Ledge (The Domino Effect, Book 1) by Grey Huffington
A Review By: RS
Beautiful disaster. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of her.
Who hurt you? The first question comes to mind when I open my mouth to greet her.
Although it wasn't the easiest to reach, I knew her heart was pure. Gentle to the touch yet stubborn as a bull, she made it hard to resist her. Unintentionally, she sank her hooks in me. She was the calm before my storm. A thunderous, darkening storm with lightning that graciously exposed the paternity of my brother and me. Though the gloom of it all lingered above both our heads, the winds that accompanied the storm were the breath of fresh air that I needed. Instead of the hovering clouds producing gazillions of little droplets of rain, they showered me with new siblings, nieces, nephews, sister-in-laws, and brother-in-laws. For so long, it had just been me, my mother, my cousins, and my brother. But then there was her and eventually them. Simultaneously, I found my father and my forever. And I was ready for whatever when it came down to them both.
Victim of my despair. That's what I believe him to be.
Why must you continue hurting yourself to love me? It's the question I desperately want to ask the man who sees no flaws in such a flawed woman.
Persistent, he was—unintentionally making it most difficult to bury my trauma. Forgetting the past and what it had done to me wasn't easy. I lived with the consequences of it all each and every day. But him, he made me want to. The issue was I couldn't. Not for him. Not for me. Not for our future. So, instead of stringing him along, I prayed each day that he'd find someone to fill the void that his heart must've suffered from because I couldn't. But he didn't want anyone else. He wanted me. I just didn't have myself to give. Not to him… and not even to me.
Review Notes:
Audio Book Publication Year: 2024
An installment in a Series? Yes
Narrator (s): Katherine Dollison, Jamal Roque
I read this book some time ago and absolutely loved it. Naturally, I was extremely excited to hear this book being brought to life. The story of Ledge and Halo is very endearing. I appreciate how Grey artfully built their romance around Halo's agoraphobia. Their journey to love as they weathered that storm was not only beautiful but realistic.
Katherine Dollison and Jamal Roque are new to me narrators. Both do a good job of changing their voices to represent each character. Katherine does a great child's voice and "hood" voice.
With all that being said, the narration didn't do it for me. After listening to Grey's Eisenberg series and Malachi from the Berkeley series, this didn't measure up. Neither of their voices quite embodied their character. Katherine's voice would punctuate words that didn't require emphasis. Or she brings life to a character during dialog but sounds like she was just reading during general narration. Jamal sounded like a corporate attorney, which is the furthest thing from the type of man Ledge is. Honestly, this narration doesn't do this book justice, and had I not read the book, I would have given up on this book after the first few chapters. This book is definitely better being read.
Reading Recommendation? Yes
Rating: 3 (It's aight)
Content Warnings? Human or animal loss, Sexual abuse/violence
