Moonlit Thorns

Audiobook review: Narrated by Marcio Catalano and Rose Dioro

4.5 stars for story / 4.5 stars for performance (production)

This Beauty and the Beast retelling was everything I didn't know I needed. The mysterious Midnight Manor is the setting and the Voss brothers are at the heart of this story. When Anabelle's father dies, she finds out he owes a debt to Asher Voss and her family is at risk of eviction. When she confronts him about the debt, he makes a deal with her that she work, and live, with him for one year and all would be forgiven. The plot of this one is so exciting with some ex-boyfriend drama along with complications within both families. I love the progress of Asher and Belle's relationship and that it's primarily her insistence of pursuing things with Asher that was so well done. So many aspects of Beauty and the Beast are brought to this story, some in obvious  ways and other more subtly. It was fun to find connect the dots and find the little easter eggs throughout.

As for the narration, I absolutely LOVED these narrators. Marcio Catalano was expert when it came to giving each male character their own personality. There were scenes in which all the brother's were speaking and each and every one was so unique there was no issue knowing who was who. I had to remind myself I was listening to one person do all that. Rose Dioro did this as well and along with the beautiful lilt to her voice made this such a pleasurable experience.

Moonlit Thorns is the first book in a new billionaire dark romance series by P. Rayne. Annabelle’s father had just died mysteriously and her mother had retreated into a deep depression when she discovered an order to vacate the premises of her ancestral home in ten days, signed by Asher Voss. Mr. Voss was the older of four billionaire brothers living at the mysterious Moonlit Manor, a mansion that the town suspected of all sorts of nefarious happenings. When she visited the manor she agreed to a contract with Asher: she would work and reside at the manor for a period of one year with limited contact with the outside world. This is a Beauty and the Beast fairytale retelling that includes BDSM, Alpha Anti-Hero, Age Gap, Angsty, Bad Boy/Good Girl, Billionaire, Enemies-to-Lovers, Forbidden Love, Forced Proximity, Secret Society, and Indecent Proposal tropes. I loved the contrast between the light romcoms written by this duo as Piper Rayne and this dark gothic romance written as P. Rayne. This book was really spicy and I loved Asher’s transformation from the dark, angry, anti-hero to the loving, happy man at the end. It is important to check the trigger warnings for this book, and in that vein, the issues broached could not all be magically erased within one book. I really liked that the authors address that and the process this couple used to work through their traumas together. If you enjoy dark romance, then you should order or read Moonlit Thorns on Kindle Unlimited. I am voluntarily submitting this honest review after reading an advanced complementary copy of this book thanks to Valentine PR and P. Rayne.

The audiobook was OUTSTANDING! The narrators absolutely embodied the characters they were voicing and I was loving listening to this book.
P. Rayne is a new to me author and I was not entirely sure what to expect with this one, but the blurb interested me enough to give it a shot. Safe to say I am very happy with my decision. I felt like the book had a bit of mystery in there that one may not expect, but what I enjoyed even more than that was the fact that Asher was the biggest grump ever!! I loved seeing him slowly cave when it came to Annabelle, and I really liked that his brothers saw it too.
Based on the little sneak peaks of Asher's brothers, I can't wait to see what happens in future books as well!