Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Owl’s Slumber
SERIES: Trials of Fear #1
AUTHOR: Nicky James
NARRATOR: Adam Gold
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
RELEASE DATE: August 27, 2019
LENGTH: 10 hours, 27 minutes
BLURB:
Imagine what life would be like if panic ruled your world at the mere thought of going to bed at night. For as long as he can remember, Finnley Hollins has been crippled by his extreme phobia of sleep. Every night is a battle, and every morning isn’t without consequences. The root cause is something he’s ashamed to admit to anyone. It’s his war, and he will fight it alone.
When an unexpected turn of events lands the stunningly gorgeous Aven Woods at Finnley’s place of business, his life gets turned upside down.
All it would take is one night together for his secret to be exposed. Finnley wasn’t prepared to fall in love. More so, he wasn’t prepared for his phobia to completely consume his life. Not only is it affecting his job and his relationship, but now it’s affecting his health. What will it take for Finnley to finally admit he needs help?
REVIEW:
After listening to and absolutely loving Love Me Whole I had such high expectations for this book. I mean Nicky James does know how to write phenomenal books with broken characters. Sadly Owl’s Slumber missed the mark just a little bit.
First of all, where was the romance? The push and pull, the attraction, the feelings between our two main characters? I was almost at the point where some added sex scenes wouldn’t have been too out of place, just to add something. And if you know me, you know that I never say that. But I just didn’t feel Finnley and Aven as a couple. It all got lost in Finnley’s sleep phobia.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked Finnley and his phobia really intrigued me, but it also overshadowed everything else. I never felt like Aven was allowed his space, I never got to know him. Which is my second issue with this story. Not only didn’t we get to know Aven, even their relationship was on the backburner from Finn’s sleep phobia. Aven was constantly bending over backwards (no pun intended) to help Finn, find solutions and helping him, but Finn never really made an effort towards anything. He was just there, or running away. Brushing Aven off. So I never believed in their relationship, I just didn’t feel it.
Narration-wise, Adam Gold did a wonderful job bringing the book to life. I especially enjoyed the sound effects he added for the inner thoughts and phone calls, it added to the feel of the book, another dimension. It also highlighted that it was a phone call or an inner monologue. What’s more, it wasn’t overdone or exaggerated. I also loved that he added the yawns or giggles (when appropriate) in the story. It’s these small things that can make all the difference for your listening experience.
In the end, this book was a nice enough listen, it wasn’t all that I hoped for and probably not one I’m likely to listen to again, but it was still a nice way to spend an afternoon/evening before enjoying a good night’s sleep – something I know I won’t take for granted for a while to come.
RATING: 
Story: 3 hearts
Narration: 4,5 hearts
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