Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  Full Contact

SERIES:  Wrecked: Guardians, Book 2

AUTHOR:  Kelly Fox

NARRATOR:  Zane Daniels

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  6 hours and 5 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  August 30, 2021

BLURB:

If that joker doesn’t stop annoying me, I’m going to give that mouth of his something better to do.

The first time I saw Anders F–king Bash, he was shirtless, armed, and simultaneously the most beautiful and frustrating man I’ve ever met.

He has not gotten any uglier. Or any less frustrating. And today I finally took a swing at him.

Our boss thinks a simple op in East Texas is exactly the thing we need to mend our relationship and restore the team dynamic.

I think two men are driving to the Pineywoods and only one is coming back. Look y’all – sane isn’t really where I shine.

Does it make sense to mess with the Guardians’ new hired gun every chance I get? No. Does it mean I’m going to stop? Also no.

Honestly, there’s nothing more fun than irritating a sexy grump who can’t stand how pretty I am.

That said…the more I get to know him, the more I realize how much he’s hiding behind those walls of his. And this little road trip is the perfect opportunity to thoroughly explore the real Omar.

I just hope I haven’t pushed him too far this time.

Full Contact is a mercenary MM romance set in Austin and the Pineywoods of East Texas. It features smoking hot mortal enemies, a small vehicle fire, inappropriate bumper stickers, and a couple of alligators named Millie and Dave.

REVIEW:

Kelly Fox’s Full Contact audiobook is one fantastic listen, start to finish.  This second book in the Wrecked: Guardians series reunites us with the complex, colorful group of ex-military mercenaries that we met in Hard Target, the first book in the series.  If you’ve read the predecessor series, Wrecked, you may have met some of these men there too. 

Full Contact checks all the boxes: action, suspense, adventure, gorgeous men, humor, family (love Anders’ parents 😍), found family (seen in the camaraderie of these brothers in arms), and of course, a scintillating romance between two dynamic, highly complex men.  All of this is delivered to us by an insanely talented vocal actor, Zane Daniels.  I can’t even bring myself to call him a “narrator” because he is so much more than that.  The pairing of Ms. Fox’s engrossing book and Mr. Daniels’ enthralling vocal performance makes Full Contact an un-put-downable, audio-unstoppable, unbelievably amazing, binge-worthy audiobook of the highest caliber.

Omar and Anders, two opposites who barely tolerate each other, crackle with electricity.  When they come together, it’s all heat and humor, explosions and tenderness, passion and poignancy, rolled into one crazy addictive package. 

Anders is the joker who doesn’t know when enough is enough, and Omar is the tightly coiled control freak trying desperately to keep his demons at bay.  Anders is drawn to Omar in a way he can’t quite explain.  It’s more than sexual attraction, but beyond that, Anders is a bit lost.  What he does know is that he wants Omar.  But Anders’ way of wooing him devolves into the equivalent of pigtail pulling.  All he wants is to make Omar crack. 

Anders’ attempts to piss Omar off are simultaneously humorous and heartbreaking, and even a bit irritating.  This is particularly the case when juxtaposed against Omar’s tenacious adherence to the walls he’s erected around himself, all for self-preservation.  You will want to smack Anders as much as you want to hug him.  But mostly, you simply will not be able to look away from these two alpha males fighting for dominance in a captivating enemies-to-lovers relationship progression.  You’ll definitely need to have the fire extinguisher ready because Omar and Anders’ sex scenes will make you combust. 🔥🔥🔥🔥  Even their verbal sparring is intense foreplay, and like the greedy voyeurs that we are, we settle in for the show.

Full Contact may be one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to.  There is absolutely nothing I can criticize.  Zane Daniels is on target in every aspect of his vocal performance.  While a relatively new entrant into the world of MM romance narration, Mr. Daniels, aka Zachary Johnson, is far from a new narrator, having done a great deal of M/F and even non-fiction narration.  But whatever the genre, he’s no doubt exceptional.  

Ms. Fox brings her prodigious writing talent to bear here.  The banter, wry, sardonic wit, and internal monologuing are sharply written, laugh-out-loud funny at times, and poignantly tear-inducing in others.  But when Mr. Daniels channels these carefully and cleverly written words through his golden vocal cords, he brings Ms. Fox’s world to life in a way that is nothing short of breathtaking. 

Mr. Daniels’ vocal performance captures all of Omar and Anders’ emotions, often conflicting ones existing simultaneously, and delivers lines as Ms. Fox intended.  Meanwhile, his tone, pacing, and spot-on characterizations are remarkable.  Additionally, his intonations are completely natural and accurate.  In fact, I’m struggling to think of a narrator that does intonations as well as Mr. Daniels does here.  The sheer variety and nuanced delivery… just astounding.

In Full Contact, Mr. Daniels delivers vocal theater.  He acts, emotes, engages, and inhabits his characters in a way rarely heard in audiobooks.  But the highlight of his performance can be found in his array of accents, which he articulates precisely, authentically, and consistently.  In interviews, Mr. Daniels has remarked that almost all of his preparation for narrating a book consists of character work.  He compiles a “demo reel” of sorts to record voices for each character in the book or series that he then relies on for practice and reference.  He’s a perfectionist.  He wants to make sure that he’s captured the essence of each character and gets their voice down pat so he can deliver them consistently.  That’s where he puts his time and that work pays huge dividends.

So run, do not walk, to your favorite audiobook retailer and one-click this EXCEPTIONAL audiobook of Ms. Fox’s excellent Full Contact.  You don’t want to miss a minute of Zane Daniels’ glorious voice interpreting Ms. Fox’s expertly crafted story.  This is one audiobook I could happily leave on replay.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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