Audiobook Review Tour ~ Zen Alpha by Sionnach Wintergreen
Book Title: Zen Alpha
Author: Sionnach Wintergreen
Publisher: Self-Published
Narrator: Hugh Bradley
Cover Artist: DesignRans
Genre/s: LGBT, Gay Romance, Contemporary
Length: 3 hours and 7 minutes
Blurb
More than anything, struggling tech support specialist Bradley Evans wants an alpha male lover. He thinks he’s found his perfect match, but when his domineering stock broker boyfriend goes too far, Bradley wonders if his flexible, mindful neighbor might be just what he needs.
Ward Linden teaches autistic middle schoolers and is sexy and kind…but he isn’t quite the alpha Bradley’s been looking for. Do nice guys always have to finish last?
Bradley explores what it means to be alpha male in this steamy, humor-laced gay romance. Due to its sexual content, this book is for adults only.
Buy Links and Listen to an Excerpt here
2 stars for the book
3 stars for the narration
2.5 stars overall
The premise and the blurb for this book were both promising and sounded intriguing. But there was a large portion of the storyline in this book that did not work for me personally and I did not connect with any of the characters. I actually think I liked Ward's cat the best out of everyone. That said, I am still sure there will be plenty of other people who will like this book. But I was sadly disappointed, and not really impressed with how this one was written and turned out.
The book starts off with the characters Bradley and Jackson. Bradley seems to think that all he wants and deserves in life is an "Alpha Man". Which would be fine, I mean I'm ok with a more dominating type personality, different people have different preferences. But what he actually gets from Jackson is a "man" who is a complete and total jerk, someone who is verbally abusive constantly putting him down and treating him horribly, calling him names and demeaning him about the way he looks and acts. "But it’s ok, because he’s an alpha male, and that’s just how they act" *rolls eyes* like that statement excuses his actions. That is the theme we get between these two characters for the majority of the book and their interactions together. Ultimately, they don’t even end up together and I thought that was the saving grace for this book.
When Bradley’s apartment floods he meets his neighbor Ward and basically moves in with him the same day, without them knowing anything about each other. Ward is a laid back, vegan, yoga loving, chill guy who is the opposite of what Bradley "thinks" he is looking for. There’s a lot of back and forth between these two, waffling on if they actually want to be together and whether Ward is “alpha” enough for Bradley. There's also quite a bit of ex-drama on both sides that comes into play adding more to the story. There’s not a whole lot of angst going on but lack of communication between the characters was a big part of the drama besides their ex-bfs issues.
P.S. There is a huge event that happens at the end of the book that I think was completely unnecessary to the storyline and I don’t think it needed to be thrown in at all. I believe there are better ways this book could have been concluded.
Audio – I liked the narration done by Hugh Bradley when it came to his voices for the characters. I think he did a decent job with this book and what he was given to narrate. I would be fine listening to more of his narrated books in the future.
About the Author
Sionnach (pronounced shuhn ukh) Wintergreen is a genderqueer author of gay romance, epic fantasy, and adult fantasy. (She uses feminine personal pronouns because she has lived most of her life responding to them, but she would love it if people used ‘they.’) Her character-driven stories usually involve misfits because she is one. Sionnach has always loved writing and animals; she was a grant writer for an animal rescue group. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and six furbabies—one sweet dog and five spoiled-rotten cats. She also has a wonderful human son.
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