Narrated by Sophie Eastlake
With a feel somewhat reminiscent of Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series or Laura Kaye’s Hard Ink series, Bound to Danger is sure to appeal to lovers of action adventure romances, particularly those sporting military or former military trained operatives. While technically labeled a romantic suspense title, I really felt that the suspense angle of this novel was much more subdued as the motivation for the danger was relatively easy to discern early on. There is also some mild suspense surrounding the events leading up to the hero’s estrangement from the heroine eight years ago, but again, the rationale underlying his decision not to pursue her is pretty easy to unravel from the clues that are alluded to. Instead, the story seems much more focused on how the characters navigate the danger, their past connection, and how their romance blossoms amidst the chaos. Rounding out this audiobook is Sophie Eastlake’s adept narration, making this a decent choice for audio format.
Bound to Danger is the second book in Katie Reus’ Deadly Ops series and the only book I have read or listened to in this series. While I understand that there is some minor character overlap, this book functions well as a stand-alone, both from a danger and romantic perspective, as the romantic relationship and development of the danger plot is fully contained within this novel.
When Maria Cervantes wakes up in a hospital, she has no recollection of the terrorist attack that landed her there. As the only invited guest at the Miami, Florida benefit dinner in question to have survived the bombing, the National Security Association (NSA) wants answers as to why she alone appeared to be outside of the blast radius. To her surprise, the NSA agent sent to investigate is none other than Agent Cade O’Reilly, her deceased brother’s former best friend, and the man who broke her heart eight years ago.
Cade knows he has to be on alert given the suspicious circumstances, but he refuses to believe that the sweet innocent girl he walked away from all those years ago (for his own complicated reasons) could possibly be at the heart of this massive terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Nonetheless, he is an agent first, and determined to get to the bottom of the situation, while at the same time remaining resolute to do his best to keep Maria safe in the interim.
Their close proximity soon brings their unique chemistry to the forefront, and Cade and Maria are left to rehatch just what transpired all those years ago. As it becomes clear that someone wants Maria dead, Cade is forced to bring his “A-game” to ensure he never loses Maria again, all while trying to beat the clock to solve the mystery of who is actually behind the terrorist attack before they strike again.
This was my first experience with Sophie Eastlake as narrator and I thought she delivered a relatively solid performance. On the plus side, Ms. Eastlake has a pleasing voice, and she delivered both female and male genuine sounding characters. Additionally, her reading of the narrative paragraphs is generally subdued, allowing these passages to easily slip into the background, while you sit back and enjoy the story.
Ms. Eastlake also produces slightly nuanced voices for each of the plentiful same gendered cast. In that regard, for example, she gave the terrorists a very mild Eastern European accent to differentiate them from Cade, who bears a more all-American, somewhat breathless quality. When it comes to differentiating among the terrorists themselves, or among the group of male U.S. agents, however, I had much more difficulty singling out the speaker based on voice recognition alone.
One additional factor that gave me pause was the speed of the delivery. In certain places, including the various action scenes, I felt like the dialogue, and particularly the narrative, could have been sped up a bit. In that regard, I found myself at different points listening to this book in double time, a mode of listening I don’t usually employ, but which I found necessary to quicken the pace as was needed during those scenes.
All in all, if you’re a fan of romances with copious amounts of action, and big strong alpha heroes who love to save the day, then Bound to Danger is likely to be right up your alley. Additionally, notwithstanding my observations regarding the narration, I do believe that the narration will generally appeal to most. Accordingly, this is a title that I would still recommend in audio, if that’s your preferred format.
BJ
Narration: B-
Book Content: B
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only (but on the mild side as there are very few bedroom scenes)
Violence: Fighting
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Bound to Danger was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.
I plan to listen to this one (when I can slot it in). I really liked the first book in the series and Sophie Eastlake is a favourite narrator of mine.
It’s interesting what you said about the action scenes. I’ve not experienced that with her performances before. I wonder if it’s different for some reason in this book? Or, maybe you and I just have different tastes (which of course is fine). :D
Hi Kaetrin, I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts. No worries at all if you love the narration. I enjoyed it, but it was not a personal favorite. As it turns out, nearly back-to-back with this title, I finished Night’s Honor, which is also narrated by Ms. Eastlake, and I really loved that narration, though there were also parts of that title that I listened to at an accelerated speed. I think the main difference here was that I had a much harder time distinguishing the characters. I also really enjoyed Ms. Eastlake’s Spanish accents in Night’s Honor, whereas I wasn’t as convinced of the authenticity of the Eastern European accents here.
I loved this book in audio! I would not hesitate to listen to Ms. Eastlake again :-)
Glad you enjoyed it Linda!
I was really looking forward to Bound to Danger as I really enjoyed the first in the series – Targeted. It made my Top 2014 Listens over at Speaking of Audiobooks. But Bound to Danger was a letdown – not near the story I found in Targeted. I enjoyed Sophie Eastlake’s narration of both. The first couple of times I listened to her narrations, I wasn’t all that impressed but I’ve learned to appreciate her skill and she is now a reason for me to listen to a book rather than pass on one.
Thanks Lea. Yes, sometimes it takes a few listens to fall in love with a narrator. I can definitely say that my second listen with Sophie Eastlake was very enjoyable. I did not listen to Targeted, but based on your recommendation, it sounds like I should!