were easy to like and love. I love Wick’s secret and how that played out. Although I do wish there was more cohesive binding of their strengths that would make sense to them needing to be together to beat the enemy. And I think one thing that totally missed the mark for me was the anti-climatic moment of beating this enemy. She made them underwhelming criminals that truly weren’t a fight even for Justice and the rest of the “fight” was off page. I wanted that action, the build up to that moment when the vampires and wolves finally work together to take down their enemy.  

The secondary characters were awesome and full of such different personalities that I wanted them to have more “screen” time! The love grew fast for Wick and Justice, once they accepted each other, and I’m great with that since it’s what’s expected of true mates and I love it myself. I loved heir little moments together and how Wick, even being a King in his own right, stood by Justice, not as his lesser, but certainly in a supporting position in terms of ruling. He wasn’t arrogant or snotty but really just a funny good guy.

The audiobook version was good and having it played out in his narrator’s voice certainly made the story come a bit more to life than when I had just read the book. There was one spot that a line was repeated but since I got it through a new app I’m not sure if it was that or the recording of the book.

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