Audition

Audition is a romantic suspense spinoff from the North Security Series, absolutely my favourite trilogy this year. Now it’s Liam North’s brother, Joshua’s turn to tell his story. In previous books, I loved the rapport these two reserved guys had, especially Josh’s on-the-job seriousness while bodyguarding Liam’s lady. Also, there was something in the air with him and Bethany. Yep, Warren teased her readers and has now delivered a readworthy standalone with co-writer, Amelia Wilde.

‘Bethany is an open book, with all her defiance and sadness and fight right there under the surface.’

I’m a great fan of Warren’s storytelling, so I was curious to see how it would develop with this new writing duo. I can’t say I saw a noticeable difference. The plot flows at a steady pace, the banter’s as good as ever; however, there’s more backstory than usual. Josh and Bethany’s stories could easily have been a duet and I’m eternally grateful it wasn’t. There was never a moment when I felt like I was missing any of their protagonists’ personal details.

‘The Josh I knew five years ago never would have done this. He would have broken before he bent.’

Wow, it’s totally understandable that Josh has too much emotional baggage to have a relationship. Making it virtually impossible for anyone to get close to him, he’s the first one to admit that his heart is out of bounds. So the question I asked myself was would Bethany be able to break through his walls without losing him forever. And will Josh give in to the one and only woman who stirs his emotions? The signs of sexual tension simmer off the pages; however, taking the next step could have dire consequences.

‘We belong to different worlds. His is sharp enough to cut me. Mine is already in pieces.’

Only a few people close to both of them are aware that their scars run deep, how utterly hopeless and tragic their pasts were. And although it does take a while for Josh to open up to Bethany, she can see through him. I loved her tenacious and ambitious persona; her inner strength and will to survive moulded her into the woman she is today. On the other hand, Josh is so obstinate, I didn’t know whether to throttle or hug him! But one thing is for sure, he will put his life on the line to protect her.

“It’s you. You’re the one she dreams about.”

We meet up with Bethany’s infamous brother and sweet but rather peculiar grandmother again…The advice she gives to her granddaughter not only had an impact on me, but also made me smile. Selfishly thinking, I would have liked to have learnt a tad more about her brother’s dirty business, an individual who’s beyond vengeful and the choreographer. Snippets of the performing arts trivia at the beginning of every chapter was a welcome addition, and if you like angsty slow-burn romances, this book is for you! Bravo to the authors!

“Whatever’s troubling you, it’ll look better in daylight. Sleep, child. Don’t fight your demons in the dark.”

AUDITION is the enthralling spin off from the bestselling North Security series, though it can be read separately.

Bethany Lewis danced her way out of poverty. She’s a world class athlete… with a debt to pay.

Joshua North always gets what he wants. And the mercenary wants Bethany in his bed. He wants her beautiful little body bent to his will.

Joshua & Bethany met when she was just a teenager. With Bethany having an older brother he had friends his age, which was about 5 yrs older than her. Joshua liked Bethany when she was 15. Nothing ever happened except some hand holding. When things between Joshua & Bethany’s brother don’t work out, Joshua never see’s her again. Josh bought a house in New Orleans, just to have a place that was nearby Bethany.

Bethany did her ballet and practices her brother disappeared popping in every once and awhile. But she rarely saw him. Bethany started getting threating notes and her brother hired North Security to watch her. Bethany is a bit shocked when Joshua shows up at her dance studio. Joshua still can’t keep his eyes off of her now that she’s all grown up.

Will Joshua and his brothers be able to keep Bethany safe? Is it her brother who is threatening her? Or someone from their past?

The book did go between present time and 5 yrs in the past back and forth.

I did receive a free ARC Review copy of this book. I am freely leaving an honest review.

***** AUDIOBOOK REVIEW *****

Well hello there Marni, where have you been all my listening life? Seriously, I might sound playful but she’s a newer narrator to me and I seriously enjoyed her performance. Her narration was beautiful and her tone, her inflection… I can’t get over that I’ve never heard her before! She has a sound that seems made for narration!! Alexander Cendese is also a fabulous narrator and teaming him up with another narrator that plays so perfectly with his sound made this a treat for the ears.

Skye Warren and Amelia Wilde kept me on my toes through this entire novel. I have been feeling this push pull between Josh and Bethany since Samantha and Liam. I enjoyed learning about the earlier relationship between Josh and Bethany. Warren and Wilde created really interesting flash back jumps. I think my main reasoning behind a star removal is I would have loved a bit more development between during the here and now.

I’ve been a fan of Skye Warren for years now. I’m not too sure if I’ve read or listened to Amelia Wilde. However, besides a few areas that I felt like could have benefited for more information Audition was a captivating story. I’m always so fascinated when two authors are able to blend their writing with one another so completely.

