Twisted Pretty Things

Shadows of London Series, Book 1

By: Ariana Nash

Narrated by: Cornell Collins

Something wicked is moving in the shadows of London....

In the underground world of glitzy illegal auctions, fast cars, and stolen magical artifacts, John "Dom" Domenici knows he's out of his depth. But he needs the job at Kempthorne & Co like he needs to breathe. The alternative - going back to the organized crime gangs of London's East End - is unthinkable.

So when Alexander Kempthorne, boss of Kempthorne & Co Artifact Retrieval Agency, wants him on a special case to track down an illegal artifact dealer, Dom can't say no.

It shouldn't matter that Kempthorne's world is full of deadly secrets. It shouldn't matter that the billionaire is sexy as sin, and it really shouldn't matter how there's an American agent stalking Dom, an American who knows more than he should about Dom's case, including the real reason Alexander Kempthorne hired Dom.

The only thing that really matters to Dom is solving the case and finding the artifact dealer. Because there are worse things in London than a conflicted billionaire and a trigger-happy American. Something wicked is stalking London's streets, and if Dom doesn't stop it, its shadows will rise and consume them all.

Contains mature themes.

©2021 Ariana Nash (P)2022 Tantor

Annoying characters

The main character Dom was so annoying. He is supposed to be a special ops military guy, but he literally lost every fight. The whole book was him just cussing and grumbling about his boss not telling him ‘the truth’, grumbling and cussing about him being used and treated like an object for being a ‘latent’, and him not solving or working towards fixing anything. Just a passive character that loses fights, has to get rescued by others when he gets kidnapped, and occasionally feeling lust towards 2 guys he dislikes. Ugh. I was annoyed by the end.

Also, the narrator was annoying too. He would walk super quiet when doing the dialogue and it was hard to hear what he was saying. I had to keep turning the volume up and down.

what is the prize how good it is

idiot I just surprised how good the story is and they where they handling it it's surprising me that how well it's written I've heard stories before about this kind of thing but not as well written

Love this

This book is so fun, I can’t wait to listen to the next one. My only issue is the sexy scenes are slightly less sexy when the narrator makes the noises or says the curses. It’s pretty cringey and I skipped them 😅

Great story. Great narration.

Ariana Nash's stories always seem to get me riled up. I want to shout at the story about the unfairness of everything. I also want to hang out with the characters at the local pub. I don't drink or socialize much, but I might with the characters in this book. Dom is just the sort of person I would like to find trouble with. Hopefully, Kempthorne would bail us out if the trouble was more than we could handle because this version of London has the potential to involve serious trouble.

Nash has put an interesting twist on the concept of magic and enhanced humans. I like most of the ideas. I did get a little annoyed with the idea that magic and science are opposing forces. I am a science nerd who appreciates a good fantasy story. I know that most science is inspired by the concept of magic. Anyone ever heard of alchemy? Sigh. I find plenty of reasons to get wound up while reading Nash's books which is why I read them.

Cornell Collins narration is great way to experience Ariana Nash's books, and I hope he keeps narrating them.

well written and narrated

Well written, good pace, definitely submersive and overall very good book will be reading more.