Audio Review ~ Collide (Collide #1) by Gail McHugh

Collide by Gail McHugh
Also by this author: Amber to Ashes
Series: Collide #1
Published by Atria Books on September 17, 2013
Genres: New Adult
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads

A missed first encounter....

Colliding with a second chance....

On the heels of graduating college and trying to cope with her mother's death, Emily Cooper moves to New York City for a fresh start.

While harboring secrets of his own, Dillon Parker takes care of Emily through her grief. Knowing he can't live without her by his side, he's sweet, thoughtful, and everything Emily has ever wanted in a man.

Until she meets Gavin Blake - a rich and notorious playboy who is dangerously sexy and charming as hell. Emily tries to deny the instant connection she feels, but Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome is not inclined to let go so easily. Recovering from his own painful past, Gavin will stop at nothing to win Emily over.

This unexpected encounter compels Emily to question her decisions, forcing her to make a choice that will destroy friendships, shatter hearts, and forever change her life.

 

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This is my first audio book review and only the third audio book I’ve ever listened to.  Click HERE to read why I decided to try an audio book again.

Dillion Parker was with Emily Cooper during the worst time of her life–when her mom died from stage 4 breast cancer, only being diagnosed three months earlier.  Emily’s mom was the only parent she knew.  Dillion was Emily’s rock, support, comfort, even taking care of the funeral arrangements, paying for doctor bills, holding her mom’s hair as she threw up, and helping Emily sell her family home.  Emily felt indebted to Dillion.  But once Emily decides to move from Colorado to New York to be close to Dillion, her life begins to change and the relationship she has with Dillion has new challenges.  But in Emily’s mind she knows she promised her mom to marry Dillion and she owes him for everything he sacrificed for her…and then she meets Gavin Blake who puts a kink in her planned-out future.

If you are not a fan of love triangles, I’ll tell you up front, this book is not for you.  Also, if you want a heroine with a backbone, this book is not for you.  But if you like a well written book, with in-depth characters and a very true-to life plot, you will like this book.

Besides the fact that Emily was too weak for my liking, I still enjoyed the book.  What I didn’t like was almost all of the “over-used cliche lines” that make me cringe can be found in Collide.  (Say you’re mine, you’re so wet for me, come for me, etc.) 🙁 This has become a pet peeve for me personally.  But again, I really did like the story line.

So let me talk about the audio book.  First off, I did not listen to the audio sample of Collide before upgrading my Kindle version to the audio book.  (Sometimes I really do like surprises.)  The narrator is Mary Kowal, and she has narrated numerous books and is also an author as well as a puppeteer.   (I knew nothing about her before listening to this book.)

I really liked the narrating of the book and the inflections in her voice, especially for the characters of Emily and Olivia.  She did a stellar job with Olivia’s different moods, which made her character so real for me.   The narrator spoke in a different voice, even used some accents, for every single character throughout the book, which is truly impressive when you think about it.  Unfortunately, I think all of the different voices and accents, especially for the men, is what I did not like about this audio book.  I can understand using a slightly lower voice for the men, but it was too much for me and was distracting at times, especially when Gavin was speaking.

What I didn’t know is that Collide ends on a major cliffhanger, which means I have to continue with the sequel Pulse.  I also have that book on my Kindle and do not think that I want to listen to it.  I must say that I really like that I can switch between listening and reading with Whispersync for Voice books, but I can’t do it again with this narrator.  🙁

On a rating scale, I would give the overall book 4.25 stars and the audio book 3 stars.

I would love to hear from you about audio books, your likes and dislikes when it comes to narrating.  Do you listen to the narrator before purchasing an audio book?

Kindle Books with Narration:  Browse more than 55,000 Whispersync for Voice-ready titles.  You can switch seamlessly between READING and LISTENING on your Kindle App or tablet with a simple tap of a button!  Yep, you heard that right! Here’s the cool part—Amazon will search your Kindle library (Matchmaker) and find the discounted audio upgrades for the books you already own.

Thanks for reading!