Narrated by Tatiana Sokolov and Todd Haberkorn
I love Joanna Wylde’s unique style of motorcycle club (MC) romances. I can always count on Ms. Wylde to find a way to cause me to fall in love with a seemingly unredeemable MC member. Even more enticing are her strong breed of heroines, who always know how to domesticate these MC bad boys and teach them how to experience true love, in many cases for the first time. Devil’s Game fits the mold perfectly! Featuring star-crossed lovers, and the extreme measures they are willing to take to give their love a chance in the violent, MC world, it’s a fascinatingly, sexy, action-filled addition to the Reaper’s MC series that is made even better by a great joint performance by narrators, Tatiana Sokolov and Todd Haberkorn.
Liam “Hunter” Blake, as a Devil’s Jack MC member, has been trained to hate their competitor, the Reapers MC. Although he wasn’t born into the lifestyle, Hunter was saved by the current Devil’s Jack MC president from a horrible foster home situation, and he’s followed in his footsteps ever since. His latest mission is to keep tabs on the Reapers MC’s president’s daughter, Em.
Em, at 23 years of age, must be the oldest virgin in the entire Reapers MC. Being Picnic’s daughter, however, has made it virtually impossible for her to get involved with anyone, which seems incomprehensible in a club full of men who are constantly looking to have a good time. Then one day she finds a man online who seems truly interested in her, and appears willing to treat her like a real woman. Having finally given up on her MC crush, who reacts to her invitation by taking another woman to his bed, she decides she has nothing to lose and resolves to pursue a real relationship with the online stranger.
Liam is so excited to finally get to meet Em in person. While tracking her moves, his lust has definitely been piqued and he’s eager to take her to his bed. The fact that his personal desires coincide with the needs of his MC, who wants him to win over Em in the hopes of a club truce, are the icing on the cake. But when interceding events lead to a potential war between the clubs, Liam’s loyalty to the club will be put to the test just as his feelings for Em begin to mount. In this battle between love and war, who will win? Moreover, when Em finds out the truth, will she ever be able to forgive Liam for his actions?
Tatiana Sokolov, as always, delivers a solid performance in Devil’s Game. Ms. Sokolov narrates the chapters that are told from Em’s point of view. In doing so, she adeptly creates both female and male depictions that were completely believable and easily distinguishable. Ms. Sokolov even created a convincing younger sound for Em and her sister for the beginning of the book which takes place a number of years before the main story. Additionally, I enjoyed the cadence of Ms. Sokolov’s delivery which appropriately changed throughout the story depending on the particular scene being reenacted, from the suspense-filled action scenes to the love ones, her performance enhanced the experience for me.
I also enjoyed Todd Haberkorn’s performance of the chapters from Liam’s point of view. His male voices were off the charts! I loved how he was able to create such disparate sounding ones for the large cast of MC members that he performed. They’re so genuine sounding that I almost felt like I was watching a movie with my eyes closed, rather than listening to an audiobook. From the incredible angst that Liam feels towards Em, to the undying loyalty for his brothers, Mr. Haberkorn’s depiction of Liam perfectly embodies all of his main traits. Mr. Haberkorn also created decent sounding females, albeit with a little less differentiation.
For the most part, the division of the narration works in this book. As is always the case, however, when we are fortunate enough to have a dual narration, I like to take a moment to ponder how much better the narration could have been had it been divided up by gender rather than chapters organized by point of view. In this case, in particular, Mr. Haberkorn so perfectly delivered the male characters and Ms. Sokolov the female characters, that I think it would have been a truly exceptional performance, worthy of an A rating, had my preferred division been utilized. All that said, the only romance audiobooks, I have ever listened to that use this more intricate, and presumably expensive model, are the Karen Marie Moning Fever series books. One day I hope someone will use this mode again!
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Devil’s Game. Moreover, after getting a glimpse into Picnic’s world, I can’t wait for Reaper’s Stand which details Picnic’s love story and is due to be released in October.
BJ
Narration: A-
Book Content: A-
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only
Violence: Fighting
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Devil’s Game was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.
Thank you so much! I so appreciate the review and the time! Funny thing is, I literally started recording REAPER’S STAND this morning. I’m on Chapter 2! :)
You’re welcome. It’s a great audiobook all-around! I can’t wait to listen to Reaper’s Stand! Picnic’s story is going to be an interesting one. Glad to hear you are coming back to narrate the next book! Now I definitely know I want to listen to, rather than just read, Reaper’s Stand: ) Is Todd Haberkorn also returning to narrate the male POV chapters, like in Devil’s Game?
Todd is great, isn’t he? Actually, I think Sean Crisden has been cast in the next book. The male parts are from Picnic’s POV, and he’s the president of the MC. Sean does a great job too. :)
Yes, I will definitely be looking to hear more of Todd Haberkorn’s works in the future. Sean Crisden is great too! Loved your performance with Sean Crisden in Fueled! I will be first in line for the Reaper’s Stand audiobook: )