Sink or Swim

RELIC, Book 2

De: Maz Maddox

Narrado por: Kirt Graves

Trapped on a cruise ship with a man I absolutely hate is not how I wanted to spend this fake honeymoon. Especially when my "fiance" has a deadly ex on the same boat.

Jackson is everything I'm not: brash, careless, and a former fossil thief. But he's my ticket to getting what I want - the original Spinosaurus fossils that have been lost for decades. Now I have to play the part, win the fossils, and try not to kill him in the process.

The danger of being caught, tortured, or killed isn't what scares me.

Navigating the waters of this fake relationship is threatening to pull me under.

And I'm terrified of sinking.

Contains mature themes.

©2021 Maz Maddox (P)2021 Tantor

I loved this!

The story is excellent. The characters are so different from typical romance novels. The interaction is real and funny. None of the unnecessary extended self doubt and recriminations.

Does NOT leave you floundering

I was introduced to Maz Maddox and the Relic series with Smash & Grab last year, which quickly became one of my favorite books of the year! I was worried Sink or Swim would not live up to the first book of the series.

I should not have worried! It was chock full of amazing characters, hot sass, and sweet sex, not to mention a fun story. Absolutely awesome ride!

I love my boys

as with the others of this series, I laughed, I cried, pure entertainment! I love my boys!

I love this series

This series absolutely rocks. So this is Baha's story. He is the grumpy Spinosaurus, had not clue what a Spinosaurus was, but they seem really cool. He works for RELIC and they get intel that there is going to be an auction on dinosaur fossils. Enter Jackson, who Baha instantly dislikes because in Jackson's past, he was a thief of fossils and to Baha that is the worst betrayal that a dinosaur shifter can do. Jackson is a Quetzalcoatl, again, no clue what that was, but really cool as well. So Jackson is tasked with getting Baha onto a cruise that his ex, who is a real POS, is running an auction for said fossils. And they go undercover as fiancé's. Well Jackson comes up with the idea & Baha hates it. What I liked best about the story, though I did like what was happening on the ship, was the times they spent alone getting to know each other; from drinks to Baha catching a shark & giving it to Jackson to eat. At that point, it cemented the "mate" between them. Jackson breaks down all the walls that surrounds Baha's heart and heals him.

Shenanigans to be had here

4.25 stars

This series is just so much fun. I definitely enjoyed Baha and Jackson as a pairing just a *touch* more than Simon and Dalton (but don't worry, I still love them). Baha and Jackson are the epitome of grumpy/sunshine, and I had so much fun with Baha and his orneriness while dealing with Jackson's shenanigans. Baha really gives grumpy old man vibes. The story was interesting, the adventure was fun, and the romance ended up being more sweet than I was expecting. Overall, this is a simply great time.

Great performance & story

A few years ago, a reviewer criticized KG’s narrative performance and claimed that the cameo of characters from the previous book sounded all the same.
…
I kept that criticism in mind as I listened to this sequel, and I wholeheartedly disagree.
Kirk Graves performance is as grand as ever. Dalton and crew from book one are the same goofy, or domineering, voices as before, and Graves’ consistency between the Cowboy & the Egyptian is impressive!

The story is a true enemies to lovers trope done so well that there isn’t one switch-flipped moment but rather a fuse sizzling away until these two fire-crackers combust.
It’s an exciting undercover mission, fake fiancé trope, & action heist all in one. Another stellar adventure from Maddox!

Great story and narration

This series is really unique, it’s a great take on shifter stories. Really well written and very funny. Narration by Kirt was great as always. I read another review that stated his voices for the previous characters didn’t sound the same as in Smash & Grab… that was kind of true in the very beginning, but I was still able to tell who was speaking. Later in the book though Dalton and Montana were sounding like they should. Highly recommend.

Quite a ride!

The cruise ship auction of stolen art was fast passed. The grumpy agent came through great and the reader was superb.

A+++ for the story….jury is out on narration

Before I get into what disappointed me with the audiobook, Sink or Swim is probably my favorite book out of the RELIC series (and I’ve read them all). I was excited for Baha to get his HEA and it was everything I had hoped for and more! Jackson was the perfect character to complement Baha when he’s a grumpy grumposaurus. My irritation has nothing to do with the author OR the book. Maz Maddox has become a 1-click author for me and I highly, highly recommend the RELIC series. But, one of my major pet peeves with series narrated by the same person with the same characters is when the voices don’t match from one audiobook to the other. And this is such a case. While Baha’s voice is the same as it was in book one (breathe a sigh of relief with me), the voices for the other characters that also appeared in Smash & Grab do not match very well. In fact, they all sound the same. Montana, Dalton and Simon have barely discernible voice differences and were not how they sounded in Smash & Grab (I listened to both back to back). It was so disappointing. Kirt Graves is an amazing narrator and he did a great job with the voices in book one, but this seems like a rushed job to me.

Sink or Swim fun

2nd book in series. This one is about Baja, The grumpy one and Jackson the sunshiny one.
I started out this story not sure if I was going to like Baja but ended up loving this grumpy dinosaur.
Once again the story was fun fast paced and a little campy.
Not as goofy as Dalton but very definately enjoyable.
And can I just say, Baja's spinosaurus just melted my heart a little. Entire story of the quest to save priceless relics set on a cruise ship.
I listened to the audio version and
as usual Kirt Graves did a great narration job.