Devious Minds: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (Unabridged‪)‬

*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.

A past deal Shelby made comes due as Federal Agent Blake shows up while she's helping her husband with a high profile murder case. Blake is going to Paris tomorrow and needs Shelby to come along to help him, with her special knack for knowing. But, one small problem... Shelby can't speak French and she'll be listening to people who think in French. That's not the biggest problem. The biggest is that there seems to be a bio-hazard weapon in hands of a man hired to stop the Conference, and Shelby is in the middle of it.

I've not listened to Wendy narrate before. Why not? She feels as she IS Shelby. She has the feelings through and through in her words spoken. Like with Shelby's thoughts of Ramos, not only what she says but in the infliction of the words as well! (I want to meet the hunk of a man Ramos!) But the infliction and emotion holds true through out the book for all the characters Wendy voices. There are a few accents to fit the characters, southern accent and the trademark mobster leader relaxed accent too. And the French! All sounds natural. I really enjoyed how Wendy took on Shelby's character and acted as her. The recording sounds clear and clean, that Wendy is a professional at putting the audio together. Oh the emotion when Shelby is upset. And then I got to meet Ramos. Wendy did a smooth voice for him. Wendy really does fit Shelby and the story line perfectly!

I adored Shelby. She's is smart and fun. She's human with flaws and still a resourceful woman. Ramos is all I had hoped! And how Shelby can handle being with him and stay married... I have no idea! lol. I love the connection between Shelby and Ramos. Ramos knows she can hear his thoughts and he uses it to their advantage, along with teasing and flirting with her. Shelby struggles with not giving her ability away. It's so easy to do when she hears what people are thinking like the are talking to her. Yet she does her best to keep her secret, along with help from her friends that do know.

I'm one to read a series in order, but this story is easy to pick up and start new with the series. Colleen gives us enough history in the beginning to get us caught up and at a swift pace that keeps us interested to meet everyone. (I sooo couldn't wait to meet the swoon-worthy Ramos.) All of it driving us into the current hard case Shelby's husband, Chris, wants her help on and to Paris with Blake. Even though there is a history with the characters, this book is it's own adventure and I felt like I was familiar with the characters the whole time, never feeling lost.

Wow! Colleen does not waste time or words. We get right in with the case that Shelby is working on, and Shelby wastes no time in getting to investigating. The first chapter dives in to the story line with vivaciousness. In listening to the story, one thing I did notice is that the chapters are longer ones.

This one book has me hooked on Shelby and her daring adventures along with the voice of Wendy. I look forward to getting a chance to listen to the previous books and to continue with the series!

This book really worked for me, to the point that I’ve just nipped over to Amazon to buy book 1 in the series. I haven’t read or listened to any books in this series before now and I feel that this book could have been slightly enhanced if I knew the backstory a little better.

Shelby Nichols is a the main character of this series and I adore her – she’s the perfect blend of ordinary, the kind of woman who packs tissues and extra socks for every journey ‘just in case’ and extraordinary, she has connections to the mob and is flown out to Paris to help Special Agent Blake Beauchaine track down a terrorist. Obviously it’s better not to think too hard about how Shelby has ended up in this situation because it’s too fun to dwell on! She finds herself being kidnapped, attacked, generally shoved about a bit and then rescued by the smoking hot Ramos, the mob-hitman who suffers from a terrible case of unrequited love. The sexual tension between the two is pretty spicy, however, she does genuinely seem to love her husband so I’m not entirely sure where the author is going to go with this relationship and I’m a little frustrated on Shelby’s behalf.

I think it’s the things that make her ordinary in contrast to her abilities that really makes her work as a character, she’s likable, she loves her family and she gets scared when faced by terrorists and murderers rather than running in and saving the day on her own each time.

The one thing that I did find quite funny was that she makes a couple of references to being a mother but the children are barely mentioned throughout the entire course of the caper that is Devious Minds – she mentions her husband quite often and speaks to him on the phone while she’s away for a week in Paris but doesn’t seem to have much to do with the kids in this book at all. I assume that there’s a lot more of them in the other books otherwise I’m a little concerned for this fictional character’s maternal instinct…

Wendy Tremont King is a spectacular narrator and the audio production was of high quality, listening to her read this book was an absolute pleasure – she brought the characters and the story to life, I don’t think there would be another voice talent better suited to the character of Shelby. I would definitely listen to her work in the future, especially if it was another book in this particular series.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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