Shock & Awe

By: Abigail Roux

Narrated by: Brock Thompson

After barely surviving a shootout in New Orleans, Sidewinder medic Kelly Abbott has to suffer through a month of recovery before he can return home to Colorado. He's not surprised when fellow Sidewinder Nick O'Flaherty stays with him in New Orleans. Nor is he surprised when Nick travels home with him to help him get back on his feet - after all, years on the same Marine Force Recon team bonded the men in ways that only bleeding for a brother can. He's very surprised, though, when Nick humors his moment of curiosity and kisses him.

Nick knows all of Kelly's quirks and caprices, so the kiss was a low-risk move on his part...or so he thought. But what should've been a simple moment unleashes a flood of confusing emotions and urges that neither man is prepared to address. Now, Kelly and Nick must figure out what they mean to each other - friends and brothers in arms or something even deeper - before the past can come back to ruin their tenuous future.

©2013 Abigail Roux (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Good spin off

This is a good spin off to the cut and run series. I loved getting a closer look at Nick and Kelly but also the slightly quieter story. It's fairly quick listen and Thompson does a good job with the narration.

Love This Series!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! Brock Thompson does a great job with differentiating between Nick and Kelly. His gravelly voice adds to the emotional scenes.

What did you like best about this story?

LOVE Nick and Kelly and getting to be in their head as they discover each other and what they ultimately want from each other.

Which scene was your favorite?

The salute at the end, when they are at the airport. I won't say more but that is a moment that really got to me. Very touching moment that just cemented how close the Sidewinders are.

If you could rename Shock & Awe, what would you call it?

Nope. Name fits just right.

Any additional comments?

This is a side story to the Cut and Run series and yet it works by itself. Short, fun, sexy and heartwarming. This is a another good one from Abigail Roux.

Nice interlude

The narration was terrible .2 main characters sound almost exactly the same . Really bad

I love Nick and Kelly! Not happy with narration

I liked this book a lot and was excited to see it at Audible....The narrator was a disappointment :( He did ok on Nick but he turned Kelly into a different character to me...He made Kelly less vibrant and playful.

SO glad it's on audio finally. Good job of it.

*So happy to be able to listen to this!!!*

**(Note - there is a file sequencing problem. Hopefully it will be fixed quickly - I reported it to audible on the release date - in early release, chapters 3&4 are actually chapters 10 & 11. I was quite confused for a moment, skipped ahead, found that chapter 5 was actually chapter 3 ... listened on with no trouble but then had to go back to 3&4 to hear the ending in proper order.)

I don't want to review this one for story or any of the usual. I came to Abigail Roux's Cut & Run series accidentally in the middle by getting my hands on an audio copy of Divide and Conquer. I didn't realize that I was listening to book 4 in a series. I was hooked from the beginning, and when I got to the end I went, "What the HELL just happened?!" And as much as I wanted to see what came next, instead I went back and bought book 1. I devoured everything that Abigail Roux (along with her early co-author) had written in a crazy short amount of time ... and listened to every book available in audio format an insane number of times. This series is what hooked me into the m/m genre and so I am in no way objective about any of the books, stories, arcs or even the author. I love it, her ... all of it.

That said, I have definite opinions about narrators and audio books in general. I have learned to overlook and forgive a lot with certain series for the sake of my affection and attachment to the material. C&R has been one of those series for me. I *hate* having multiple narrators and different voices in my head. I hate when the accents are absent, or just not right. And I hated that I could only listen to books 1-5 of a 9 book series with 3 "spin-off" books also sprinkled through the time-line. I have been wishing (and occasionally pestering the publishers) for audio books since the release of book 6.

This book is listed as Book 1 of the Sidewinder Series. As I said, I can't disentangle myself from my own experiences with these books enough to judge these books objectively. I can't decide if I think that this novella is a good stand alone or not. For me it is an offshoot of the C&R series, and I do know that in going from this book to Book 2 of the sidewinder series I was sad that I couldn't immediately listen to the C&R book that was released between the two, as events in that book colored all of the events in these. (For me) it was fine listening to these 2 books on their own, but the addition of the C&R books and events add so much texture and color to them that as soon as I have access to those, they will all be in one playlist in sequential order on a loop. :)

I was worried about the narrator, but ultimately I loved him. I am no language or accent expert, but for me he hit the tone of the varied accents just right and it added depth to the story for me. I can't wait for the rest of the Cut and Run books to be released in December so I can go on an audible orgy and listen to the whole shebang in chronological order over and over! I am interested to see what the narrator of the C&R series is like, and hope that he is as good a fit and nice a surprise as this one was.

I don't usually pay for novella length books at the price this one is set at, but for Abigail Roux I made an exception and I am not sorry at all. This is a lovely fleshing out addition to the world she created and HAS to be on the bookshelf with the rest of it. No regrets.