Big Bad Bite by Jessie Lane

Big Bad BiteNarrated by Chandra Skyye

They say not to judge a book by its cover. No big deal. I can’t see the cover art so the cover just doesn’t register with me. The title, on the other hand, has the power to reel me in or push me far, far away. When I first heard about Big Bad Bite, my initial instinct was to run really far, really fast. How could a book with that kind of title be worth the read? After finishing the book, I’ve come to the conclusion that judging a book by its title, or its cover, might not be such a bad thing after all.

Jenna O’Connor has been hidden and protected all her life. Her mother has always told her that members of the supernatural community would kill her if they knew of her existence. Up until she turns twenty-four, Jenna buys this, and lives an extremely sheltered life in a small North Carolina town. Now, she wants more. She wants to find out what she’s been missing, and what is so bad about being half werewolf and half demon.

We meet Jenna on the first day of what she describes as her dream job. She’s a police officer, and a member of the swat team. She and her team are about to take down a suspect, and Jenna is in her element.

Adam is a smart, sexy, and lethal wolf shifter. He’s alpha of his pack, and he has some serious pack business to take care of. Needless to say, he’s far from pleased when Jenna and a crowd of other cops burst in and whisk away the man Adam was hoping to bring home to his pack for the kind of justice only wolves can deliver. Despite his displeasure, he can’t help but be struck by Jenna. He knows she’s not human. He’s pretty sure she’s a shifter, but there’s something that just doesn’t smell right about her. Adam loves a good mystery, and he sets off to learn all he can about the unknown shifter who is so near his territory.

The more Adam learns about Jenna, the more he wants to know. Unfortunately, Jenna has been taught from an early age that distance is the key to self-preservation. She grudgingly agrees to get to know Adam and the members of his pack because she’s always felt like something vital was missing in her life. Even so, she is determined not to get too close to anyone. After all, if her demon half is discovered, she might just get killed.

Initially, I liked Jenna’s character. She’s depicted as a strong-willed, independent woman. She defied her overprotective mother in order to live a more normal life, and now, she won’t take anything from anyone. Unfortunately, this attitude soon became quite wearing. She comes off as overly aggressive, even when the circumstances don’t warrant such a reaction. Much of her inner dialogue has to do with ways of hurting or killing those who annoy her. This made it really difficult for me to like her. I wanted her to calm down and realize there is more to life than violence.

I also found Ms. Lane’s writing style difficult to get into. Sex seems to be a huge part of almost every character’s thought process. Even when Jenna and other wolves are on important missions, people would get distracted by sex. I also got really tired of hearing about people having “Girly bits” and “man parts”. It made the characters seem crass and juvenile, way more like teenagers than fully grown, responsible adults.

I was recently introduced to the work of narrator Chandra Skyye. Initially, I considered her quite talented, and was sure she would find a place on my list of favorite narrators. After listening to this book, I’m not so sure that will happen. I’m not discounting the possibility altogether. I’m just less hopeful than I was at first.

Ms. Skyye has a very pleasant voice when she’s simply reading narrative. It’s mid-range, and there are no verbal tics to distract the listener. In Big Bad Bite, characterization was her downfall.

Let me start by saying that I thought her depiction of Jenna was quite good. She allowed the listener to feel all Jenna’s emotions. Everything from her frustration with her overprotective family, to her lust for Adam, to her irrational anger was portrayed beautifully. I was never in doubt as to how Jenna was feeling. Ms. Skyye chose to give her the slightest of southern drawls, and this worked well.

Other characters were not so well-depicted. Adam, for example, is supposed to speak in a deep, growly voice. Ms. Skyye was not able to pull this off. She lowered the pitch of her voice, but the animalistic quality simply wasn’t there. As his feelings for Jenna get stronger and stronger, Adam’s inner wolf gets closer to the surface. I was able to sense his frustration, but the voicing just didn’t work. I wanted something gruffer, something firmer, something sexier.

I was particularly annoyed by Ms. Skyye’s depiction of Jenna’s uncle. She deepens her voice so much that it sounds like a very loud whisper with the volume going down along with the pitch. There was also a sing-song quality given to his words that was incredibly distracting.

I must commend Ms. Skyye for her work with a variety of accents. There’s the southern Jenna, a group of Russian tiger shifters, and Jenna’s mother, who is given a delightful Irish lilt. None of the accents sounded fake. She also seemed to have an easier time remaining in character when using an accent. There were times when I would think Jenna’s uncle was speaking, only to discover that it was Adam. This inconsistency was not present when a character had a noticeable accent.

You’re probably wondering how I finished the book, after all I’ve had to say. I enjoyed certain plot elements, and kept hoping to see them develop into bigger parts of the story. Unfortunately, this did not happen. After reaching the end, there are tons of things I don’t know, both about the world the characters live in, and the huge mystery they were supposed to solve. Walk on the Striped Side is Book 2 in this series. Maybe the answers to my questions can be found there, but I don’t think I’ll pick it up to find out.

 

Shannon


Narration:  C

Book Content:  C-

Steam Factor:  Hot

Violence:  Escalated fighting

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

 

Big Bad Bite was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.