Brendon by Nicole Edwards

Narrated by Genevieve Laughton, Rock Engle, Tad Branson, and Jameson Adams

Brendon is the eighth installment in the Alluring Indulgence erotic romance series focusing on the Walker family – specifically the Walker brothers and their many love interests, of Coyote Ridge, Texas. Brendon Walker’s story was told in this series finale as he falls in love with famous country music sensation, Cheyenne Montgomery.

Although four different people narrated this story – Genevieve Laughton, Rock Engle, Tad Branson, and Jameson Adams, I struggled to discern which male character was speaking at any given time. I’ve enjoyed many audiobooks read by multiple narrators. When each narrator distinctly portrays his assigned character, it can really add dimension to a storyline. In this case, the large cast of characters making cameos from previous Walker family books (with each speaking in such a generic way) only left me constantly feeling as though I had missed something. At some point before the end of the book, I gave up trying to figure out who was speaking.

Brendon Walker and his twin brother, Braydon, shared every part of their lives with each other, including women. When Braydon fell in love with a woman they were sharing sexually, he no longer wanted to include his twin in the relationship. That sounds perfectly reasonable, if you ask me. Brendon did not share my opinion, and spent the next couple of years in a spiral of deep depression, feeling lost and abandoned by his brother. It was difficult for me to buy into this co-dependent twin thing these brothers had going on. If his brother had died, been seriously injured, or even been kidnapped by bad guys and held for ransom, I would have been able to jump on board and empathize with Brendon. Instead, I found that I was constantly asking myself why a thirty-one-year-old man would exhibit such self-destructive behavior just because his twin decided he wanted to exclusively date a girl he fell in love with. Maybe it’s a twin thing that I will never understand.

Cheyenne Montgomery was introduced in earlier books as a friend of the Walker family. In Brendon, we find her moving into her newly purchased home in Coyote Ridge. She is ready for a break from her hectic tour schedule, and decides Coyote Ridge is where she will go to recuperate and be out of the public spotlight for a while, too. She is hiding out from a creepy stalker and a few other potentially damaging people in her life. Over the years, both she and Brendon have danced around their strong feelings for each other. Although attracted to him, Cheyenne wanted nothing to do with his proposition to share her with his twin, and had let him know exactly how she felt about the request. Despite the offensive offer, she still cares about Brendon and she is extremely attracted to him.

When Brendon discovers secrets that Cheyenne is determined to keep hidden, he takes it upon himself to be her protector, bringing them closer together than either of them could have ever imagined. For the first time in his life, Brendon has found a woman who makes him feel things he never knew were possible, and he vows to make her his.

As mentioned earlier, it was extremely challenging to distinguish one male narrator from another. Each read their character’s dialogue in the same over-dramatized way, attempting the same effect and accent for each male character and point of view. I could have possibly overlooked some of the problems I had with male narration, if the female dialogue read by Rock Engle (who performs Brendon’s point of view) had not been so dreadful.

Engle tried too hard to sound like a woman with a Southern accent which only made him sound like a man trying to disguise his deep voice by being a high-pitched, breathy, and a somewhat unintelligent woman (please note: drawing out every vowel for 45 seconds per word is really not necessary to prove you have a Southern accent). If an authentic accent cannot be managed, there should just be no accent at all, please and thank you.

I enjoyed the story more when Genevieve Laughton was performing Cheyenne’s character and delivering Brendon’s dialogue from Cheyenne’s point of view. She sounded like a female telling a story from a male perspective, lowering her voice minimally when she was reading Brendon’s character, and it sounded authentic. Her performance was a good example of “less is more”.

I honestly do not know what to say about the two remaining narrators, Tad Branson and Jameson Adams. I listened carefully, trying to get a better feel for both but I was unable to distinguish their characters.

Despite how I feel about my listening experience, I give Nicole Edwards props for being a talented writer. She definitely has put much thought into this series, and she makes a huge effort to seamlessly combine characters from her other series into this plot. I know that she has some die-hard fans who love the Walker boys loyally and I can understand why – each is a well-developed character, with distinct stories and personalities. Unfortunately, there was too much wrong about this setup for me to feel as though I cared about the characters and what they were experiencing.

The “mysterious” subplot involving the stalker and the men of Sniper 1 Security (from another series by the author) left much to be desired. There was no angst or grit to go along with all the sex. I am considering giving the Walker brothers another chance, and if I do, I’ll be reading rather than listening.

Lisa

Narration:  Genevieve Laughton – B   Rock Engle – D   Tad Branson & Jameson Adams’ appearances were too short for separate evaluation

Book Content:  C-

Steam Factor:  For your burning ears only

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Blackstone Audio

Brendon was provided to AudioGals by Blackstone Audio for review.