Today's audiobook review is not for the faint of heart! Read on to find out what I thought of erotic, romance suspense title First Touch, by Laurelin Page.
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin | Audible Studios
Release Date: December 29, 2015 | May 10, 2016 (audiobook)
Format: MP3 Audio
Pages: 371 (Paperback) / Audio Length: Approx 12.75 hours
Narrator: Ava Erickson
Source: Audible Studios
Genre: Romance Suspence, Erotica, BDSM
Review Date: June 1, 2016
Rating: 4 bookmarks
Synopsis: When Emily Wayborn goes home to visit her mom while on hiatus from her hit TV show, she receives a voicemail from her former best friend, Amber. Though the two were once notorious party girls, they haven't spoken in years. Although the message might sound benign to anyone else, Amber uses a safe word that Emily recognizes, a word they always used to get out of sticky situations during their wild days. And what's more chilling than the voicemail: it turns out that Amber has gone missing.
Determined to track down her friend, Emily follows a chain of clues that lead her to the enigmatic billionaire Reeve Sallis, a hotelier known for his shady dealings and play boy reputation. Now, in order to find Amber, Emily must seduce Reeve to learn his secrets and discover the whereabouts of her friend. But as she finds herself more entangled with him, she finds she's drawn to Reeve for more than just his connection to Amber, despite her growing fear that he may be the enemy. When she's forced to choose where her loyalty lies, how will she decide between saving Amber and saving her heart?
Disclaimer: The audiobook was provided to me by Audible Studios in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: December 29, 2015 | May 10, 2016 (audiobook)
Format: MP3 Audio
Pages: 371 (Paperback) / Audio Length: Approx 12.75 hours
Narrator: Ava Erickson
Source: Audible Studios
Genre: Romance Suspence, Erotica, BDSM
Review Date: June 1, 2016
Rating: 4 bookmarks
Synopsis: When Emily Wayborn goes home to visit her mom while on hiatus from her hit TV show, she receives a voicemail from her former best friend, Amber. Though the two were once notorious party girls, they haven't spoken in years. Although the message might sound benign to anyone else, Amber uses a safe word that Emily recognizes, a word they always used to get out of sticky situations during their wild days. And what's more chilling than the voicemail: it turns out that Amber has gone missing.
Determined to track down her friend, Emily follows a chain of clues that lead her to the enigmatic billionaire Reeve Sallis, a hotelier known for his shady dealings and play boy reputation. Now, in order to find Amber, Emily must seduce Reeve to learn his secrets and discover the whereabouts of her friend. But as she finds herself more entangled with him, she finds she's drawn to Reeve for more than just his connection to Amber, despite her growing fear that he may be the enemy. When she's forced to choose where her loyalty lies, how will she decide between saving Amber and saving her heart?
Disclaimer: The audiobook was provided to me by Audible Studios in exchange for an honest review.
First and foremost this book is not for everyone. This is a romance book, with a solid suspense plot, and lots of sex - kinky sex, BDSM sex, with lots of angst driven moments. Basically the plot is full of drama, which always makes for fun reading.
The story is told from Emily's point of view. Emily is a complex character with lots of issues. Her past is vulgar, shocking, and a little bit over-the-top at times. As we learn about her life with Amber and why their friendship split it's pretty clear that it wasn't healthy. Regardless, Emily feels that she owes it to Amber to help her. To find her.
The story is told from Emily's point of view. Emily is a complex character with lots of issues. Her past is vulgar, shocking, and a little bit over-the-top at times. As we learn about her life with Amber and why their friendship split it's pretty clear that it wasn't healthy. Regardless, Emily feels that she owes it to Amber to help her. To find her.
In Emily's eyes, Reeve is the main suspect in Amber's disappearance. He's a complicated guy with a murky past at best. It took me a long time to like Reeve's character. I'm not sure I like him as I write this review, but I don't hate him either. He seemed to grow on me, especially later on in the story.
