Just okay story, narration doesn't help.

This review is meant to include the entire Legend series: The Fall of Legend, The House of Scarlett, and The Fight for Forever. I can accept that I need to suspend my disbelief when I enter a Meghan March world. I can accept the fabulous wealth of her characters, the ridiculous concept of "alpha males" and all the rest, as long as the story's good and emotional, the writing is good and creative, the sex is hot and plentiful, and the narration - if it's an audio book - is decent. This book fails at most of that. The story is flimsy, completely unbelievable, and (given the talent I know March can bring to bear when she gets it right) largely unaffecting. The plot is much weaker than I'd expect from her, and her usual trope - a bad guy who falls for a good girl and is suddenly changed and committed, and they overcome some very far-fetched conflict while they talk endlessly about how a.) the guy is such an alpha, b.) he's so protective he'd die for her c.) she's got to be protected, d.) he doesn't deserve her, e.) ad nasuem - is beginning to wear thin with me. Then, there's the execution of it all. Some of the lines and internal monologues are cringe-worthy. Most of this story just fell short for me. The twists were predictable and the tertiary characters were little more than cardboard cutouts of stereotypes. The conclusion is a big letdown; when you've invested hours upon hours of reading and listening in a story, you just expect a bigger payoff than the contrived and almost comical climax of this series. Situations and personal conflicts (Scarlett and her father, for instance) are left unresolved and incomplete. I frequently found the dialog to be cringe-worthy, repetitive, and/or banal; much of the drama is forced and not compelling in the least. Overall, I expect much, much more from Meghan March. It's hard to believe that the author of Take Me Back and the Beneath series also wrote this; March can do so much better. Separate issue: The narration is barely tolerable. The only reason I stuck through the whole trilogy was to give the whole thing a fair shake. But in the end, everything listed above might have been less of a problem had the performances of the narrators been better. Joe Arden's voice sounds as if he's suffering with allergies or something; it's got a a nasal quality that renders some of his words unintelligible and I found myself rewinding frequently to catch what was said. His attempts at female voices actually had me laughing at times, and most of his male character's voices were indistinguishable from one another. Oh, and what is up with his Creighton Karas performance? Sounds like a computer-generated voice reading the whole thing, utterly flat and oddly accented. That alone justifies my review, imho. Erin Mallon's voice and tone were better and more easy to understand, and she seemed to put some actual feeling into some of the work. She doesn't seem to be aware, though, when she's switching characters and all her females sound like valley girls and cheerleaders. She doesn't seem to bring any kind of understanding of the story or main character to her performance, though. The bigger problem is that overall, both narrators seem to have no actual acting skills. The performances were flat, with little emotion aside from anger. The inflection, emphasis, and overall reading did not engage me and actively put me off in some areas. For instance, if a passage read (for example) "'I love you,' she said, as she closed the door," it is often performed as three separate statements. "I love you." She said. As she closed the door." The words just don't flow naturally, as they should. It seems like the narrators were not only reading the story for the first time, but that they weren't even paying attention as they went and their narration actually detracted from the story. Overall, if you're a Meghan March fan and you don't expect much from narration, then you might like this series. I found it to be hard to listen to, trite and unoriginal, and overall only worth listening to if it's the only thing available.

2 people found this helpful

Awesome finish

Gabe and Scar’s story is epic!!!! I hope to get updates on them in future books!!!! Can’t wait to see what kind of powerhouse they become in the future! Joe Arden and Erin Mallon do a awesome job of bring Gabe and Scarlet to life!!!!

2 people found this helpful

A RIVETING END TO A DELICIOUS TRILOGY

I have over twenty audiobooks in my library by Meghan and most were five star listens.. and this giant of an author’s trilogies continue to deliver on so so many levels. In Scarlett and Gabriel’s love story she gives us a sexy desperate Nightclub owner hero with a failing business and a shady past that still haunts him.. because Gabriel’s still living with those bad decisions of that terrible night long ago that killed his girlfriend and left his best friend brain damaged. But now the past has finally come back to get what’s owed and Gabriel has to fight his enemies, fight for his and Scarlett’s future and fight to keep his Ladybug safe. From the moment these two soul-mates met in book 1, there was combustible sexual fumes and that continues in books 2 and 3 along with their love.. but Fate, Destiny and Cupid will have to work their mythical magical butts off to navigate them through the life-threatening drama, the emotional angst and the powerful players whose villainous roadblocks will derail and divert them before their final HEA exit ramp. Worth a credit? Yes definitely, a strong, fierce, loyal heroine.. a drool-worthy, alpha, ex MMA Fighter hero and, over the three books, there was a good balance of suspense, raw passion, sexual tension, danger, revelations, twists and turns and all the feels. And, apart from the butterflies, gleeful anticipation and sighworthy scenes, it’ll leave you guessing and gasping until the end. There was also a close kinship with all the secondary friends who were often very much in the forefront of the story which brought depth and content. I knew the dual POV plotline would come alive thanks to Joe and Erin’s A game narration.. and they definitely delivered.

2 people found this helpful

Favorite alpha male

This trilogy is my new favorite. Prior to Legend, Mount was my favorite. Both of these series will not disappoint!!

Love x 3

This was an awesome trilogy. Everything but not too much of anything. Love the author and narrators I have nothing bad to say.

This is my favorite series so far.

This series was so good it should be made into a movie. I would highly recommend it to anyone, you won’t be disappointed.

Great Ending

I don’t think everyone will guess the Troll. It was quite an eventful ending! Narration was superb and I can’t understand anyone complaining about it.

WOW

wow. just wow. all 3 books are amazing. narrators are perfect, accents on point. GetIt!

I love Bump!!

I very much enjoyed this trilogy! The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was bc the book was broken down to 3 books that are 6 ish hours each. I usually skip authors who do that unless the story is highly Recommended. Another reason is the unanswered questions I know Moses has his own series But what about the dad and the Ex? I really enjoyed this trilogy and fell in love with Bump And his love for kitty the stripper lol! I also always love a strong female lead! I look for these types of stories Beautiful Confident and strong!

Great

This was a great story with amazing narration. i enjoyed all three books and would recommend.