Review: Altered State by Ella Dominguez

Altered State by Ella Dominguez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★★
Female Narrator - Rebecca Roberts' Performance: ★★★★★
Male Narrator - Mateo Reaté's Performance: ★★

Overall rating: 4.0

This audiobook was provided by the narrator Rebecca Roberts in exchange for an honest review.

The Story:

"It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart." ~ Oscar Wilde"

This book is about infidleity, but it's not. It's about lying and cheating, murder and mayham, but it's not. What it is about is love and hope, and soulmates.

I loved this story! Lots of delicious twists! What I loved most, is I didn't see them coming! It was one of those major twists that made me stop and go, "Wait. What?" I had to pause, and go back, so to see if I just heard was really what I heard! This book is an erotic thriller with a punch to the gut, and the, heart that will leave the reader (or listener) reeling.

Miranda Delacruz is the wife of Zeke Delacruz, a man she loves and tries very hard to please, and at times even fears. She tries to be perfect for him when she doesn't feel perfect at all and because of this, her marriage is falling apart. Worst of all, she suspects that Zeke is cheating on her.

Could I tell you more than that? Sure. Will I? Hell no! This is one fantastic, roller coaster of a mindfuck that you'll have to read yourself.

Narration


Rebecca Roberts' Performance:

Ms. Roberts' narration was smooth and easy on the ears. I loved how she was able to differentiate the different female characters. I always knew which character was speaking. She slipped between characters easily.

Her voice made me *want* to listen, to invest in the audio format of this story.

Mateo Reaté's Performance:

I've never listened to duel narration done quite like this. Usually, if it's a chapter that is from the female's POV, then it's read by the female narrator, and them same for the male.

Mr. Reaté's reading was very monotone. It was hard to listen to him and come to terms with it being Zeke. Mr. Reaté's voice was disruptive at best. The story would be going along smoothly then all of the sudden there would be a male voice saying (for example) 4 words. There was no inflection in his voice. Zero. The accent wasn't believable. It sounded forced, and not at all like one would imagine Zeke sounding.

I think Mr. Reaté would have better served if perhaps he'd read the story first in order to get a handle on Zeke's character. I felt like he didn't connect with Zeke's character, and if he didn't, that made it hard for me to, (in the audio version, that is. )

Towards the end of the book, when we hear longer passages from Mr. Reaté, it was a bit easier to listen to.

Because of Mr. Reaté, I ended up, for the most part, reading the story on my Kindle, along with the audio.

This book would have been better narrated by one narrator.

Final thoughts:

The story was great, it was solid and I really enjoyed it. So it stood on it's own, regardless of the narration by Mr. Reaté.

I do believe that Mr. Reaté could be a good narrator with the right book, and spoken in his own accent. I would encourage him to take this, and/or other critiques, and use it to help improve something that he obviously enjoys.

I would listen to other audiobooks by Ms. Roberts. She had the perfect energy to bring Ms. Dominguez's book to life!

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New name, same blog!

Hi friends!

Since I post most of my reviews, from here, on my Facebook, I thought I should use Li'l Kit as my name here too. Why not, right?!

So click the buttons on the top left, and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, etc., etc.

Happy reading

Li'l Kit (nd)

Review: Wrath by L.P. Lovell and Stevie J. Cole

Wrath by L.P. Lovell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★


Overall rating: 5.0

*****5 "Evolve to Survive" Stars*****

Where do I start with this book? There have only ever been two books that brought tears to my eyes. This one did more than that, it made me cry, a really ugly cry, and I felt like my heart was shattering.

I was so wrapped up in these characters, the authors pulled me in and made me part of their lives. So much so, that when I got to 87% I actually had to put my Kindle down and try to breathe. It was late and I thought, "No. I can't do this." So even though I could have finished this last night, I had to stop and get my emotions in check. At the same time, I wanted to savor the story, stretch it out just a little longer.

When I started reading this series, I was expecting dark.. but Wrong only gave me little peeks into the dark here and there. But, Wrath? It threw the door open and drug me down in to darkness hell.

"I will never come back from this. Even if he doesn't kill me, I gave up my life for love. I just hope it was enough."

Joe is the personification of evil. While he was mainly quiet in the first book, he comes out full on twisted, sadistic, depraved and deprived. In complete monster mode, in this book. He is the stuff real nightmares are made of. His pleasure comes from completely breaking a person's mind, body and spirit before ending their lives. He wants his victim to beg him for death. And he *will* make them beg.

When Joe took Tor, she was his ultimate victim, the one he needed to completely destroy Jude. But he didn't really count on the love that Jude and Tor had.

Tor and Jude are finally reunited but Joe is still out there, and no matter how much Jude swears to keep her safe, can he really?

