Reviewed by Alexander
TITLE: Salvation
SERIES: The Protectors #2
AUTHOR: Sloane Kennedy
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Sloane Kennedy
LENGTH: 7 hours, 56 minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2017
BLURB:
Trauma surgeon Ronan Grisham lost everything the day the man he loved was stolen from him in a brutal attack. Driven by a thirst for vengeance, he turns his hatred into building an underground group that can do what he couldn’t that fateful day…take the lives of the guilty to save the lives of the innocent. But years later, he’s forced to confront the one link to his past that he can’t sever.
Seven years after the loss of his parents in a violent home invasion that left him permanently scarred both inside and out, 21-year-old Seth Nichols is trying to put his life back together so he can take over the reins of his father’s global shipping empire. But the last person he expects to come back into his life is the man he drove away with one innocent, stolen kiss.
With one brush of his lips, Seth managed to do to Ronan what no other had since the day Ronan watched the light in his fiancé’s eyes go out forever. He made him need again. But Ronan can’t need anyone, least of all his dead fiancé’s younger brother. Because even one touch from Seth could shatter Ronan’s carefully constructed world and Ronan knows there’s no coming back from that a second time.
But when a series of escalating attacks against Seth forces Ronan back into his life, Seth knows it’s his last chance to show Ronan he can be the man the broken surgeon needs. Only the Ronan who returns isn’t the Ronan Seth fell in love with so long ago…
Can Seth be Ronan’s salvation or will he end up destroying them both?
STORY REVIEW:
Salvation was a good continuation to the first book, and I had been waiting for more about Ronan. I must admit that there was a lot of drama due to to Ronan’s past and how it has translated to his present.
To be honest, because of Ronan’s issues, the relationship dynamic struck me as unhealthy, for obvious reasons, but Ronan wasn’t the only one with a past, and Seth’s own horrific experiences actually had me wondering if if they were in fact meant to be. The progression of their relationship and healing took a fair amount of the book to achieve, but had the progression been faster, it would not have made sense. Ronan and Seth needed the time to deal with their demons, and learn about each other, and eventually after some back and forth, finally get on the same page.
There was actually a lot going on, with someone gunning for Seth, but to expand on this sub-plot would be giving too much away. Needless to say, the “bad guy” was expected and unexpected, in my opinion.
NARRATION REVIEW:
The narration was well done, with distinctive character voices that Leslie maintained from beginning to end. The variety and consistence extended to the secondary characters as well. I like to mention technical aspects of a performance or rather the production value of the narration, and in this respect, Leslie nailed it – no blips, odd background noise, or other oddities to distract from my enjoyment. And last but not least, Leslie’s pronunciation of the word “foyer” may just have been the best ever…yes, sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference.
RATING: 
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