Accordance by Shelly Crane

Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers for Significance, the first in this series.

Narrated by Cris Dukehart

Maggie Masters is still pretty uncertain about being an Ace. Sure, it gives her the ability to read the thoughts of those around her, and she imprinted with Caleb, her soulmate, but there are so many things she doesn’t understand. Plus, how can she keep her new life a secret from those she loves?

Accordance picks up right where Significance left off. At first, I wasn’t sure if Crane would continue to focus on Maggie and Caleb, or, if she would shift her focus to characters who had only played a supporting role in the first book. I found myself quite relieved when I discovered the focus remains on Maggie.

She’s no ordinary seventeen-year-old girl. People want to kill her. She knows exactly who she’ll spend the rest of her life with. The thoughts of other people are no secret, and her abilities continue to expand. The California beach house Maggie and Caleb have been sent to should be a safe haven, but it turns out to be the exact opposite.

Maggie’s father, while outwardly accepting of Maggie’s new life, still hopes to rescue her from what he considers to be a cult of some kind. He enlists the help of Maggie’s adopted brother, Bish, a man with a troubled past and a giant chip on his shoulder. Bish doesn’t approve of Maggie’s relationship with Caleb. He knows she’s keeping something from him, but he can’t figure out what it is and he’s determined to find out. That could prove to be quite problematic for the Aces since humans are unaware of their existence.

When Maggie learns that she has been granted the title of Visionary, she is less than pleased. She wants so desperately to be normal, despite how impossible it may be. She doesn’t want to be the answer to an age-old prophesy. This, just like so much of what is happening, is something she can’t change. All she can do is rely on Caleb to help her find peace with this new life.

Cris Dukehart’s performance was masterful. After I read Significance, Dukehart was Maggie to me. Accordance only served to strengthen my belief that there can be no better narrator for this series. Dukehart allows Maggie to be a real person, a young girl forced to face things so far from anything she could ever have imagined. We see Maggie’s resourcefulness, her loyalty, her bravery, and her wistfulness. Dukehart is able to convey these emotions without sounding melodramatic, something I definitely appreciated.

Dukehart does a fabulous job differentiating the characters. I was particularly pleased to see that her voicing of each character was consistent from the first book to the second. Continuity is a wonderful thing. Through Dukehart’s portrayal of the various characters, I felt like I was getting to know real people. This would have been harder to accomplish if, for example, Caleb’s grandmother had been given a different voice than the one used in Significance. Dukehart never falters in consistently performing characters from the previous book.

I continue to be impressed with the believability of the relationship shared by Maggie and Caleb. At the start of Accordance, they have known each other only two weeks, but both are certain they’ll be together forever. Even though it’s far from the norm, I didn’t find myself scoffing at how quickly these two fell in love. Much of this is due to Crane’s writing, but a great deal of the credit goes to Dukehart’s ability to lend credence to the written word. She reads the interactions between Maggie and Caleb in a way that almost makes the listener believe what she’s saying. This is a rare talent, and one I find especially important when listening to paranormal romance. If the narrator sounds incredulous or skeptical, it’s likely I’ll find myself feeling the same way. Luckily, I didn’t have even the smallest hint of this problem with Accordance.

Unfortunately, the book has a cliffhanger ending. Needless to say, it won’t be long before I listen to Defiance. I’m eager to see how things turn out for Maggie and her extended family of Aces.

If you aren’t a fan of the soulmate concept, or, if you prefer romance to take a backseat to the rest of the plot, Accordance isn’t something you’ll enjoy. However, if you love paranormal romance with believable characters and a plot that never allows you to stop guessing, I strongly recommend you give this a listen. I’m guessing you won’t be disappointed.

Shannon

Narration:  A

Book Content:  A

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Escalated fighting

Genre:  New Adult

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Accordance was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.