Strong Signal (Audio Review)

Title: Strong Signal (Cyberlove #1)
Author: Megan Erickson, Santino Hassell, Guy Locke (Narrator) and Eric London (Narrator)
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Release Date: September 6th 2016
Genre(s): M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: 8 hrs 19 mins
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 3.92 stars out of 5
Blurb:

I was counting down the months until the end of my deployment. My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind.

That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel.

I never expected to become fixated on someone who’d initially been a rival. And I’d never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me—a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn’t planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night—hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions.

But it did. And now I can’t stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it’s love at first sight.

Except, like most things in my life, it doesn’t go as planned.

Strong Signal is a standalone, full-length novel with no cliffhanger.

2.5 stars for the narration but I stand by my original 4.5 stars for the story.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable story with likable characters and a good plot. It’s like the best parts of Hassell and Erickson were combined to create a terrific hurt/comfort story with heart and fantastic sexy times thrown in for good measure.

I loved the story, which is why I picked up the audio, but I have to say it wasn’t, for me, well-served by the narration. Or, half the narration. Eric London was okay.

Guy Locke’s narration just did not work for me. He had a sometimes halting or stilted way of speaking, he spoke too slowly most of the time, had too many pauses, and over enunciated something fierce. Almost like he was trying hard for superb elocution but just comes off sounding stiff.

But his character voices were good, with the exception of Dominic Costigan. He doesn’t do a very good Staten Island accent. I’m just hoping he’s either not doing the narration for Fast Connection or has markedly improved since recording this.

I enjoyed the chapters narrated by Eric London. Though his character voices aren’t really strong, there’s definitely potential there. He has good timing and tone.

All in all I half enjoyed the narration, but all enjoyed the story. I absolutely recommend the book, but not so much the narration.