Bethany reviews ‘Absolution’ by Sloane Kennedy. Self-published on April 1st, 2016 356 pgs. Released in audio on August 19th, 2016. Narrated by Joel Leslie, 7hrs 16 mins.
Why I listened to this book: I read this when it came out and loved it so when I had the chance to review the audio here I jumped at it.
NOTE: We were provided a copy in exchange for an honest review.
After four years abroad, artist Jonas Davenport has come home to start building his dream of owning his own art studio and gallery. But just as he’s ready to put the darkness of his past behind him forever, it comes roaring back with a vengeance.
The only thing keeping ex-cop Mace Calhoun from eating his own gun after an unthinkable loss is his role in an underground syndicate that seeks to get justice for the innocent by taking the lives of the guilty. Ending the life of the young artist who committed unspeakable crimes against the most vulnerable of victims should have been the easiest thing in the world. So why can’t he bring himself to pull the trigger?
After years of fighting in an endless, soul-sucking war, Navy SEAL Cole Bridgerton has come home to fight another battle – dealing with the discovery that the younger sister who ran away from home eight years earlier is lost to him forever. He needs answers and the only person who can give them to him is a young man struggling to put his life back together. But he never expected to feel something more for the haunted artist.
Cole and Mace. One lives by the rules, the other makes his own. One seeks justice through the law while the other seeks it with his gun. Two men, one light, one dark, will find themselves and each other when they’re forced to stand side by side to protect Jonas from an unseen evil that will stop at nothing to silence the young artist forever.
But each man’s scars run deep and even the strength of three may not be enough to save them.
Note: Contains m/m/m scenes and is intended for mature audiences.
When I read this book I said when I finished it, this is how a menage should be written. I do love a good menage, but sometimes feel they lack something. Like when two of the mcs have been together a while, the third often times feels like a third wheel. Or if they all come together at the same time, they lack that intense connection if it were just two of them. So when I find one were they all connect with each other equally but in their own way with each other well that is a winner in my book. So let me tell you a little bit why this book is at the top of my list for menages.
Jonas, oh, how do I describe Jonas. Wise beyond his years, and not because he wanted to be, but because he had to be. Oh my emotional heart broke for him from page one. You can almost feel the hurt, the fear, the pain he lived through. Pain brought on by people who should have loved and protected him. And pain brought on my people who took advantage of him when he was at his lowest. Oh the tears I cried for this brave man.
Mase, oh Mace, he is the perfect picture of rage and unthinkable anger. And you know what? I honestly find his rage justified. Now the way he goes about handling his rage some might find, well unorthodox to say the least. But handling it this way was better than the alternative. While I cried for Jonas for what he went through, I damn near sobbed when we find out why Mase is so angry.
Last but never least Cole, he is struggling. He needs answers to what happened to his sister, to finally bring a small amount of peace to his father and himself. Though he is not sure how much peace it will bring his father, seeing how far into the bottle he has gotten. Yet he needs to know, and his need to find those answers bring him face to face with Mase and Jonas, each others fate.
Separate these men are broken, but together they make each other whole. They form something they can’t explain, providing something for each other they didn’t know was missing. Watching these three come together, work together, love together, well it was just magical. I said it above and I will say it again, this is how a manage should play out. They didn’t automatically fall into bed with each other. No they each learned to trust the other, with their secrets, their fears, with their hearts. Then and only then did they let the attraction consume them, let the other men love them. They proved to each other they deserved goodness and happiness.
Ok, so now the narration. I honestly believe it must be hard enough to voice two men, especially two alpha men, so I can’t imagine how hard it must be two give not two but three men their each individual voice. But let me tell you people, Joel Leslie, he can. I knew from the very start of this audio I had found a new auto buy narrator. You know the ones that it really doesn’t matter which book they narrate, you will get it anyway because you just love listening to the sound of his voice. Along with the three main characters, he brilliantly narrated the secondary characters, giving them their voice. One of the best audios I have listened to in a while.
All in all I can’t recommend this audio, or book, enough. The writing is spot on and along with the narration, I have to give this a solid 10. This is one that I know I will read and listen to many many times.
Where to buy: Audible ~ Amazon
Rainbow Gold Reviews 