Sway – M.F.Lorson

Thank you to Joyce Oben for providing me with a free audiobook in return for an honest review.

Sway is the third book in Lorson’s ‘Shelfbrooke Academy’ series. I had not read any of the previous books but it worked well as a stand alone. I likely missed a lot of ‘Easter eggs’ as various characters were mentioned at different points that I did feel were points to other books, however it didn’t affect the story as the mains were brand new characters.

Anne attends Shelfbrooke Academy after a romantic summer with Christopher, who she met while visiting her aunt. On arrival and in attempt to for in, Anne is  coaxed to end her new relationship with Christopher in order to maintain status in the new school. She is surprised to then find him and his sister as the new transfers a term following. Anne now sets out to regain Christopher’s heart.

I found this story to be a bit of a slow burner, the opening prologue with Anne and Christopher’s meeting was adorable. Then I did find it quite hard to get into. About halfway through however, it was a really good listen. The growing friendship between an unlikely bunch of teenagers is very ‘breakfast club’esque. The author’s humour was right up my street with funny banter between the two best friends and the mishaps that Anne encounters.

The character development was quite intentionally slow. Anne began as a very annoying and impressionable teenager, and throughout the book we, as the readers watch her grow and develop her own thoughts and morals.

Narrator Joyce Oben did a great job of carrying the story. She had a tone that made it obvious if she was reading narrative or dialogue and also managed to differentiate all characters so that it didn’t get confusing. She had a good steady pace and I really enjoyed listening to her.

I think that this may be a great coming of age series for teenage reader and romance fans. I did find some characters a bit infuriating at times because of their immature nature, however, I think it’s really fitting for a younger age group and will be very well enjoyed.

 

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Audible

Closer – Mary Elizabeth

Thank to to Mary Elizabeth for proving me with a free audiobook in return for an honest review. 

Gabriela and Teller met in med school and instantly become best friends. Although there is always something more there. They continued to stay in the same friendship group years later despite a fiery almost-relationship. The story drifts from their youth, before they met their new love interests, and after a traumatic incident that brought them back together.

The story is pretty well written. I found it hard to listen to as I did struggle to differentiate the time scales at some points, but that was likely me and my lack of attention span. There were parts of the story where my heart felt that it was in my throat, other parts were really adorable. The cliffhanger at the end really had me guessing.

Narrator Ramona Master did a great job of the story. She kept a really steady pace and made it really easy to understand who had dialogue.

Most of the characters were really interesting. I really wanted to learn more about Teller’s sister Maybe and Ella’s brother. I’m sorry to say however that I couldn’t stand Ella or Teller. They were the kind of couple that you wouldn’t want to move in next door to you as they’d have regular loud parties that ended up with the police being called after arguments got physical.

The growing bond between them was a really interesting listen and I enjoyed it. My lack of interest in the two main characters wouldn’t put me off reading another Mary Elizabeth book. She’s obviously a great writer with amazing ideas and looking at the other reviews on this book it was obviously just me not clicking with them at all.

Overall, even though I wasn’t a fan of the main characters, this was a great book with passion, suspense and drama. I’m not sure I’ll look further into their story with second book Sever, but I’ll definitely be on the look out for more of Mary Elizabeth’s books.

Amazon UK – shorturl.at/ioEK2
Amazon US – shorturl.at/uKN69