Reviewed by Nikyta
Title: Treasure for Treasure
Author: R. Cooper
Narrator: Dominic Carlos
Series: Being(s) in Love #7
Heroes: Zarrin & Joe
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: may 8, 2018
Available at: Amazon, Audible and Dreamspinner Press
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: In the nineteenth century, the dragon Dìzhèn put the small coastal town of Everlasting under her protection. Her family was supposed to carry on the tradition, but all of Dìzhèn the Great’s heirs eventually left rather than live in the shadow of such a powerful dragon.
Only the youngest dragon of the current generation remains: Zarrin, the softhearted disgrace of his family. He might be weak, small, and afraid, but he is determined to show the humans they have not been forgotten… one human in particular. The problem is, Zarrin can barely get that human to talk to him.
It should be a dream come true to have a dragon trying to get his attention. But Joe refuses to bow to Zarrin like everyone else. Yes, Zarrin is sexy, oddly gentle for a dragon, and stares at Joe with a gaze so hot it makes him shiver. But hurt, mistrustful Joe can’t believe Zarrin’s promises that he’s here to stay. Joe doesn’t realize he is the treasure Zarrin has been looking for his whole life, a treasure he once let slip through his fingers out of fear. Now, to win Joe’s trust, Zarrin has to be brave and become as strong as Dìzhèn herself.
Review:
I absolutely loved this book when I read it a few years ago (you can check out my review here). I adored the shyness of Zarrin and trying to become known to the town. I loved that the way he saw things was vastly different than everyone else. He was so innocent and naive and didn’t realize how things had changed since his ancestor had taken over the town. Add to that, I loved that Joe was pretty jaded and stubborn. The two are complete opposites but they were drawn to each other like a moth to a flame. I loved seeing Joe show Zarrin how things really are and I loved that Joe was there for Zarrin. He was the only one that could stand up to a dragon when all the other humans thought Zarrin was something to fear. The two together just made me all gooey inside.
Unfortunately, I was really disappointed with the audio. I don’t think I’ve listened to Dominic Carlos before but I wished I would have listened to a sample before getting this one. Dominic has a very monochromatic way of speaking which made it hard to follow along with the story. There were no inflections in his voice so I couldn’t tell the difference when he was going from one character to another. I couldn’t tell the difference of when it was an internal monologue or when a character was actually speaking out loud. Add to that, there was a lot of background noise that kept distracting me from the words. It was almost like white noise or something.
All in all, I’d give the book itself 5 stars but not even 2 stars for the performance. I loved the book itself but a different narrator would have been far better for this story and I’m a little disappointed because this was one of my favorite reads. I’ll most likely not listen to anything else by this narrator because he’s just not a good fit for what I like to listen to when I listen to audios.
Overall Impression: It was good
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
The Blogger Girls 