Unabridged Audiobook
It surprises me how much I liked this audiobook. Emmaline is not someone I would have befriended but Ms Cole does such a good job of giving depth and evoking empathy and support for characters we might roll our eyes at on the surface. Emmaline is soft, fearful and on the surface a poster girl for weak, screaming gothic heroines, but Cole made me like her very early on, in spite of no singular or particular skill/ability/power that sets her apart. Especially considering her lineage and family of noteworthy and history-making Valkyrie. Perhaps it was this "normality" that made it so easy to get behind Emma. Her wonderful use of youth slang and colloquilisms cracked me up at so many turns while her treatment of the analytical, befuddled but brilliant hero tries to understand his completely unexpected "fated" female and catch up after 150 years of underground torture and missing the whole industrial and technological revolution. Our hero (tortured, true, but not dragging us into pathos-ville with it), king of Scottish Lycae finds himself trying to adapt (love his late nite reading up on everything) to a world of cars ("its just like carriage and has a parking brake"), cell phones, satellite GPS tracking and suddenly having to figure out his modern woman. Emma's contradiction of blithe insouciance (characteristic of the all dwellers from Val Hall in New Orleans) but painful fearfulness needing protection is a conundrum Lachlain is well up for. Cole does such a fine job in creating quiet intimacy through touching conversation that I find myself completely stopping what I'm doing (painting, laundry etc) to listen and faze out to their dialogue. I realized that Cole doesn't rely on trading mutual horrors of the past to grow their character's attachment to each other--its the other things, the mundane such as Bowen's conversation about lessons learned, and sharing Lachlain's gift with Emmaline. The quiet post coital conversations between Lachlain and Emma including small misunderstandings made right. The stuff that all of us struggle thru to make a relationship. There isn't so much contrivance keeping these two apart as usual to the genre. Their courtship, Lachlain's growth and healing are the real story. The paranormal bits make it fun and hilarious at times. I've read two of the later books in this series and loved hearing more about crazy Nix and the scoop about the other Valkyrie. This is the book you want to listen to all weekend (preferably out of earshot of others). The eroticism is electric, visceral and will leave you flushed. I had to close my windows at points. But it was neither gratuitous nor frequent and added so much to the depth of their attraction. Although I'm the last woman to find Scottish accents attractive, I was lured in to some extent by Lachlain. I give my rare 5 stars to both author and to Robert Petkoff. Petkoff's Russian accents are the best, and his Scottish is no slouch. His timing, tempo, inflection, accents and overall delivery were fantastic in this book and in Bowen's story. This is one I shall enjoy listening to again and again. Read it. Listen to it. Own it. Rock on Ms Cole and thanks for a fabulous weekend of Lachlain's and Bowen's stories. Out of 200+ audiobooks in the past year, I'd have to put this in my top 10. -heading out to read more Kresley Cole, tina
I have read this series before and I am very happy with the audio to this! Great choice in Robert Petkoff as narrator! He does very well as a male narrator compared to others! I love this book and it was well done as an audio! Thank you!
Loved it, can't wait to read more of Kresley Cole novels
What a surprise this book was for me. I started reading it over a year ago and didn't make it past the first chapter. Then I tried it again a few months later and again didn't make it past chapter 3. I thought it moved too slowly. I decided because of the rave reviews from all my friends that I'd give the book another chance. This time I listened to the audio version. I really, surprisingly, enjoyed it. I was prepared to dislike it but determined that no matter what I would finish the book this time. At first I was a little blah about it. The one good thing was the narrator. You can never tell with an audiobook how the narrator will be but I really liked this one. He did an amazing job with Lachlin's Scottish accent. Verra sexy. One of the reasons I hated the book the first time I tried it was because of how wimpy Emma is. I can't stand a wimpy heroine who's afraid of her own shadow. I'm so glad to say that Emma changed, big time. By the end she was kick ass and I loved her. Anyway, it wasn't until the half way point that I really started to get into the story. Now I am glad I stuck it out and I'll even be reading book 2. For anyone who was like me with this story and just couldn't get into, I really recommend the audiobook and can say it's worth a second try. The narrator was absolutely amazing. I loved his voice and his accents.
I enjoyed this book so much that I googled the next books so I could read them all. The only vampire type books I've read are the Twilight series. I did not think I'd enjoy others because I've never been in to it. This book was very good. The romance...the passion...ALLL there!!!
Could not stop listening. It was so addicting that i finished this book in 2 days. Also good narrating. I recommend!
Great book! Im a sucker for paranormal forbidden love so this was perfect! The Narrator was AMAZING! He did a great job make you feel the emotion in the characters! 5 stars!
Nice book and very interesting to read. I liked it a lot I hope you do as well.
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