Narrated by Sebastian York
In Ten Tiny Breaths, we know him as Trent Emerson. What listeners might not realize is that he used to be Cole Reynolds. In Her Wake is the story of what happened to make him change his very identity.
Cole has it all. A successful football player, he’s about to enter his senior year at Michigan State. He’s dating a woman he loves, and he simply can’t imagine anything going wrong in his life. But one night at a party changes everything. In the blink of an eye, Cole’s two best friends are dead, and Cole himself is wracked with guilt.
In a hospital room several hours away lies a sixteen-year-old girl. Her parents, boyfriend, and best friend died when Cole’s SUV plowed into her parents’ much smaller car. Cole knows of her existence, and wishes to tell her how sorry he is for her losses, but she wants nothing to do with the college boy who helped take everyone she loved away.
In Her Wake is a story of a young man reaching rock bottom and searching for a way to make amends. It’s bittersweet, with several poignant scenes that made me tear up. I didn’t always agree with Cole’s methods, but I was always sure his heart was in the right place. There were times I thought he crossed the line into stalker territory in his attempts to protect this young woman who doesn’t want anything from him, but I was able to remind myself that he really did mean well.
Narrator Sebastian was, as usual, a joy to listen to. His voice is rich and incredibly sexy. I can definitely understand why people rave about him.
Mr. York does an incredible job portraying Cole. It’s almost as if he crawled inside this tortured young man. Every nuance is expressed perfectly. Cole’s pain and despair are obvious.
When depicting female characters, Mr. York is able to remove some of the huskiness from his voice, giving women a softer, slightly higher way of speaking. It’s highly effective, and added to my enjoyment of this novella.
A lot of content is packed into just under four hours of listening time. It’s a fast and super intense ride, a ride I’m awfully glad I took. I’m eager to dive into Ten Tiny Breaths so I can see how things work out for Cole, or should I call him Trent?
Shannon
Narration: A
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: You can play it out loud
Violence: Minimal
Genre: New Adult
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
In Her Wake was provided to AudioGals by Simon and Schuster for review.