Joshua North is the MAN!!!!
We met Joshua & Bethany in the North security books. They both have pasts we’ve read about but what happens when Josh is given a mission to protect Bethany? Her safety is his mission, his priority but when that mission is over can he really walk away from the talented ballet dancer?? This book can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend reading the prior books first..
I loved every moment of this book and can’t wait to see what Skye has in store for us next.

Tried not to get sucked into this author’s for awhile again but I could not help it when I seen this one. Bethany is the dancer with Joshua watching. The push and pull that begins in this with woesis me this is only the beginning. Having read some of the other books Joshua was not unknown to me. You are given a good foundation. I did like the dancing part also to this. This one will sucked me in and held no prisoners. Even though I tried to look away and not open it up. This is also one that does give you a release so that was wonderful.

I was excited to read Audition as Joshua North has stayed with me since the North Securities books. He intrigued me and I was curious to see how this North brother would fall for the woman that brought him to his knees. I enjoyed his connection with Bethany but felt like there was something missing in this story. As a result, this was somewhat of a mixed bag for me.

Audition tells the story of Joshua North and Bethany Lewis and their tumultuous connection with one another. Their story was very flashback driven (five years earlier) which was great but I felt like something was missing in the present progression of their romance. For almost 60% of the story it was more a detailed recap of their backstory vs. any real time story and romance development. I would have loved to see more emotion and heat between them, namely something to make me believe that they both held a torch for one another. I also felt like there were some issues that were also left open ended between them, including the relationship with her brother, which was a tad confusing. Overall, however, I enjoyed the ballet aspect of the book very much and seeing Bethany grow as a person. 3.5 stars! ~Ratula

I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author to review for Stephanie’s Book Reports.

Blood and sweat. Bethany Lewis danced her way out of poverty. She’s a world class athlete…with a debt to pay. Joshua North always get what he wants. And the mercenary wants Bethany in his bed. He wants her beautiful little body bent to his will. She doesn’t surrender to his kiss. He doesn’t back down from a challenge. It’s going to be a sensual fight…to the death.

If you have read the North Security Series you already know what you are in store for with these North men. A smoking hot time and a really good read and Audition does not disappoint. If you have read that series then you are sure to remember Joshua. However if you have not then you do not need to fret this can be read as a total standalone. However you are go going to fall in love with the North guys that you’re going to want to go back and read those books too. I promise that you are going to love them. They are amazing. This is the story of Joshua and Bethany. This story goes so much more in depth with them than what we got in the original series. Joshua has a ton of baggage thanks to the way he was raised. Lord knows it was not an easy upbringing. But not to be beaten where pasts are concerned Bethany has quiet the past too. However this has not stopped her from being an amazing dancer at the top of her game and from fighting to get to where she is now. However now she is in serious danger as someone is threatening her life and you just can not do that to Josh’s woman!!! You are going to love watching these two fall for each other. they cracked me up! And I was so rooting for them. But let us not forget the danger that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This book is amazing and you will not be able to put it down. Skye Warren and Amelia Wilde wrote this book together and as someone who has read a lot of Skye Warren books it was virtually impossible to tell who was writing what part. They make amazing writing partners and if it isn’t already, this book needs to be on your must read list.

Overall Grade: 1/2

“We’re combined in the most elemental way. We’re forged in fire in front of that hearth, as bright as the stars. We move together, ocean waves pulled by the moon, salt licking at the sand. In that moment of blinding heat, we find forever.“

There is just something special about Skye Warren and her dark romances. She finds this way of taking heroes, well, actually anti-heroes, and cajoling us through her word and style to embrace them. She places them alongside incredibly capable, intriguing, empowered women who, at first glance seemingly under the spell of the hero, are actually the impetus for humanizing her anti-hero. Through this process, as one of her devoted readers, you find yourself torn between loving and hating her hero. It’s this struggle that engages you in her storytelling until she offers you respite in a happy ending of sorts. Skye Warren and Amelia Wilde’s newest tome, Audition, is no different, and it makes for a slow-burning, fraught, sexy, devil of a reading ride.

Warren intertwines her characters, Joshua and Bethany, in her books, Concerto and Sonata, the two books preceding Audition. Their chemistry is palpable in those books, yet Warren gives us little more than their devout attraction to each other. Going into Audition, we really have little more than their inability to stay away from each other and Josh’s propensity towards protecting Bethany. As you traverse Audition, you recognize quickly that Audition is a “second-chance” romance, as Bethany and Josh have a past. These two have history, and their history informs their present and potential future. In this story, Bethany has received letters from a possible stalker. Worried over her safety, Josh insinuates himself into her life as protection. However, given that he’s a Warren hero, he “can’t” be with her. Everything in his being is drawn to her, but his past and sense of self compel him to deny himself of his interest in her. This situation creates quite a story of unspoken dreams and love and tension. Is it possible for Joshua North to love Bethany? Will he ever allow himself to do so? Can they find their happy ending?

