A Fantastic Paranormal Romance!

This is the first book in the Eternal Guardians series. I really enjoyed it!

My sister recommended this series to me as she had read them all (that have been released so far) and thought I would enjoy it. I downloaded this as an audiobook, as it was also recommended by Audible due to my browsing history. How's that for a coincidence?

I started to listen and was quickly pulled into the story. The narrator, Elizabeth Wiley, did a wonderful job in telling the story, but I'm afraid her attempt at foreign accents sounded a bit odd and I would have preferred if she hadn't attempted it at all. Nevertheless, her narration was crystal clear and her tone and modulation for the various characters brought them to life.

Acacia "Casey" Simopolus is a wonderful character. I really liked her. She is not your average wimpy type. She is more kick ass than mousy, which helps when dealing with unruly drunks at the bar she works part time in. But when a mysterious stranger saves her and she later returns the favour, she finds herself thrust into a dangerous world where immortal guardians protect the human population from demons sent from the Underworld.

Theron is a character I wasn't sure if I liked or not. To me, he comes across as very controlling, arrogant and sexist (mostly old fashioned sexism) at times, which made me want to punch him, and I'm not normally a violent person. He is a descendant of Hercules and the leader of a group of guardians, who "police" the demons sent by Hades to the human realm. He and his fellow Argonauts live in Argolea, a city which is in another dimension. When he meets Casey, his life takes an unexpected turn. Could he kill his soul mate to protect his home?

This story is mostly a typical paranormal romance, with lots of action and danger mixed in. However, there are several twists and turns that keep one guessing at what is really going on. There are a few characters other than Casey and Theron who have their say in this book too, which gave this story a more rounded feel. I was intrigued with Isadora, who, although a princess, seemed to have a very weak character and let herself get pushed around, especially by her father King Leonidas. However, she has a core of steel that she did not expose for most of the story, and I actually wrote her off as pathetic because of her lack of back bone. BUT, when she did show her metal, WOW! I certainly have now changed my mind about her! There are also a few other intriguing characters, both in the human world and in Argolea who have caught my interest, but I will leave it to you to discover them for yourselves.

One thing I will say about this story is the world building is excellent. The characters are well developed and extremely lifelike. I have always been intrigued with Greek gods and their offspring such as Hercules, whose exploits became legend (or are they myth?) over time. So reading about his descendants, who were with Jason on his voyage for the Golden Fleece, excited me. I am also a huge sucker for paranormal romances in general, so I am looking forward to continuing with this series and I will (hopefully) get to read/listen to Entwined as soon as I can.

Elisabeth Naughton has written an exciting start to a series. I love her fast paced writing style and the flow is wonderful. I will be continuing to read this series, but I do have one of her romantic suspense novels sitting on my Kindle, which I hope to now read in the near future too!

Due to scenes of a sexual nature that are on the explicit side, I do not recommend this book for younger readers. However, I highly recommend this book if you love erotic paranormal romances. - Lynn Worton

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent narration of a well written book

A welcome deviation from the standard fantasy/paranormal genre.

Based loosely upon the Greek Heroes and Gods, this is a welcome deviation from the standard vampire or were novel. Both the character and world building get off to a good start in this first-in-series.

This was the first book by Elisabeth Naughton I had ever bought, and after listening to the excellent narration by Elizabeth Wiley I quickly downloaded the remaining in the series so far, and bought the electronic versions for my Kindle.

The narration is good, consistent throughout. The characters are all voiced differently, with good consistency. The pace, intonation and inflection is also good.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book (and I'm writing this review after my third listen in a year) and have since gone in to buy more from both author and narrator.

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really good

i had some problem with the reader because her voice was quite strange, but when i get used to it it was fine. the beginning is a bit slow for.my taste but in the and it was really good

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a rfeal interesting twist on themyths of anicnet g

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

the myths that the story had been built upon and how the idea of the argonafuts had been created

What did you like best about this story?

the way ancinet greek myths had been devoloped and then laced through the ideas of mortal and immortals

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

made my laugh sometimes

Any additional comments?

despite that the sexual chapters werfe a little long in places i really loved this book. being into greek mythology i found the way that myth and legend as wellas the elemetns of mortal, immortal and half mortal were vfery well interlaced. i brilliant series and i cna't wait to read the nfext installment

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