Antidote

Love and War, Book 1

By: R A Steffan

Narrated by: Gwendolyn Druyor

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

They're fighting the same battle. They just don't know it yet.

Skye Chantrell has just escaped a war zone.

She's carrying the stolen antidote to a deadly bioweapon.

When her damaged shuttle crashes on a remote lunar outpost, she's captured by the leader of a rogue group of barbaric aliens. Now her people's survival - not to mention her own - rests in the hands of the Seven Systems' most feared and hated criminal.

A man with the face of a brutal thug, and the eyes of an angel.

Hunter Tarthasian has every reason to hate the Regime.

He and his comrades have turned vigilante, vowing to use every means at their disposal to bring down the evil Premiere. Now, they're hunted and on the run, holed up in an abandoned outpost while they plan their next move. The last thing Hunter needs is a female human civvy with a terrible secret crash-landing on his doorstep. Especially when she starts to awaken feelings in him that he can't afford right now.

Feelings that could very easily get all of them killed.

From award-winning author R. A. Steffan comes a sizzling new sci-fi romance series, perfect for fans of J. R. Ward and Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Strap in tight, because all's fair in Love and War.

©2017 R. A. Steffan (P)2017 R. A. Steffan

Light sci-fi romance

I sometimes feel chagrined when I give fewer stars to an audiobook that most other reviewers have rated highly. For this audiobook, I give both the story and the narration three stars.

Narration preferences are very subjective, but I found it hard to get through the narration of this audiobook because the narrator emoted a wee bit too much for my comfort. Within the first three minutes of the narration I knew that I wouldn't be able to emotionally engage with the heroine because of the way the narrator gave voice to Sky's anxiety/panic/dread/hysteria. It sounded like she was experiencing significant post-traumatic stress for most of the book. For the same reason, the hero didn't resonate with me either - he didn't sound like a very attractive or compelling man, given the voice that the narrator used for his character. I'm aware that this narrator has done lots of work in children's literature, and I can definitely appreciate how her vocal style would fit well with that genre. But for this story, I increased the playback speed and focused on the content.

I thought that the story was okay. The plot made sense and was interesting. It's a light romantic sci-fi story with some steaminess and no real tension between the main characters - they both deny their attraction to eachother at the start, but find their happily ever after by the time the story is finished. The dynamics between the hero and heroine were very predictable, with no surprises.

What I did find interesting, and what makes me curious about seeing how this series progresses, were the cast of supporting characters. Most of the supporting characters resembled personalities I've seen in other series (e.g., by Ward, Showalter, Cole, or Singh), but there was one secondary character - a cyborg - who did pique my interest. If RA Steffan writes a stand-alone story for that particular character, I'd definitely be interested in reading it! Anyway, I think that Steffan did a much better job of developing the supporting characters and making them unique and interesting, compared to the hero/heroine.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Feel let down

This had so much potential. A great idea for a story. The author lacked conviction in her characters. Very little depth. Hell not even clear on what they looked like. Everything was skimmed over. Very disappointed.

Great Sci-Fi Romance

This is the first book in the Love and War Series. I really love R.A. Steffan's writing, she never disappoints. This is a great Sci-Fi Romance, entertaining, with great and complex world and wonderful characters. I love Skye and Hunter's story and I loved to follow them in their journey. I can't wait for the next book in the Series. The narration was really well done and easy to listen, as always with Gwendolyn Druyor. She does a great job with all the characters and accents. I enjoyed my listening. I received this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Glad I joined in for the ride

I have listened to Gwendolyn Druyor read a story before and really enjoyed it. So when I saw she had recorded a new story I thought I would give it a go even tho it not normally a genre I would chose, I am so glad I did Gwendolyn was excellent as the narrator but I also really enjoyed the story. I might be making the move from mysteries over to fantasy syfy, if they are all like this one. Loved the action and the bonds between each character.

Outstanding voices and accents!

This narrator is outstanding! She does different accents for different characters as well as a great range of high and low pitches for male and female voices. The make voices actually sound as if a male is speaking them!
Skye's father worked as a scientist for the "Regime". He was forced to make a biological weapon that would kill all of the humans in the Capital City. He designed an antidote to be used against the weapon. Her father gave her the formula hidden electronically in an earring right before they killed him. Skye then runs and crashes a stolen spaceship. She is saved by a group of Vithii(alien) and a cyborg that were hiding on the small planet.
Hunter is the leader of the rebel group that does anything and everything to go against the evil Premiere and his Regime soldiers. They all want revenge because of things done to themselves or their family by the Regime.
I truly enjoyed the book. There was plenty of action involved, some mystery, lots of technological equipment used as well as romance. I agree with some of the reviewers that there needed to be some more explanation into who the Vithii are and other world building attributes, but I still enjoyed the story none the less. This is a new author to me and I will definitely be reading more in this series!

GOOD SERIES!

I enjoyed it! The narration was good and kept me entertained. The author did an good job with the characters. I have read all the books in this series and enjoyed them as well. I really enjoy this author's books and can't wait to start the next series, The Last Vampire! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Fun sci-fi book

Pretty good listen, liked the story and premise. The narration was ok, the narrator got a little too whiney and dramatic with the lead female which made it a bit annoying at points.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Exciting and tumultuous

What an exceptional beginning to a series that is amazing! Narration is wonderful though sometime I would love to hear each character with a separate narrator's voice! However Ms. Druyor is great and I will definitely continue buying the rest of this audible series!

Hard to tell characters apart

Didn’t really like the chemistry between the hero and leading lady. I thought she was way to whinny through the story. It had a lot of action in it but barely any romance.

The narrator did a good job for the main two characters, but with many sub characters they all started to sound the same.

Listening to the story it had a lot of skipping of words which lead to sometime the sentences not making any sense and long pauses.

Saving the human race

This book was exciting and I found it to be interesting in a new way than just the usual sci fi books that I have read in the past.