Additionally, beyond their romance, Warren and Amelia Wilde have crafted Bethany as a woman desired for her body and talent. She illustrates womanhood fraught with her purpose in life. She’s someone who has fought for her talent and art while struggling with the challenges of an impoverished daily living. There is an innate discussion in Audition about suffering for one’s art, about only being seen as a body, not a person, and about one’s worth. Through the characterization of Bethany, we must question whether our power comes from our appearance or our internal beauty. As a dancer, Bethany struggles to be seen as someone more, to be taken seriously for her talent and intelligence.

Along with this discussion of the objectification of women is a deeper discussion about the influence of our past on our present. If you haven’t read the first three books of the North Security series, this is a bit of background. It’s not a spoiler necessarily, but it does inform Joshua and his brother, Liam’s, stories. The North boys encounter horrific abuse as children at the hands of their father. It changes their chemistry, and it impacts the decisions of their present and future. In the character of Joshua, we see the power of this abuse in his inability to acknowledge love. He seems broken. I’m always reticent to write that, though, as it isn’t that he’s broken; instead, he’s changed. He’s complicated. And he’s a lock. He’s closed up and locked up that he moves through life emotionally repressed. It’s these traits that exemplify him as a Warren hero. There is only one key that can unlock the deadbolt of Joshua North, much as we see with Warren’s other heroes, and the key to the lock resides in Bethany. Their chemistry, their reticence around each other, and the denial of their passion for each other is the compelling force of Audition’s romance.

As Warren and Wilde move us through Bethany and Joshua’s romance, they use the tension of their denial to drive each chapter forward. On the one hand, you hate turning the page because the abuse meted out on Bethany through Joshua’s dismissal of her feels painful. Yet, the reader intuits his love and interest in Bethany even when he refuses to declare it. It’s the promise of his revelation of his feelings for her along with his acceptance of those feelings that keep you turning the page. Even in the midst of the darkest places of the romance, it’s the kiss of that promise that keeps you engaged. Once I picked up Audition, I couldn’t put it down even though Josh made it difficult to read for its emotional turmoil. Yet, this is the genius of Warren and Wilde. When you think you can’t take any more of their story, they craft nuggets of hope in order to endure it. And that’s the pay-off. For me, the emotional roller-coaster of the storytelling makes a romance “good.” Audition exemplifies what makes dark romance a profound sub-genre of romance.

There were a couple of moments in the chronology of the storytelling where I found myself confused. Given that the storytelling utilizes flashback chapters to offer us the depth of Bethany and Josh’s story, it’s not uncommon for this to happen. Overall, however, I found myself engaged and invested in their story. To be honest, it was refreshing to read a North Security story that began and ended in the same book. And Bethany and Joshua’s stories are important ones. They are reminders to find our worth from within, dependent on character traits such as perseverance, intelligence, and compassion, not the traits of our outer beauty. The emotional characterization of Joshua’s background is also an admonition about child abuse and the toll it takes on the development of a child. People aren’t broken; instead, they are forever changed in ways that can be devastating. Together, though, Bethany and Joshua find wholeness, a completed soul. It’s the beauty of their coupling that makes Skye Warren and Amelia Wilde’s Audition a must-read to end 2019.

Skye Warren is a master writer of romantic angst , tension and self discovery. Josh and Bethany were in Samantha and Liam’s story as two characters with sexual attraction but we didn’t learn much about them. In Audition we see both current and 5 year past POV for each character and the constant push and pull as they challenge each other’s and their own feelings. We learn how damaged each is from their past and of their current struggles. I found myself pulling for a HEA as I read Audition, but wondering how that could possibly happen. No cliff hangers here, you will have all your answers at the end of this fast moving, action filled romance.

The push and pull, rejection and emotions between the main characters in this book made me want to wring their necks. I found this story quite gloomy and thick with the humid atmosphere depicted in the pages; the sultry air of New Orleans was written very eloquently. I could feel the damp air and desperate feelings.

Josh is a hard character to love. The way he holds Bethany at bay and pushes her away had me wanting to strangle him! So frustrating; he clearly has deep feelings for her. Bethany is a little firecracker. She gets her feelings trampled on so many times that my heart breaks for her. Then she dusts herself off and gets on with life. She deserves the best in life.

I did feel that I should have read the previous book in this series before I read Audition and the back and forth between present time and five years ago was a bit confusing but the end of the story was a good result.