"It's like all the little pieces of my fucked up existence click into place. Evolve to survive, this is what I need to survive. Blood. Revenge. Wrath."

Revenge is Tor's driving force at this point. It's a what she needs to move on. It's all she thinks about, and she needs Jude to get on board with it, quickly, because now, more than ever the stakes just went up ten fold.

"She is the only thing in my life that has ever felt right. It's fucked up, and it's wrong, but I love her. She's fucking everything."

In the first book, Jude was softer. That changes exponentially in this book. He becomes a man with a mission, and that mission is to kill Joe before Joe kills them first. Jude doesn't love, it's not who he is. But he loves Tor, there is no doubt in his mind about that, and he doesn't even know how it happened. But it's that love that causes him to put everything on the line to find Joe.

"Holy fucking shit, when did Tor become so fucking violent? The fucked up part is that it's making my damn dick hard."

This book also broke up the dark with some really funny banter between Jude and Tor. It's made them real, it made me love them. It made me scared for them.

"Tor may be broken, but she's evolved, she's dark and deadly, and sexy as fuck."

As this book progressed, I kept looking at how much was left. I didn't want it to end, and I really kept thinking.. "oh, this isn't going to end well."

The story wraps up all the lose ends. The flow was perfect. It didn't feel rushed. This book is going down as my newest favorite "Dark read".

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Marney. I loved him. He was the perfect secondary character that held everything together. His story line weaved in and out of Jude and Tor's story. A piece of dark thread in a beautifully fucked up, tragic, tapestry entitled.. Wrath.

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Review: Wrong by L.P. Lovell & Stevie J. Cole

Wrong by L.P. Lovell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

Overall rating: 5.0

*****5 "Life is so twisted" Stars*****

  "There are times in life when you have to seriously question your own sanity, and this is one of them."

This book was an unexpected surprise for me. I *love* unexpected surprises! It grabbed me and sucked me right in and was hard to put down. Lots of unexpected twists and turns, with an ending that left me barely able to stay in my seat and reaching for book two, Wrath, as fast as I could!

Victoria/Ria/Tor

 

"She is light in this pit of blackness. She's an angel surrendering to the unforgiving flames of hell..."

I really liked her character. She's strong, defiant, and vulnerable. That's hard to bring across sometimes in books like these. But the authors did a great job with her character.

Tor had worked hard in her life, she was in her last year of medical school on her way to becoming a doctor, and things, for the most part, seemed to be going her way. Then she becomes "dead girl walking" into a life that strips her of everything.

Euan

 

"He didn't beg for her. He didn't fight for her. He is a coward. A selfish pussy."

That pretty well sums up Euan, "a selfish pussy". He gives up Tor to Jude as collateral for gambling debts he can't pay. He's a weak man. Tor was already to the point of leaving him behind, when he throws her under the bus. Watching as she's dragged away from him, making no move to help her.

Jude

 

"This woman has changed everything in my life. In a matter of weeks she has created a fucking war inside me. She makes me question who the fuck I am."

Jude is interesting. A bad guy that can't hurt a woman. He has respect for women, but he doesn't let the women around him get away with anything either. Jude is a bookie, and a dangerous one at that. He's the head of the family business that was started by his grandfather. And he's good at what he does. But, look out if someone doesn't pay up because he'll make them pay, usually with their life.

Caleb

 

"Cowards hide behind excuses. A weak man blames his actions on others."

Caleb is Jude's younger brother, and while he can be a very dangerous man in his own right, he really doesn't want to be in the family business. And he has a soft spot for Tor. He becomes her friend in a situation that is FUBAR to day the least. Tor cares about him too, but she hates Jude.

I loved Caleb, everything about him. I hope we see more of him in the next book, more of him stepping up against Jude.

You can release a bird from it's cage, but if you've clipped it's wings then its freedom is merely a false kindness

 

All Tor wants is her freedom, and she'll do almost anything to achieve that one singular goal. But life isn't fair. And in this new life she's been thrust into, it can be a twisted place where nothing is ever as it seems.

This book... oh, this book! I absolutely loved it.. and if you're wondering if you should read it... the answer is simply...

 

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Review: It Ain't Me, Babe by Tillie Cole

It Ain't Me, Babe by Tillie Cole

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★

Story: ★★★

Characters: ★★★

Overall rating: 3.0

Well, this book is a tough one for me to review.

It started out pretty good, except for one annoying thing. Styx is happy to find Mae again... or who he *thinks* is her... but the overuse of the word "bitch" started to grate on me.

If they were calling the "club sluts" that, it would be one thing, but for 15 years, Styx has been thinking about this girl, looking for her, the beautiful girl with the "wolf eyes", but still insists on calling her "bitch". They call *all* the women bitch or bitches. How do they separate the club whores from the main female lead.