It also took me a while to get comfortable with some of the content of the book. I actually felt a little caught off guard based on the book synopsis. What was listening to on audiobook didn't match up to what I thought this title would be about. I didn't expect so much dominance and submissive content. Don't get me wrong, I'm not prude when it comes to hot bedroom scenes, a little light and harmless dominance is fun for everyone - but this is on another level.
I also initially had a hard time relating Emily and Reeve both. Emily is a naturally submissive character, and I am the opposite of that. I had a hard time understanding that she had no restraint or control to say when something was too much. She was unable to say no to being physically hurt by her sex partner. That was abuse in her previous life. Thankfully, the saving grace is that once Reeve figured out that Emily had no limits, and never would say no, he changed his approach with her. He "forced" her to take control and make choices as far as what her limits were. That was a relief and it seemed more reasonable. One thing that I did like about Emily's character, is that even when she was all consumed with Reeve, she was for the most part, able to get it together and stay on task, which was finding out what happened Amber.
I was into the second half of the book (the last 40% or so) when I really started to get into the groove of things and before you knew it, I was vested and I wanted to know what happened. The mystery was starting to become more interesting, and things were unfolding at a great pace. Can someone say cliffhanger?! Paige left us with a shocking moment for a cliffhanger. I was half suspecting it, but it still surprised me. When it was all said and done, I liked and enjoyed the story.
The audiobook narrator, Ava Erickson, did a fabulous job. With the subject matter and all the dirty words and cursing, Ava pulled it off. Things were very intense, and sometimes when it audiobook narrator reads some highly sexually charged scenes it can get somewhat cheesy and embarrassing to listen to. Not in this case. The narrator is a great job and it made the book even more interesting. I hope to hear Ava Erickson's voice on the second book. Just pack your headphones!
First Touch is a great choice if you're looking to dip your toes into the dark and erotic side of the romance pool. I'm looking forward to listening to book two, Last Kiss. I hope to get to the bottom of the mystery regarding Amber, delve more into Reeve's past, see how Emily develops as a character and find out if she's able to grow beyond her inherent submissive state.
Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara
It also took me a while to get comfortable with some of the content of the book. I actually felt a little caught off guard based on the book synopsis. What was listening to on audiobook didn't match up to what I thought this title would be about. I didn't expect so much dominance and submissive content. Don't get me wrong, I'm not prude when it comes to hot bedroom scenes, a little light and harmless dominance is fun for everyone - but this is on another level.
I also initially had a hard time relating Emily and Reeve both. Emily is a naturally submissive character, and I am the opposite of that. I had a hard time understanding that she had no restraint or control to say when something was too much. She was unable to say no to being physically hurt by her sex partner. That was abuse in her previous life. Thankfully, the saving grace is that once Reeve figured out that Emily had no limits, and never would say no, he changed his approach with her. He "forced" her to take control and make choices as far as what her limits were. That was a relief and it seemed more reasonable. One thing that I did like about Emily's character, is that even when she was all consumed with Reeve, she was for the most part, able to get it together and stay on task, which was finding out what happened Amber.
I was into the second half of the book (the last 40% or so) when I really started to get into the groove of things and before you knew it, I was vested and I wanted to know what happened. The mystery was starting to become more interesting, and things were unfolding at a great pace. Can someone say cliffhanger?! Paige left us with a shocking moment for a cliffhanger. I was half suspecting it, but it still surprised me. When it was all said and done, I liked and enjoyed the story.
The audiobook narrator, Ava Erickson, did a fabulous job. With the subject matter and all the dirty words and cursing, Ava pulled it off. Things were very intense, and sometimes when it audiobook narrator reads some highly sexually charged scenes it can get somewhat cheesy and embarrassing to listen to. Not in this case. The narrator is a great job and it made the book even more interesting. I hope to hear Ava Erickson's voice on the second book. Just pack your headphones!
First Touch is a great choice if you're looking to dip your toes into the dark and erotic side of the romance pool. I'm looking forward to listening to book two, Last Kiss. I hope to get to the bottom of the mystery regarding Amber, delve more into Reeve's past, see how Emily develops as a character and find out if she's able to grow beyond her inherent submissive state.
Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara
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