Also by this author: Garrett, Shaken, Not Stirred, Wicked Fall, Friction, Wicked Lust, Wicked Bond, Max, Finding Kyle, Roman (Cold Fury Hockey, #7)
Published by Montlake Romance on October 27th 2015
Genres: Contemporary Adult Romance 18+, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, Love & Romance
Pages: 288
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 1503947904
ASIN: B00XCAOXI0
Goodreads
At the powerhouse law firm of Knight & Payne, winning comes first and ethics a distant second. Leary Michaels uses her female charms to daze opponents, and it’s always worked well—until now. On her most personal case yet, she finds herself going up against a defense attorney just as skilled, shameless, and seductive as she is.
Reeve Holloway has never met a woman as sure of her own sexuality, or as ruthless in wielding it, as Leary is. But he won’t be toyed with. What Leary starts, he’ll finish—in the courtroom, the bedroom, or any-damn-place he wants. The sex is uninhibited, electrifying, and absolutely against the rules. Reeve’s job is to ruin Leary’s case…even if it destroys her in the process and costs him the woman he’s come to love.
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Because Friction by Sawyer Bennett was more than adequately reviewed by Lover Yesi (and I totally agree with her about the story!), I’m only going to briefly touch on the audio version. I have listened to a number of steamy audiobooks (The Orginal Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz, the “Beautifuls” by Christina Lauren, the Tangled series by Emma Chase), so this wasn’t my first experience with hearing explicit sex being read by a narrator. My decision to purchase the audio version of Friction was based primarily on Yesi’s tempting review of the book and when I saw that Sebastian York with whose work I am familiar was one of the narrators, that clinched it for me. Mr. York has a voice that is uniquely suited to books with strong, confident, sexy male characters and that is exactly the way he comes across. I loved him so much as Drew Evans from Tangled by Emma Chase – follow the link and treat yourself to an interview of Mr. York by Emma Chase. He nailed Drew’s character just as he nailed Reeve Holloway in Friction.
Now we come to Leary Michaels as performed by Kendall Taylor. Sadly, Ms. Taylor didn’t nail her performance. I don’t know if it’s lack of experience or a too-youthful quality to her voice or what. I just couldn’t reconcile the Leary I was hearing with the feisty, audacious, and dauntless woman described by the author. Frequently a director is listed with the credits at the end of audiobooks and since none is listed for this book, I’m wondering if that may be a factor in the mispronounced words and stilted pacing in Ms. Taylor’s narration. Now. . .this brings up another point. Exactly how much effect does narration have on an audiobook and is it possible for a less than stellar narrator to diminish the overall quality of the book? Personally, I am going to have to answer this question “yes”. For that reason, in my opinion, authors should be very cautious when choosing narrators and narrators should be very cautious when pairing themselves with other narrators. I don’t see how Kendall Taylor could carry a book on her own at this point in her career, so I would definitely think long and hard before investing money or time in an audiobook narrated by Ms. Taylor alone. Fortunately, a 5-star story by Sawyer Bennett and a 5-star performance by Sebastian York saved Friction for me. Definitely worth a listen, so don’t hesitate to put in your ear buds if you’ve been looking forward to this one.
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