For instance:

"I sat on the chair next to the bed, watching the bitch's chest rise and fall...."

Really? The author couldn't replace "the bitch's" with "her"?

I don't like overuse of a word, any word, in a book, it starts to be a distraction. So many times a sentence would have been so much smoother and believable if the word "bitch" were replaced with "she" or "her".

I guess I'm spoiled to other MC stories. The main male characters are usually a bit rough around the edges, but they love women and normally treat them with respect, and they are true alpha males.

But Styx, I didn't connect with Styx at all, (or many of the brothers for that matter). The overuse of "bitches" no matter if they were talking bad about, or fondly about, the women had me rolling my eyes more than once.

131 times. That's how many times some form of "bitch" was used. That was an average of 3.5 times per page. Just too much.

I enjoyed Mae's point of view, she was believable. Then it would switch to Styx. The author writes his words and thoughts like he a horny undersexed 15 year old boy. That by his description sounds like he's trying to convince himself he's a stud.

For example:

"I'm g-gonna get you ready with my f-fingers. Then I'm g-gonna eat this pussy u-until you cream in my m-mouth. Then, wh-when you c-can't take no m-more, I'm g-gonna fill y-you up with m-my cock until y-you scream, so fuckin' loud."

Styx is an ass. There really is no reason for him to speak to Mae like he does, mainly when they're alone... not at anytime really. Sure, he was raised in the MC, but he still has to have *some* human qualities. He has to see that not all women are club whores and "bitches". If I were Mae, I'd take my chances on the outside rather than being constantly yelled at by Styx.

This, to me, reads like a YA book and the author is trying to "bad boy" it up. I didn't really enjoy these character's together.

Styx did redeem himself later in the book, the character grew a bit. At 75% I was ready to mark this book off as a DNF, but I figured I'd gotten that far, I may as well finish, then at 80% in, the author wrote a great twist into the story, I loved it. Loved the surprise of it.

One other thing, the word is "wasn't" not "weren't"!

Examples:

...it weren't often, I weren't on good terms, She knew she weren't welcome, Lois weren't ever gonna be it, but she weren't like other bitches, I weren't pulling in a crowd... and on and on. Only from the Hangmen, mostly Styx.

I think the author either thought that was how MC's were suppose to speak or how southern's speak, I'm not sure.

So the saving grace for me was beginning at 80%.

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Review: Outlaw by Nicole James

Outlaw by Nicole James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★

Overall rating: 4.0

I really enjoyed this first in series book! It took me much longer to read than I like, but not because it wasn't good, but because life got busy on me.. but when I was away from this book, I was thinking about the characters. That says a lot about how much I enjoyed it!



Cole is a rough and tumble biker, VP of The Evil Dead motorcycle club.



Angel is a girl that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When Cole sees Angel for the first time, she's in handcuffs and being dragged behind Chucky. She's been beaten, and he finds out later, raped. He ends up taking her away from Chucky, rescuing her, then taking her back to California on the back of his bike.

Part of me loved the Alpha that Cole could be, but when Angel, so quickly, gave in sexually, I found that a bit hard to digest. But at the same time, I realize that this is a work of fiction and it needed to happen to move the story along.

And move along it did. This was a long book, but it held my interest and I connected with the characters.

Mack, the President of The Evil Dead; I don't like him. He had very few redeaming qualities.

Natalie, Angel's aunt, and a wonderful person. She loves Angel and only wants the very best for her and will do anything to help her achieve it.



I loved how Cole loved Angel, he was purely "Alpha" but with her he wasn't afraid to let his softer side show. While I *love* an Alpha, I can also appreciate the truly human side, the side that isn't afraid to show feelings.

And the sex scenes. Hot. Hot. Hot! Normally anymore, when reading erotica, the over the top drug out sex scenes start to bore me and I end up skimming, but not in this book. The scenes were well done, and just enough to get my attention, and then move on to he heart of the story.

Some of the downfalls of this book:

► The author's writing style. At the very beginning of the book, right at page one, I was lost, had to re-read the first few pages several times, trying to figure out who was who and who belonged where.

► The names of the motorcycle clubs The Evil Dead and the Dead Souls, were so similar (both having "Dead" in them) that it was hard to tell which club was which. But, I pushed through, and was quickly caught up in the story.

► The over descriptiveness of every move/detail. Better editing could have easily fixed this minor issue. And this is the reason this book, for me, is a 4 star instead of a 4.5 or 5.0.

But, this is the first book in the series, and sometimes it *can* be a little bumpy. I have a feeling that the author will improve with each book. She has a great foundation on which to build.

I enjoyed this book enough that I do plan on continuing the series... and I'm looking forward to doing so!

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