Book Stats
- Advanced Listener Copy (ALC) from NetGalley🖤
- Book 1 of the Kept in Paradise series
- Publication Date: 02/24/26
- Chapters: 45
- Format: audiobook
- Audiobook Length: 11 hours & 9 minutes
- Narrators: James Cassidy & Erin Mallon
- Narrator POV: Told in 1st person & alternates between the 2 main characters – Mia & Jameson
Book Rating
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
Summary & Review
I will be honest, the initial reason I requested this book is because the audio version had James Cassidy listed as one of the narrators and he’s phenomenal. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book was also really well written and enjoyable. This was my first Shain Rose book and I can honestly say I look forward to reading other books by this author.
This story was fast-paced and started off quick, throwing you right into the story. There’s a young girl, Franny, who is being taught by her summer school teacher, Mia Darling, and they end up caught in the middle of a gun fight (kind of). Franny’s dad, Jameson Knight, comes to the rescue. He’s the attractive, single father who only shows real emotion toward his little girl.
There’s a lot of tension and some fun banter. This author is great at really building up those tense situations and I’m here for it. I love burning/longing in my stories. There were several times that things were spicing up and either stopped or didn’t go as far as I had expected, which contributed to that building desire between characters.
By the end of this story, there’s some betrayal and some twists and it’s all very well done. I will say that while I thoroughly enjoyed James Cassidy’s narration, I was less enthused about Erin Mallon’s initially. She kind of sounded robotic in the first several chapters, almost like she was reading lines for a commercial instead of a romance book. However, as the story progressed, I do feel like her narration got better and by the end, I very much enjoyed the narration provided by both.
All in all, this was a 4 star read for me and I can’t wait to dive into other books written by Shain Rose!
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