Crimson

Of Shadows & Secrets, Book 1

De: Casey Morales

Narrado por: Joel Leslie

Silver Medal winner in the 2024 Bookfest Awards Competition . . .

Will Shaw and his friends are typical college students, enjoying dances and parties without much care for life beyond.

When Thomas, a handsome Naval officer and newly arrived student, nearly stumbles into Will and his friends, Will's heart spins, though he doesn't understand why. Sparks of something new burst within, opening his eyes to possibilities he'd never dreamed.

In the giddy fog of a forbidden courtship and the safety of the campus bubble, the world's troubles seem far away. Until they aren't. German tanks roll through Europe, while Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. There's no safe place left to hide.

Compelled to do their part, young people enlist in record numbers. Will and his friends join the queue. But instead of a bus headed to basic training, Will is thrust into the world of shadows and secrets.

Crimson is a slow-burn MM romance wrapped in a thriller, a first-in-series that sets up many grand adventures to come. Fans of James Bond, Jason Bourne, and author Tal Bauer watch out!

Contains mature themes.

©2023 3Aussies Press (P)2025 Tantor Media

interesting story hamish reader, almost comical in a bad way

Joel Leslie is over the top distracting, His character’s voices are hard to take seriously.

Great historical fiction

It was a well written story at a time when America was going to WW2

Boredom from too much narration.

The book reads like an outline of events. Told one after another after another. I had high hopes for this as I love historical fiction but it just doesn’t deliver on much meat and potatoes of the story. The scope is perhaps too big. The time period too long and the ambition too much for this short of a book. It was all rushed through. It seemed to be a means to something else, but in planning this epic adventure, Morales forgot to live in the moment.

I wish this book had more scenes and stolen moments, maybe set up by some narration. Not small scenes of friends or lovers which set up large swaths of narration of time and events. That was basically the whole second half of the book.

Not to pile on, and I hope the other books in the series get better, but the protagonist, Will, has zero original thoughts of his own. He is a blank slate. He is uninteresting. And once Thomas is an established character, he drives more of the plot in his POV chapters. Very disappointing.

Audio was fine, though I think this narrator is better at older adults than teens. Something about his voice. I’ve thought that in all the books I’ve listened to with him. But I get used to it usually. This one it smears more problematic though because they weren’t speaking like young adults. The characters were heady and it constantly took me out of the story.

Can’t wait for more!

This story is engaging and captivating from the outset. The characters are very relatable and well-realized. I can only assume the author did his research about the considerable detail he wrote about concerning spying in the dark, early days of WW2. I truly can’t wait for more of this series.

Crimson read

Great listen. Well developed characters. Can’t wait to continue the series and follow Will and Thomas’ relationship.