Audio Review: Five Minutes Longer by Victoria Sue

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Five Minutes Longer
Author: Victoria Sue
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Series: Enhanced #1
Heroes: Talon Valdez/Finn Mayer
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 7 Hours, 36 Minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 25, 2017
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Talon Valdez knew when he transformed into an enhanced human, his life and his dreams were finished. Reviled, mistrusted, and often locked away, the enhanced were viewed as monsters, despised by the public, and never trusted to serve in the military or any law enforcement agency.

Years later he gets a chance to set up a task force of enhanced to serve in the FBI, but with one proviso: each enhanced must partner with a regular human.

Finn Mayer dreamed of joining the FBI from the time he was fourteen and made every possible sacrifice to make it happen, including living with his selfish mother and bullying, homophobic brother and never having a boyfriend. But his undiagnosed dyslexia stopped his aspirations dead in their tracks. His last chance is to partner with Talon, an enhanced with deadly abilities who doesn’t trust regular humans with their secrets and wants Finn to fail.

Four weeks to prove himself to the team. Four weeks for the team to prove itself to the public. And when another group threatens their success—and their lives are at stake—four weeks for them to survive.

Review: Jen reviewed the book here.

What a great start to a new series involving naturally occurring “enhanced” humans pairing up with a regular human to form a new FBI task force. I am a huge fan of paranormal and alpha types in a law enforcement setting so this book was right up my alley. In this first installment, the ground work is being set with a bit of history on the enhanced and their uphill battle to gain acceptance. It is not always an easy read, and in some places, it is downright heartbreaking.

In many ways, this book was similar to the THIRDS series, by Charlie Cochet, except that it is completely different, at the same time. Confusing, I know, but it kept popping into my mind while I was listening. These guys do not shift, but instead they each have different powers. The problem is that they are so fearful of exposing them, rightfully so, that they hide some of their abilities to avoid further persecution or ending up in a laboratory.

This book focuses on Talon, the leader of the new “enhanced-human” FBI team, and Finn, his human partner. These guys each have to overcome a lot to get where they are, but their past has left a huge scar on the both of them. They have to establish trust, and deal with attraction at the same time. Fortunately, it is not drawn out too far, and many of the dramatic moments are not caused by their relationship, which I greatly appreciated. I do love a good story to back up my romance novels.

I did not read this book, but instead listened to the audio. Sometimes I read first, but since I’ve listened to many audiobooks by Nick J. Russo, I knew I would have no problems following along. He has a really smooth voice, and honestly, I could listen to him read all day long. He easily performed a multitude of characters, and I never once had to rewind to figure out who was speaking. As far as audios go, you can never go wrong having Nick in your corner.

This is my second Victoria Sue story, and after looking back at that first review, I can see a marked improvement in a writing style that works great for me. I can also tell you, this won’t be my last book her. I look forward to seeing where this series goes from here, and I am hopeful that Nick J. Russo remains the voice of the Enhanced.

Overall Impression: I really liked it!

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*