I’m over at Dear Author with a review of All’s Fair in Love and War by Virginia Health. The success of this one will depend a lot on how well the humour works for the individual reader. I was somewhere in the middle.
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Avenging Angel by Kristen Ashley, narrated by Stella Bloom. Fans of the Rock Chick series will love this one. I did.
So much fun* and excellent narration.
*there is a very sad part regarding Raye’s background and it involves violence to children (not super graphic but still) so content warning.
Narrated by Stella Bloom
In excellent news for fans of the Rock Chick series, Kristen Ashley has started writing the second generation in the Avenging Angel series. Avenging Angel pairs Julian “Cap” Jackson (formerly known as Sniff; yes – he’s all grown up and no longer scrawny) and Rachel “Raye” Armstrong. Cap works for Nightingale Investigation & Security and has moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to assist Mace to open NI&S’s new branch.
Mace and Stella have moved to Phoenix from LA and there are cameos from most of the Hot Bunch in Avenging Angel. Alas, not much from the Rock Chicks but I think there will be more coming up in future books. I hold out hope. However, in a not-at-all consolation prize, there is the return of Tex! Hurray and huzzah! Oh Tex, I have missed you.
Listeners should note that Raye has a backstory which will be a dealbreaker for some: her little sister, Macey, was abducted when Raye was 8 and Macey was 6. Macey was never seen again. There are some sad moments in the story around this. It’s not graphic but still, it’s a very sensitive topic and for some, it will be too much. The book also starts with Raye (being the “avenging angel” of the title) locating a little girl who had been taken and there is a subplot with missing strippers and sex workers as well.
Apart from that, the book is very Rock Chick – lots of shenanigans (alas, not all that much use of stun guns) and the kind of instalove fans of the OG series enjoy. When Cap and Raye first meet, Cap knows almost immediately that Raye is “it” for him. Of course, he shows this by breaking into her apartment (if this sounds familiar it’s because it is – isn’t it great?) and then he pretty much never leaves. The Hot Bunch do things differently but it works for them! (Caveat: obviously not endorsing this in real life but it’s definitely fun to read about in fiction.)
Raye works at Surf Club which is the Phoenix version of Fortnum’s. The owner of Surf Club is Tito who reminded me a bit of Smithy, although Tito is far more mysterious. If Raye is the “Indy” in this scenario, then Luna, her BFF, is Ally (though Ally and Luna are not that much alike both Raye and Luna do get into Indy/Ally-like scrapes). Other servers at Surf Club are Harlow and Jessie, Raye and Indy’s other BFFs. We will get books for all of them. Liam Tucker (Darius and Melea’s son) is one of the Phoenix crew, Roam will also get a story, there’s a Stark son and others who work for NI&S as well so there are plenty of hot guys and girls to be paired up in future books. According to the author’s Instagram there are currently 7 books planned in the series but that may change.
The story is different but it has very much the look and feel of the Rock Chick series. There are the strong female friendships, the male bonding, the found family and extended family and family family as well as some suspense and loads of the romantic good stuff.
Stella Bloom, who has narrated all of the Rock Chick books, returns to narrate the Avenging Angel series and, as I expected, she nails the brief. She just gets the humour, she understands the author and the characters, and her delivery of Raye and Luna is top notch. There were some lines in particular which were delivered so well I took a little time to marvel as I was listening. One is just Raye thinking to herself “oh Lord” when looking at the various members of the Hot Bunch and the catch in her voice as the line was said was just *chef’s kiss*.
Ms Bloom is very familiar with the OG cast and the style of book and this only adds to the new-but-familiar feel of the story. I enjoy her narration so much – audio is definitely the best way to take in Avenging Angel. (That said, I do hear Ms Bloom’s voice in my head when I read Rock Chick and now Avenging Angel books in print, so there’s that). Apart from the content warning I referenced earlier, Avenging Angel is pretty much a hoot and anyone who enjoyed Rock Chick and wants more of the same (in the best way) will likely enjoy.
B+
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday. Jenny Holiday’s contemporaries work better for me I think.
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Funny Story by Emily Henry. Another winner.
Walk of Shame by Avery Flynn, narrated by Robert Hatchet & Savannah Peachwood. Fun, sexy, sports romance.
Reviewed for AudioGals.
Narrated by Savannah Peachwood & Robert Hatchet
Astrid O’Malley was dumped on her wedding day when her hockey-goalie fiancé face-timed her from the airport to tell her he’d accepted a contract with another team and therefore wouldn’t be attending their nuptials. Humiliated and devastated by both the loss of the relationship and the ensuing media storm, Astrid swore off hockey and men. Walk of Shame picks up five years later, when she meets a hot guy in the bar where she works occasionally.
Astrid has been on something of a “world sex tour”, having strict rules around acceptable interactions with men. One night only, no-one who knows where she lives, no-one who knows where she works. With Cal Matsen she finds herself breaking all her rules – repeatedly. It’s the best sex of her life and he lives right upstairs from her in the same building as the bar. Worse, she finds out he’s just been hired to coach her ex-fiancé (who has the “yips”) for the same team where her father is the head coach. The same team her father has begged her to come back to help for one final year before he retires.
Astrid has a personal organising business (more about psychology than storage) but her dad asks her to come and help the team do its best for his last season. I admit I was a little sketchy on exactly what she did for the team but she’d done the same job with the previous team (also coached by her dad) and they’d apparently worked well together. Now, her ex, Tig, is pulling the entire team down because he suddenly can’t stop easy goals. Cal has been brought in to coach Tig back to being the star he can be.
Cal played in the goalie position himself until an on-ice accident left him permanently unable to play at the elite level. He loves hockey and has done ever since he was four years old. Hockey is what he knows and loves and he’s desperate to be a part of the game somehow.
After Cal and Astrid realise who the other is in relation to the team, each resolves that they can never have sex with each other again. And each is very very bad at maintaining that resolution. Basically they can’t keep their hands off each other.
Astrid is very wary of getting into a relationship at all and the fact that Cal is associated not only with hockey but also her dad and her ex are powerful motivators. But none of those things can compete with her attraction to Cal. For his part, Cal is deeply smitten from the first and even though he knows he shouldn’t, he just can’t stay away. They think they’re hiding it but they’re pretty bad at that also.
There are some quirky characters in the cast, including a crotchety old lady who, if I understood correctly, has mafia connections, and an assistant coach who has four ex-wives and gets on well with them all. There are also cameos (or more) from characters from the Hartigans series which will be nice Easter eggs for fans. I enjoyed the tea party scene especially.
Walk of Shame was my first experience with Robert Hatchet. I enjoyed his performance very much, a little better than Savannah Peachwood’s actually. Both narrators have good character differentiation, tone and pacing. Both were solid when it came to the intimate scenes and also with emotion and humour of the book. Ms Peachwood has a good “hero voice” but I didn’t like as much, her other male character voices. Her depiction of Astrid’s dad and the other coaches weren’t as enjoyable for me as when they were voiced by Mr Hatchet. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to separate them in terms of performance or skill.
Walk of Shame was enjoyable and fun – and very sexy. Definitely not one to listen to with kids in the car! I did have some questions about how things ended up. For me, some of the textual links in the story were absent so I didn’t quite get how Cal came to the decision he did and I was surprised by the epilogue on a number of levels but overall, the audiobook ends in the win column.
Grade: B-
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey. Loved it. Right up there with my other favourite Bailey, It Happened One Summer.
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