Raphael/Parish

Bayou Heat, Volume 1

De: Laura Wright, Alexandra Ivy

Narrado por: Pyper Down

In the depths of the bayou lives a secret race of puma shifters. The creators of a powerful magic, they have lived in peace until the threat of extinction drives them to seek the world beyond their homelands. Now the Pantera must discover the answer to their dying magic and halt an ancient enemy before it can destroy them all.

Raphael, the brilliant and dangerous diplomat of the Pantera shapeshifters, has devoted his life to discovering the key to the infertility that is threatening the extinction of his puma race. Creating a vast network of spies worldwide, he never expected to discover that the answer might be beneath his very nose. But when Ashe, a beautiful human female, crosses his path, his most primitive instincts are stirred. Unable to resist, he takes her to his bed, and is shocked when she becomes pregnant with his child. It's a miracle that might prove to be the salvation of his people, but only if he can keep her safe from the mercenaries determined to kill her.

Parish, untamed and undeniably sexy, is the leader of the Pantera hunters and he rarely leaves the magic of the Wildlands to deal with the humans he despises. But with the prized and risky Pantera birth on the way, Parish must travel to New Orleans to find and bring back a human doctor. The moment he sees the lovely, talented, and all too human Dr. Julia Cabot he cannot resist the wild, potent drive to make her his. Betrayed and destroyed by love, Julia will not let her heart choose her path again. But as she and Parish fight to save the life of an unborn child, a fierce and overwhelming bond develops between them, threatening her frozen heart with the secret hope and ultimate temptation of love and family.

©2013 Laura Wright and Alexandra Ivy (P)2013 Laura Wright and Alexandra Ivy

Legend of the Panera

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

Yes. It was well written by two talented authors. The narration was spot on.

What did you like best about this story?

The Magic of the Panera.

Have you listened to any of Pyper Down’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first book by her. Excellent narration.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Loved it start to finish.

Any additional comments?

Great start to what is a long series. Can't wait to listen to it all.

interesting story line

The story of the Pantera is interesting and the novellas are written well. I wish they were full length books because the characters could use more depth than you can get in a novella.
It is a shame that the narration is so poor with no sense of rhythm, no real ability to emote for the characters. The narrator is boring and really harms the story.

Short but Sweet...

This is a short sweet summer read to while away a boring time. The first book about Raphael and Ashe sets off the series nicely. I always love shifters' books and this is not half bad.

Great paranormal romance

Where does Raphael/Parish rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is a great compilation of two paranormal romances. I like how the stories progress from one right to the next, picking up immediately where the first ended. Both Raphael and Parish are alpha, sexy heroes! I actually read this when it first came out and wanted to hear it on audio and I wasn't disappointed. The narrator is fantastic. I reviewed this on Amazon so I'm going to copy my original review because it's the same. If anything, this really came to life in the audio version, making it more enjoyable!

Original review:

I absolutely love this new world that Laura Wright and Alexandra Ivy have created! Two amazing paranormal authors putting out a new series...more please! Okay, first I'll start with their `world'. The Pantera live in Louisiana, out in the Bayou, fairly close to New Orleans. They are a group of puma shapeshifters who were created/born out of magic. At one time the Pantera were more than myth but so much time has passed and their Wildlands are protected from human eyes by magic and it is now modern times so no one believes they are real (except a few choice humans). The big problem they're facing is that the Pantera are dying out because their females aren't conceiving. And they have tried everything to figure out what's wrong but so far nothing is helping.

Enter, Raphael...he's a seriously sexy Pantera diplomat who wants to save his race. He's sort of legendary for his control but when he meets Ashe, a human female he loses all of that. Ashe is the daughter of the town drunk and always cleaning up her mother's messes. When she went to this less than savory bar (The Cougar's Den) to pay off her mom's bar bill she meets this sexy male and has a wild one-night stand with him--but doesn't really remember much. In fact, she thinks she's going crazy because of her lack of memories, then when she finds herself pregnant she thinks something worse might have happened to her. This is where Ashe and Raphael's story starts and oh boy is it hot! The fact that a human is pregnant by a Pantera shifter is big news and great for the Pantera but not everyone is happy about that fact and someone(s) wants Ashe dead. This story is a great start to a new series with just the right amount of suspense and sexiness that the pacing was simply perfect. Without giving away spoilers, Parish is in the final scene with a smart comment about Raphael taking up with a human so it's really funny when he falls so very hard not long after.

