Reviewed by Dee
Retro Review by Annika
TITLE: Long Time Gone 
SERIES: Hell or High Water #2
AUTHOR: SE Jakes
NARRATOR: Adam North
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 7 hours 50 minutes
BLURB:
When a tornado meets a volcano, nothing is safe.
Soldier of fortune Prophet Drews always worked alone—until Tom Boudreaux became his partner. But when Tom walked away three months ago, ostensibly to keep Prophet safe, Prophet learned the true meaning of being alone. Everyone knows that Prophet, a Navy SEAL turned CIA spook turned mercenary, can look after himself. Which means he must’ve driven his lover away.
Even with half a world between them, Prophet can’t get the man out of his head. Maybe that’s why he’s in New Orleans in the middle of a hurricane, protecting Tom’s aunt. But the only looter around is Tom, bursting back into Prophet’s life. It turns out that Prophet’s been stuck in Tom’s head—and heart—too.
Their explosive reunion gets even hotter when Tom is arrested for murder. As they fight to clear his name, they delve deep into his past, finding enemies among everyone they meet. Staying alive in such a dangerous world is hard enough, but they soon discover that fighting to stay together is the most difficult thing they’ve ever done.
RETRO REVIEW:
Long Time Gone was another rollercoaster ride start to finish. I loved getting to know both Proph and Tom better, their pasts, ghosts, know why they ended up where they are. The sex scenes might be (okay totally are) over the top but I think that it also fits with the general tone of the book. Not much of it is credible or believable, but you still enjoy the heck out of the ride. I really enjoyed listening Adam North’s narration, tough some parts doesn’t really work for audiobooks (like emails, with addresses and subject lines etc). He had a pleasant voice and great pacing, and I’m looking forward to see what else he can do.
RETRO RATING: 
REVIEW:
As per the blurb this story certainly has a lot going on. Hot loving, mystery and suspense, angst to no-end, and the list goes on…
Readers who love stories with couples rutting like their lives depend on it, will love this story. Me, I need a little more balance with my plot to smut ratio.
That said, there are numerous raving reviews for this story, so I urge you to check them out. The fact I received the audio edition for review, I’ll stick to that.
To begin with, I admit, I struggled with the narration. BUT, that was due to the dialogue and not the narrator’s voice. Ms Jakes, the author, has a habit of dropping words at the beginning of sentences, so it took me a while to get use to it. And having email addresses/correspondence read out in long hand. As in hearing the words underscore, and dot com rather than reading them was odd. Once I reacquainted myself with the author’s writing style, the narrator’s voice made the story for me. He slipped in and out of each character with ease! I found myself chuckling many a time with different accents but in a good way. I’ve listened to a good number of audio books, and Adam is the best narrator I’ve encountered. I think I’d listen to any book by him, just to hear his voice.
RATING: 
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