Narrated by Angela Dawe
Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers for the prior books in the Kathleen Turner series as each book must be read in sequential order to fully understand this story.
Who would have thought that what started for me as an innocent book borrowed via the Amazon Prime Library would turn out to be such a long, wild ride through one of the best love triangles ever, not to mention some pretty incredible suspense-filled, action scenes and even a little humor thrown in from time to time to keep me on my toes. Thus began my love affair with the Kathleen Turner series, and what an amazing journey it has been! I have loved each book. Yet every time I dive into the next one, I’m astounded to find that I love it even more than the last. With such a buildup, I have been eagerly awaiting the May 20th release of Point of No Return
The Kathleen Turner Series revolves around two half-brothers – Blane Kirk and Kade Dennon. Blane is a former Navy SEAL turned hot shot criminal lawyer with political aspirations. His uncle is a U.S. Senator and he has grown up amidst luxury and political influence. Blane also used to be a notorious playboy before he met Kathleen. Kade is a bad boy assassin for hire and computer hacker who has never been known to stay in one place for long. He is highly volatile and danger follows him everywhere. Whereas Blane is every parent’s dream, Kade is the bad boy that no girl would ever dream of introducing to her parents.
The two brothers have a special bond that began shortly after Blane first found out about his younger brother Kade, a product of his father’s affair and therefore a dirty secret that his politically ambitious family tried to sweep under the rug. Kade had been living a life of poverty in a shelter until Blane tracked him down and rescued him. For a while thereafter, Kade straightened up and lived on the right side of the law. When Blane needed help to assimilate back to civilian life after returning from his deployment as a Navy SEAL, Kade decided to leave it all behind to help the brother who had saved him when he needed it most.
As you can imagine, both brothers are extremely loyal to each other, as each has gone to extreme measures for the other. Their background makes the fact that they are both in love with the same woman (a situation that slowly evolves over the prior books in the series) especially tricky. Neither brother is willing to give her up, but then again neither brother wants to hurt the other either.
Kathleen is a strong, albeit at times somewhat naive, heroine. She never intended to fall in love with either man; yet over time that’s exactly what happened. A good woman at heart, she’s the first to recognize that she would never be able to live with herself if her love is what tears apart the special ties that bind the brothers. She would rather bear the extreme emotional heartbreak of losing them both, than cause them to lose each other.
In this fifth book, we finally reach the “point of no return.” Irrevocable decisions will need to be made. Who will Kathleen choose? The safe and reliable Blaine who she has no doubt will be the model husband, or Kade, the man who ignites her passions like no other but who is anything but safe and reliable? Will Kathleen’s decision break the bond that binds the brothers, or can they all find a way to exist in harmony?
Angela Dawe’s narration is an extremely difficult one to rate. While I greatly enjoyed her highly differentiated performances for each character, I can understand why it is not to everyone’s liking. Specifically, her voice for Blane is very distinctive, and some would argue overly forced as it sounds excessively hoarse. Perhaps it has grown on me since this is my third listen in the series. I appreciate the fact that Blaine is so easily distinguished from Kade. That’s not an easy feat when you have a love triangle featuring two male leads, each with a substantial number of lines, particularly for a female narrator.
Of the two brothers, Kade’s depiction was my favorite. I thought Ms. Dawe did a good job of picking the perfect blend of bad boy with just the right tone to deliver his numerous tongue-in-cheek comical lines. Her portrayal of Kathleen was pleasant to the ear and well done. I thought Ms. Dawe accurately captured Kathleen’s devotion to the brothers and generally good natured persona all the while still being true to her slight naivete. And across the board with all characters, I liked Ms. Dawe’s talented delivery of the panoply of different warring emotions.
All that said, I think this is an audiobook that potential listeners should sound sample before buying. In addition to Blaine’s unique, breathless sounding voice, be aware that Ms. Dawe utilizes long pauses, especially during the dialogue portions. While I noticed this in the very beginning, it quickly faded into the background for me.
Thank you Ms. Snow for a truly memorable trip! I highly enjoyed the Kathleen Turner series, and thought the ending of Point of No Return was a beautiful way to wrap it all up. Ms. Snow has earned a place in my automatic buy list, and I will continue to be on the lookout for Angela Dawe’s future narrations. For me, the Kathleen Turner Series ranks amongst one of the top five contemporary suspense romance series that I have read or listened to over the past few years. So, whether you read or listen, I encourage you to give this series a try.
BJ
Narration: B
Book Content: A
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only
Violence: Fighting
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Point of No Return was provided to AudioGals for review by Brilliance Audio.
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