Reviewed by Anna Lynn
TITLE: Forgotten: Luca
SERIES: The Four #1
AUTHOR: Sloane Kennedy
NARRATOR: Michael Dean
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2019
LENGTH: 9 hours, 51 minutes
BLURB:
Luca
I left him behind because I had no choice….
That’s what I keep telling myself, but it doesn’t make it any easier to sleep at night…or to drown out the words he kept repeating over and over the day we’d met: I just want to go home. That was eight long years ago and I’d only known him as Billy, a terrified 14-year-old I’d had to leave behind to save someone else.
But his name wasn’t Billy and he’s no longer a frightened kid lost in a world where he was nothing more than a possession. His name is Remy, and while I didn’t recognize him upon meeting him again, he sure as hell remembers me.
It would be easier just to turn my back on him a second time, especially since that’s exactly what he wants, but there’s no way I can let the tormented young man go. At least not without trying to make things right first. The problem is, even if I can make up for leaving Remy behind so long ago, I’m not sure I’ll be able to walk away from him twice.
I don’t know what that means, but I do know that it scares the hell out of me.
Because needing in my world comes at a heavy price…one that not even I can afford to pay.
Remy
He gave me hope when I’d had none left, but he forgot about me just like all the others….
I fight. That’s what I do. It’s who I am.
But when Luca Covello walked into the dark, dirty room my captors were keeping me in so long ago, I’d already decided to do the one thing I hadn’t in the three years since I’d been taken from my home and family.
Give up.
Then he’d been there, like a bright light in a sea of darkness, and I’d had something new to fight for, to stay alive for…the day Luca came back to get me like he’d promised.
Except he never came.
And now, eight years later, he’s decided he wants to play the hero and save me. Well, I don’t need saving.
Not anymore…not ever.
Along with two years of sobriety under my belt, I’ve got a good job, a decent apartment, and I’ve managed to put my past where it belongs…in the past. No one, not even the gorgeous, mysterious businessman, is going to mess things up for me. If he’s come seeking forgiveness, I’m fresh out.
And if he’s come seeking something else…well, let’s just say that when I’m done with him, there’s no way he’ll forget me this time around.
REVIEW:
Let me give you a little background on this spin-off series that Ms. Sloane Kennedy has written. Her Protectors series has twelve full-length books and three novellas. We first met Luca’s brother Vaughn in book 5 of the series which is called Atonement. Then again we will have Vaughn and Aleks’ story in Unbroken, book 12 of the series. In this book, we will get to know Vaughn’s brothers, Luca, Lex, Con, and King. Forgotten: Luca is the first book of this spin-off.
Our main characters first meet when Remy was a teenager. He was one of the kids that Luca met in one of his numerous undercover stings to find his son, Gio. He promised Remy that he will come back for him. But Luca forgot about him. He never went back for Remy, although he never forgot him. He did try to look for him, but not as hard as he was looking for his son, of course. When Luca went back to the same place where he saw Remy, he was not there anymore. In this business, the products, as they were called by their captors, were moved every few days to avoid the authorities.
What Remy went through as we learn more of his backstory is heart wrenching. I cannot imagine how he even feels after all the abuse that he went through. I can understand his mistrust and his sarcastic/rude attitude towards Luca. He was given hope and then it didn’t happen. He was young and he was going through hell. As a mother, this breaks me and will possibly kill me. These things happening are unimaginable for me as an adult and as a mother, but to a young child, this would be hell on earth.
All of these emotions were clearly heard as Mr. Michael Dean voiced each character in this tale, but especially the voices he used for Remy and Luca. The pain that both characters were feeling can be clearly heard through. It is no easy feat to be able to voice the different characters in a story. You have to stay true to every accent and inflection that you have assigned to each different character. Congratulations Mr. Michael Dean for another five-star narration!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: