Heartless

The Heartless Series

By: Kelly Martin

Narrated by: Julie Hinton

Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Who is really the monster?

For 13 years, Gracen Sullivan dreamed about a red-eyed demon named Hart Blackwell who tortured her every night. Her mother freaked when she found out about her daughter's "hallucinations" and forced Gracen to go to the doctor, who prescribed some very powerful medication, which kept Hart out of her head for five years.

A week ago, Hart came back and brought a friend.

But something has changed, and Gracen is seeing Hart when she's awake too. And the other "friends" in her dreams? They have been found dead.

The police want to talk to her.

Her boyfriend has become distant.

Her dreams are becoming more and more intense.

Hell wants her.

Heaven has to stop her.

When push comes to shove, can Gracen fight the evil eating away inside her or will she be forced to embrace it and destroy the world?

©2015 Kelly Martin (P)2016 Kelly Martin

May your Dreams be Hartless

What did you like best about this story?

Supernatural, Mystery, Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons (and worse), Civil War, Family Drama, Lies and Betrayal, Suspense, Spells, Epic-Save-the-World-from-the-Bad-Guys theme, a little bit of love and conflicted emotions... This book has some of all of that. If you like just about anything in books, then pick this series up. You'll find something in there that you will like.

What about Julie Hinton’s performance did you like?

Julie Hinton was the narrator for the audio book. I've seen enough of Kelly's Facebook videos that I kind of know her voice. The first time I heard Julie Hinton start out in the first chapter of this book, I immediately thought, "Wow! She's reading it like Kelly would." She has that Southern drawl, which is perfectly fitting for the Southern characters. But she keeps her voices for characters different, distinct, and consistent. There is little higher praise than that for a book narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

So I read/listened to this book and finished it exactly one year after my wife, Rachel did. Rachel purchased a copy of her audio book through Audible for me months ago and I just finished listening to it, and I'm looking forward for the next audio books. Kelly, I'm sorry this one took me so long to complete. I was busy, you know, like getting my CPA busy. But the wait is over, and my review is here.

Any additional comments?

One of the things I found slightly irritating was the excessive soliloquies, where the character was thinking in their head (or sometimes having a conversation mentally, but... well that's okay). I mean, a normal person can't possibly have five or more separate thoughts after every line of dialogue in a conversation. I think this was more of a writing style of Kelly's than anything else, and it has its advantages. You really get the feel for what the characters 'feel' when exposed to new information. And in a sense we do have these emotional reactions during conversations, they just happen in the blink of an eye, and are not well thought out sentences in our head. That instant reaction to emotion is difficult to convey in a book without words, so it is very helpful in that regard. I think I was just not used to the writing style that she uses, and found it a slight distraction from the scenes in the book.

The epilogue presents an obvious question: "How can Gracen be...?" Spoilers. Which, of course, is easily solved by reading the next book in the series. And one that I think I will, as soon as the audio book comes out. I'm looking forward to it. For now, this one gets 4 stars from me.

Keep reading, and may your dreams be Hartless.

Julie Hinton nailed this performance.

What made the experience of listening to Heartless the most enjoyable?

Kelly Martin has written an extremely dark and twisted story in Heartless. The narrator, Julie Hinton, made this book leap out in front of me. She embodied the MC connecting me to her and her emotions.

Have you listened to any of Julie Hinton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first audiobook I have listened to that was narrated by Julie Hinton but she is definitely on my radar now. Her performance was fantastic!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This was my first experience with the author, Kelly Martin's, work. OMG is she dark and twisted. I look forward to finishing this series.

A dark paranormal book!

Heartless
The Heartless Series
By: Kelly Martin
Narrated by: Julie Hinton
Series: Heartless, Book 1
This book was not like this author's other books, this was dark! I didn't expect that! There is a demon that has been with the main female character all her life. It went away for a few years but its back. Now its in the flesh as well as in her dreams! She also now has an angel. Girls are dying in her class. She dreams about them before they die. This book messes with your mind. What is real, hallucinations? Who is evil? Demon or angel? I will certainly read book two to see if it is going to stay so dark! I hope not! I like her writing but not so dark!
Narrator was good!

a little to dark

It is a very dark read, dark to the point you don’t want to read it. But the problem is there is this very beautiful soul Gracen, who is the leading lady, and you just have to find out what happens to her.