Reviewed by Anna Lynn
TITLE: Shot in the Dark
AUTHOR: Riley Long
NARRATOR: Andrew Morrison
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
RELEASE DATE: December 02, 2020
LENGTH: 5 hours and 5 minutes
BLURB:
If you win the bet, we’ll let you disappear. If you lose, you’ll be trapped on stage forever.
Charlie
I’m definitely straight, but when rock god Eli Steele offers me the opportunity of a lifetime in exchange for being his fake husband for a year, I can’t say no. That’s how I find myself sharing a bed – and more than a few kisses – with the lead singer of Blood Money. All I have to do is stay focused on my work and pretend to be in love with him. Easy, right?
Eli
I took a stupid f–king bet, and now, I have to convince Charlie to fall for me without using mind control. He’s straight, but the bigger problem is that he’s human, and I’m not. Once he finds out I’m really a vampire, will he be able to look past my fangs and see what’s in my heart?
REVIEW:
Loneliness can plagued everyone, rich or poor, man or woman, young or old, any gender, human or vampire. I think especially vampires in the sense that they live really long lives. You can just imagine while mortals are dying around you, you are doing the same thing over and over again for a very long time, without ageing. That can get very tedious. And Eli feels tired, tired of it all! Being a rock star with adoring fans and full house-concerts can still make a vampire very lonely. He wants to leave it all, go underground or totally disappear.
When he mentions the fact to his friends and band mates, they can’t believe that he wants to give it all up. They wanted to know what else could he be looking for, their lives are perfect! So instead of agreeing to what Eli wants just like that, Drew dared him to let the next human they see (they were at a bar during this conversation) fall in love with him, without using mind control.
Charlie films documentaries. He is fairly new so he is constantly looking for projects that would catapult his career. He is an avid fan of the band, Blood Money. He has decided to approach them to request/beg that he be given the chance to film behind-the-scenes footages of their band and their concerts, thus also getting to know the band members for the fans to see. This was the reason that he was at the bar that night, he heard from the grapevine that the band would be there so he was watching for them.
A unique concept, for sure, because this is the first time I have read this trope. Maybe it is a little bit short and quick (it is a novella), so the characters and their circumstances were not explored as much as the author wanted to, but it is sweet. The characters are lovable, especially Eli and Charlie, even with their little quirks. Ms. Riley Long is an amazing writer. I have had the chance to read some of her books. She has a great style. Mr. Andrew Morrison did a great job voicing the different characters in the story. Being the lone narrator for a story with different characters can really test your consistency and individuality in the sense that you have to maintain the accents and certain ways that each character speaks. It is a daunting job. Mr. Morrison did it amazingly. Looking forward to listening for more collaborations.
RATING: 
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