Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Snow Storm
SERIES: Haven Hart Universe #5
AUTHOR: Davidson King
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie & Philip Alces
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
RELEASE DATE: October 22, 2019
LENGTH: 5 hours, 45 hours
BLURB:
The city of Haven Hart rests under the heel of Christopher Manos. He reigns over the most dangerous and deadliest citizens as the most powerful crime boss the city has seen in generations. Yet, for the last five years, the harshest edges of his nature have been tempered by the loving devotion of his husband, Snow, and the nephew Christopher adores like a son. His life is a balance of darkness and light until a birthday trip for his nephew, Simon, is interrupted by a hail of bullets and explosions, threatening to destroy it all.
Snow has found a home, a family, and the love of one of Haven Hart’s most powerful men. When Christopher and Simon are kidnapped, Snow risks everything to find his family. Utilizing specialized skills he learned on the streets and the finer points of running a city from his crime boss husband, Snow takes on roles he never dreamed he would—protector, leader, and avenger. No one threatens his family and lives. Experienced enough to know he can’t do this alone, Snow calls in every favor he is owed, risking his life promising favors in return, all to save his family and the man he loves.
REVIEW:
If you’ve read or listened to any of the previous books in this series then you probably know what to expect from it. At least in the way of credibility (that there is none). It’s set in the world of crime bosses, assassins, mobsters and enforcers and what not. That being said, it’s not in a dark series about harsh and hard people. It’s not gritty or twisted, rather it ends up on the other side of the scale. Where said crime bosses, assassins and the rest of them are more of the cuddly type who melt to gooey puddles at the sight of puppies and babies.
Snow Storm could maybe stand on its own, but considering you’d miss out on a good chunk of history and backstory between Snow and Christopher and most of the cast of characters, it’s not something I’d recommend. Because now, I could really appreciate what Snow and Christopher had built, watch their lives together. Never perfect or without conflict, but always loving and giving. They were solid – even when outside forces tried to take them apart.
I’m sorry to say that the narration of this book had the same flaws some of the first in this series had; fluctuating sound volume. This time however, it doesn’t only vary with the switch off between Alces and Leslie as before. This time it also varies within the same narration, at least when it comes to Joel Leslies parts. At the start of Leslie’s narration the volume is turned way down, forcing you to really concentrate to hear the words. Then over a period of maybe 30 seconds or so the volume increases in stages – it’s not great if I’m being honest. But it’s also not so bad that it should in any way discourage anyone from picking up the audio, because other than this the audiobook really is great to listen to.
As far as the rest of the narration went, I was a fan. I especially liked how Leslie captured Snow’s swishy-ness. The drama, but never to the extent that went too far. He really has the voice and flair for all the twinks, femme, snarky and adorkable characters. With Snow he really found that balance for his character, the drama-queen-ish way he had, but it was never too much.
My favourite narration was the one delivered by Philip Alces – I love listening to his voice. He really captured the solid feel of Christopher. How much love he had for his son and for Snow. Alces really captured his ability to ground the people around him. His pacing was always spot on, never faltering.
As I’m writing this review I’m kind of starting to question where the series is heading to. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a blast listening to stories about these guys, but at the same time I’m also wondering what the point of the books are. At least now that we are circling back to known couples. There’s no build-up towards some epic show-down down the line, our couples are solid so there’s no real conflict there – so are more books published only for the sake of it? I guess time will tell.
RATING: 
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