Beast

Twisted Ever After, Book 1

By: A. Zavarelli

Narrated by: Tracy Marks

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Once upon a time, I believed in fairytales.

But then he took me.

And he taught me that life isn't a fairytale.

He is scarred. Broken.

A dark and wild thing.

His beauty is violent and his words are cruel.

His heart is a shadowed landscape where nothing can grow.

He tells me he could never care for me, and he proves it every day.

He's destroyed my life.

Tortured me.

And worse....

He's trained me to beg for his affection.

This prison is a place where sunlight doesn't reach.

He taught me that hate is born in darkness.

And then he taught me that sometimes love is too.

©2017 A. Zavarelli (P)2017 A. Zavarelli

Love Is A Battlefield

Isabella’s singing career is on the rise, but she’s still terribly unhappy with her life. Things get a lot worse when she’s kidnapped by Javi who has a grudge against her father and he’s going to make “Bella” pay the price.

Amazing, that’s all I can say about the very dark, very twisted take on the Beauty and the Beast story. Javi is truly cruel and abusive towards Bella before she turns the tables on him and flips his world upside down. If you have triggers or are sensitive to scenes that involve emotional and physical abuse, you may want to skip this one. I have no such filters and I loved this story! It’s raw, suspenseful and deeply erotic. I won’t forget this one anytime soon.

Tracy Marks narrates this nearly 8-hour audiobook and in this fully-voiced production she really shines. Her accent for Javi’s character was all kinds of hot. This story required so much emotion from both main characters and Tracy nailed the transformation of Javi’s character from beast to man. The audiobook is fast paced and Tracy is a fast talker so it all worked together well in this audiobook.

Beast is the first book that I’ve listened to from author A. Zavarelli, but I’ll be heading over to see what else she’s written because I’m hooked!

This audiobook was given to me at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review, thanks, Audiobook Boom!

So dark and wonderful.

Oh my....I really wanted to hate the Beast for everything he does in the first half of this book, and for awhile I did. But wow so much backstory and character development!! I love a strong, dark character with a troubled past and this definitely fits the bill. If you love to hate, and hate to love a character than you so want to give this a listen. Tracy Marks gives an amazing narration. This one will stick with me for a while.

Loved the narration!

If you could sum up Beast in three words, what would they be?

Twisted, heart thumping, hot

If you’ve listened to books by A. Zavarelli before, how does this one compare?

The story wasn't as good as her BU series but the narration was top notch!!

Which scene was your favorite?

The epilogue !

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Tracy Marks delivers a stellar performance narrating as Bella and Javier. Her accent for Javier was authentic and all the emotions of the characters were emoted perfectly!! She is easily one of my favourite female narrators!!

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, narrator or publisher.

Very Dark Twisted Story

What made the experience of listening to Beast the most enjoyable?

It was hard for me to get through with all of the vivid descriptions. The detail was well written and the narrator brought every bit of it to life.

What other book might you compare Beast to and why?

Hard to say

Which character – as performed by Tracy Marks – was your favorite?

Bella

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I had to stop and listen to something clean and simple then go back to this book. It is truly hard core.

Any additional comments?

I got this ARC via audiobook boom and this is my voluntary review.

Dark version of Beauty and the Beast

I am not usually a fan of the darker side of romance, but I love A Zavarelli's writing so I gave it a go.

What an emotional rollercoaster! It is loosely based on Beauty and the Beast, but it's a dark and twisted tale... not for the faint hearted!

Tracy Marks is an excellent narrator, who conveyed realistic emotions and there was clear distinction between the different characters

So overall, it's a dark read, but the top notch narration draws you in and keep you engaged until the very end!

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Blast.

Not your mama's Beauty & the Beast retelling!

Beast was my first dark erotic romance and I wasn’t prepared. I’m not sure anyone could be entirely prepared for something that pushes (or downright annihilates) boundaries as much as this novel does, but, again, that’s coming from someone who is completely new to this genre. I found that I had to suspend reality quite a bit to really enjoy this novel. But once I did, I was able to really get into it.

I’ve only read a handful of erotic novels and I haven’t been impressed with any of the storytelling or writing. With Beast, I actually found both to be pretty darn good. There were some obvious gaps in the story, like I said, I had to suspend reality to truly get into it, but it wasn’t enough to take away from the plot as a whole.

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairytale and I love retellings. I really appreciated the parallels between this and the original fairytale. It was definitely a unique take!

Beast was the dark, erotic fairytale retelling I didn’t know I wanted … and I’m still not entirely sure I do. I think I would’ve liked this novel a lot more if there was a hell of a lot more consent. But, then again, Javi’s entire objective is to torture Isabella in the beginning, so I understand why there wasn’t.

There are so many triggers in this novel, to list them all would take paragraphs. I’m grateful that while I did feel uncomfortable at several points, it didn’t totally mess with my head as I’m sure it could have.

Ultimately, I appreciated the story for what it was: well-written, the story was decent, but the subject matter was a little much for me. I can see why some people love this and I can also see why some people couldn’t even finish it.

Audiobook Performance:

I found the audiobook reader’s voice to be really annoying, actually. I also kind of hated that they did not have a male narrator for Javi’s chapters.

It didn’t really touch me

This book didn’t really trip my trigger. I sat and thought about it for quite awhile before I wrote this review. It wasn’t the dark elements of the book that bothered me. I have listened/read several other dark romances,with similar plots, that were a favorite listen. It wasn’t the narration that lacked, either. It was some elements of the writing style that ruined it for me. I hope I am able to articulate what I mean. There were several key parts of the plot that the author chose to inform the reader about instead of letting the reader experience the event with the characters. I hope that makes sense. Since I did not experience much of the story, with the characters, I did not become emotionally invested, in the book. I am usually the type that will freely bawl, during a book. My family has often been convinced that I must be suffering from clinical depression since I seem to burst into tears for seemingly no reason. This book didn’t touch me emotionally, at all. Perhaps others would disagree with me. Therefore, although the writing wasn’t horrible, this is not a book I will choose to keep in my personal library.
-V from Kansas

The darkest side of the beast!

WARNING: Please read at your own discretion. This book contains very dark subject matter including kidnapping, very questionable consent, degradation, cutting and intense obsession!

With dialogue like "I want to hurt her. I want to mark her. I want to witness her blood contaminated with the blackness of mine." one would wonder how you can like or care for the BEAST (Javi). But out of blackness that is explored as he tries to break Bella I found that thru the heartache and misery I was shocked to feel for the BEAST.

I found myself questioning if I felt comfortable with what lines were crossed as he was her kidnapper and punisher (for things that were not her fault), the gripping intense suspense did keep me listening well into the night...and I just had to finish it.

Worth a credit...YES, as long you feel you can handle the subject matter...this was intense, and pushed the limits.

I was provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Dark and twisted

Selected this story because I love the narrator's voice and the author's other stories.
The blurb warns the listener but not prepare how dark this story is. I wanted to abandon it a few times but kept coming back for more. The ending made it worthwhile though and I actually like the hero. The story is addictive and Ms. Marks delivered it beautiful.

Beast

What made the experience of listening to Beast the most enjoyable?

The narration. Most books I listen to I have read before, but this one listening is the first I have experienced this story and it was amazing!

What does Tracy Marks bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Life, there is something about listening to a book that brings the story full circle!

Any additional comments?

I was given a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!