Where does Salvation rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It’s up toward the top for certain. But, with Kennedy’s writing and Leslie’s narration, that’s no surprise.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Ronan. At first I thought he was just pushing Seth away because he was the little brother of the man he once loved that had died. I thought it was some self inflicted punishment or something. Closer to the end of the book, you learn the truth and it was both enlightening and infuriating.
Have you listened to any of Joel Leslie’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have listened to almost all of Joel Leslie’s works, hell, I purchase audiobooks not knowing what they are about simply because he narrated them. This book was some of his best work yet.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Oh yeah, most definitely. As I mentioned briefly above I think I felt just about every emotion on the spectrum with this one.
Any additional comments?
Oh but I have a lot to say about this one. I’ll start with the one thing I didn’t enjoy, the two steps forward, five steps back. Regardless of the fact that Seth would never truly move on, even if Ronan had actually told him to, regardless, Ronan’s come here. No, wait, go away. Okay, come here, no no, hang on a sec, go away. Oh alright, come here, but don’t touch me, and then go away. It nearly made me mental. Now, thankfully Kennedy chose such an amazing narrator cause had it not been for Leslie’s utterly fantastic ability to bring a story and characters to life, I would have DNF’d this one an hour in.

That being said, I’m so very happy I didn’t. As the story unfolds and you slowly get to know more about Seth and Ronan, your heart will break but you’ll also understand why they are playing this game of push and pull. What these two men have been through is more than enough to not only break a man’s spirit, but to hollow out their soul. This is why Ronan is such an insufferable asshole more often than not for about 2/3 of the book. And Seth, oh my god, horrible. But then you have the balance to all the anger, hatred and pain that has wrapped itself around these two men like a boa constrictor, sucking the fucking life out of them.

Oh but then you have the sexy, steamy, erotic, toe curling scenes where Ronan lets his guard down and lets Seth in. There are a dozen or so such encounters throughout the book, each one that much more emotional and what is happening you learn is that another brick is falling from the tower Ronan has built to guard his heart and his emotions. Suffice to say, by the end, Seth is standing in front of him with his arms wound around him refusing to budge. These two are so perfect for each other, but lord they fight it so hard.

I was also happy to get a brief glimpse of how Jonas, Mace and Cole (book 1) are doing and there is a sneak peak at book 3 at the end of the audio and I’m starting that one tomorrow, I simply cannot wait. Overall this book was so amazing and I urge you to look past Ronan’s stubborn side and the angst of the back and forth so you don’t miss out on such a great story.