Adventurous Me

Adventurous Me

(Me, You, and Us #1)

by Deanndra Hall

Narrated by: Anneliese Rennie

Genre: Erotica, BDSM Romance

I was gifted this Audiobook ARC from either the publisher (Spectrum Audio) or author (Deanndra Hall) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been struggling to write this review… Should I or not? Do I give it 1 star or more? Do I review based on the story itself or the narration or both? How can I give an honest review without coming off mean? I’m very grateful for the opportunity to ARC audiobooks. I love books that push my boundaries and introduce me to new things. But this story clearly wasn’t for me. I liked the main character, Trish. She is an older woman (almost 50) whose husband of 30 years has just left her, stating that she’s boring and predictable. Trish goes on a journey to find herself and ventures out sexually. Kudos to her for that! It was her own ‘eat, pray, love’ and I admire that. The book was also very body positive and that was great! This world showed you that doms and subs do not always have perfect bodies but are still beautiful and should feel comfortable in their own skin. I did not like Clint. I think his backstory could have made him a better man, but it missed the mark for me. I love darker stories, but the BDSM side of this one was too much for me. This is a true BDSM story, with collaring and degradation, etc. I haven’t read something this far into this genre before. I completely understand that collaring, degradation, and other intense factors are part of that particular dom/sub world. The degradation is not seen as such; in this world it’s part of sexual play. I had a strong distaste for these parts and am having a hard time separating my personal feelings. I do not agree with degradation or humiliation, and I feel that some punishments went too far. For instance, one punishment that the sub received was an actual method of torture and even caused her to have a severe and dangerous reaction. I understand that BDSM involves torture and punishment play, but this was way too far. I feel this took it outside the lines of BDSM into abuse. Subs should be able to trust their doms, but Clint can’t be trusted. He is very manipulative and abusive and seems to have no regard for Trish’s comfort levels or safety and well-being. Another part of my distaste for this book was the narrator. This was one of the worse narrations I have ever listened to. For me, the narration alone drops the rating significantly. Her voice was anything but sexy and made it difficult to listen to. She sounded more like a grandmother. Her flow and tone were not good at all. I’ve read good reviews on her but based on what I heard here I would never purchase a book she’s narrated. I would recommend reading this book versus the audiobook. Unfortunately, I can only give this book 1 to 2 stars.