The Wrong Made Men #1

ALC provided by Podium Entertainment 

Author: C. R. Jane

Narrators: Alexis Paige and Sean Masters

Thanks, @podiumentertainment for the ALC. 

Well, I don’t really know what to say about this one. It’s your standard Mafia man gets obsessed with a girl and I am usually down for those. I knew going in that said girl was married and I assumed that the husband would have to get taken out of the picture. I also assumed that our ‘hero’ would doing questionable things (as one does in dark romance). But the way things progressed made me put this hero in the irredeemable category. The cruelty felt wrong (I admit the irony of saying this in a dark romance review) but, even though her husband wasn’t exactly a model one, he was discarded like trash. A regular guy, who was draining the heroine emotionally but who SHE could have gotten rid of if she wanted. 
Having said that, I would have been less disappointed if, by the end of this very, and I mean VERY,  long book, he had told Eden the questionable things he did regarding her husband’s death (and all the stalking and – wait for it –  drugging he did with her). She could then make the decision to accept these and love him no matter what. It felt like she was being manipulated right to the end. Nope. 

I liked the attempts at humor (‘Don’t say Mafia!”) but since I couldn’t get past the icky feeling towards the hero, they sometimes just feel flat for me. 

But let’s talk about narration because it saved the day! Alexis Paige and Sean Masters narrate this in duet and they are exceptional in this. Alexis portrays a broken, despondent but tenacious Eden. She also does a perfect Irish accent for a secondary character. Sean does his thing: growly, swoony and menacing. He also rocks the accents and different voices. They helped me finish this very long audiobook.

I thought this had a lot of potential and I  am sure other people will love it. I just can’t get past some of the character’s  choices. The writing itself  is good and narration is really really good. 

Content notes (including but not limited to): violence torture, murder, criminal activities, kidnapping, stalking, drugging a person without their consent

Story

Narration