Narrated by Tad Branson and Ava Erickson
Fans of JA Huss are surely familiar with her erotic writing. The Company is no exception. However, while there is an undercurrent of dominance and submission, and the hinting of a capture story, I wouldn’t necessarily label this work BDSM erotica or dark romance. It will make your earbuds flame though, so it’s certainly a story to be listened to only for those who prefer steamier scenes.
Additionally, The Company has a mafia or secret organization feel to it, bringing in an element of suspense to add another level of intrigue to this hot listen. This book – at 17 plus hours – is also longer than the typical length, as it’s an amalgamation of stories that were originally released as three separate books, so you will definitely be getting your money’s worth. However, as a result, this book has a slightly unusual style in that there are two lead heroines (though one is only 13 years old and therefore is primarily part of the suspense plot–notwithstanding that there is certainly an intimation as to a potential love interest for her when she is older, which in the end is left as a potential cliffhanger or unfinished element in the story depending on your view).
The premise of this story is a world where a secretive, mafia-like organization exists. Those born into the organization called “The Company” are predestined to one of two paths, the females are generally “promised” to company men for the sake of producing the next generation (yes, this aspect of the story certainly wasn’t my favorite, but I think the thought was that our strong female heroine was going to buck the system), and the men run the organization (with a number of them, who are literally given numbers for nicknames, being trained to be assassins).
Our hero (James), whose assassin nickname is “6”, suffers from a multiple personality type disorder as a result of his profession and the fact that he has been called to assassinate personal relations, including other assassins and even his brother. Our heroine (Harper) is the daughter of leader of the organization who is not ready to just fall in line and marry her intended, so she runs away. Of course, James and Harper meet while she is hiding. Whether it is by chance or design (to bring her back to the Company) becomes one of suspense points in the story. Additionally, it is unclear from the beginning just who James is to Harper, and whether he may actually be her intended.
Just who is Harper’s intended? Did James just happen to stumble upon Harper or has he been given orders? Could there possibly be a HEA in the cards for James and Harper. Can they jointly change “The Company” way of life?
Well into the story we also meet a thirteen-year old girl (Sasha). It is unclear just what her role is at the beginning. Though her father (a supplier to the organization) has been killed (a death that Sasha seems compelled to avenge even though she is barely a teenager in this dangerous world). She is clearly skilled and has the makings of being an assassin herself, whether intentionally or again by design, is unclear. Sasha believes she has been promised to Harper’s brother (who as the son of the leader has a prominent role in the organization). However, it’s unclear whether there is a mark on her life, or whether she may in fact be the one that has been given the orders to kill.
What is Sasha’s role in the story? Has she been sent to kill James? Or is she actually in danger? And will James protect her or kill her?
The narration by Ava Erikson and Tad Branson takes on the usual dual narration path where the male narrator narrates the parts from the hero’s perspective and the female the one from the heroine’s with the added wrinkle that in this case we have two heroines (Harper and Sasha). Fortunately, Ms. Erikson does a good job of softening her voice a bit to appear more childlike in the chapters that she presents from Sasha’s perspective as compared to Harper’s, making it easy to distinguish which one of the two heroine’s she is representing in each chapter. Additionally, Harper’s chapters form by far the vast majority of the chapters she narrates.
Both narrators do a decent job of providing distinguishable voices for the large cast of other characters in the dialogues. They are also able to communicate the high suspense of the scenes (or the steamier ones) with their telling of the story.
I also enjoyed Mr. Branson’s narration. I thought he was able to bring to life James’ multiple personalities (the cold-hearted assassin versus the man with feelings who can empathize with others) with just the intonation of his voice.
All in all, The Company is a good value for your money if you’re looking for an erotica-styled contemporary romance with a slightly edgier side and a bit of suspense. I will caution you, though, that this book has a bit of piecemeal feel to it (no doubt due to the combination of the stories and the fact that it is trying to do a lot of different things, so much so that I couldn’t label this book a single type of romance sub-genre). There are more elements to this story than most. Unfortunately, I think not all of them are resolved in the end, though perhaps this was intentional to leave the door potentially open for another book.
BJ
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