Which leads me to the next story: Parish! Oh, he is so very sexy too. It's hard to pick who I like the most because both these guys just exude all that alpha hotness, but they're so tender and sweet with their females. Julia moved to Louisiana because she's a brilliant doctor but when she catches her boyfriend cheating on her she's basically kicked out of her home and decides to leave the hospital that they both work at because it's better than seeing him every day. On her last day of work she's pretty much kidnapped by Parish (who hates humans) because the Pantera need a doctor for Ashe. He wasn't supposed to just take her, he was supposed to offer her a job, but the animal in him pushes him to simply take what he wants. Which makes for an awesome story because of his previous feelings toward humans. Julia just knocks him over when they meet. The sexual chemistry between Parish and Julia is smoking hot right from the beginning. The first story left off with unresolved issues and this one picks up right where Raphael ended; with an unknown element who wants Ashe and/or her baby dead. Again, there was exactly the right amount of sexiness and suspense in this story to keep me on edge.

I'm so excited that two of my favorite authors have joined together to do this series. And for the price, it's impossible to pass this up! If you like sexy paranormal romance with super alpha (but sweet) heroes I highly recommend these novellas.

Have you listened to any of Pyper Down’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is my first and I love her voice. She does the characters wonderfully with an impressive range of inflection.

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

Yes

Narration is Terrible

I understand these are only Novellas, but much information is missing. Although I want to continue listening too all these books. I'm getting more and more frustrated with them. I'm on book 3 which is 5 & 6. But there is so much background of missing information. These books would have been a 5 if they were written as a full book for each one of the Panteras.
As for the Narrator, I just cannot get into the stories because all the voices are the same. I have over 850 audio books, and usually I tolerate the narrator but this Piper Down narrator cannot do male voices at all. I truly enjoy Shifter books, but these books are just leaving me empty.

I like story one better than story two

This is an ok start to a new paranormal series... I like story one, much better than story two... Both are decent... but story one moves a bit faster... Both worth the listen...

Narration was pretty good.

A good credit or sale

The story was great, narration was the worst!

What didn’t you like about Pyper Down’s performance?

She mispronounced every word associated with New Orleans, and the Bayou.

Any additional comments?

Get another narrator and the books will be perfect.

Very good start to the series (but ends in cliffy)

4 stars

This was a very good combo of stories and good start to the series. This set of stories does end in a cliffhanger though, so be prepared. Also, these are insta-love stories.

This set of stories is short enough that details would give most of it away so this will be brief. I will say that the Pantera are Puma shifters that live in the New Orleans area. Their race became infertile around 50 years ago and they have no idea why. So when Raphael finds that Ashe is pregnant with his baby in the first story, it's a big deal. And the relationship between Ashe and Raphael leads to Parish meeting Julia and their involvement in the second story.

There are some issues come up...just as Ashe becomes pregnant with Raphael's child, an ancient (an mostly forgotten) enemy starts to work against the Pantera. It's this enemy that aims the attacks at Ashe and her unborn child and it's this enemy that seems to be the main issue going forward in the series (at least for now). I liked the story very much but it did end in a cliffhanger that left me a bit frustrated...I plan to get the next set of stories but I suspect that each book will end in cliffhangers to move you along in the series but I may be wrong. I did find the story engaging and liked it and the characters so I did enjoy this start to the series. :)

Shallow character build up

Writer didn't give the reader enough time to Care about the characters in the story. The magic that the girl is supposed to have is a question but not a mystery because of the comment about the father. The fact that that none of the characters brought up her heredity, parentage or even tried following up on her being able to leave with no problem just seems dumb. To sum it up. There should be more story depth, mystery, character development and thought into what would actual people say, ask, think and question. The sex was sex. Nothing special because there was no lead up to it. Again if we don't care about the characters and the story line is so thin then we may as well just be reading porn. in short the author should go back and figure it out and perhaps do a prequel as a lead in to it. them recommend that readers read it first.