Sample
  • Depraved

  • Pleasure and Prey
  • By: AJ Merlin
  • Narrated by: Lia Holland
  • Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (87 ratings)

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Depraved

By: AJ Merlin
Narrated by: Lia Holland
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Publisher's summary

There’s nothing out there.

That’s what I keep telling myself while I walk back from a campfire to my isolated cabin.

Being kidnapped at 12 years old by my stepfather means even the campground where I work and live is never truly safe from my anxiety. If it wasn’t for my dogs, I’d fall apart completely.

But then Virgil comes into my life.

The masked stalker slides into my room at night and takes what he pleases, making sure I enjoy every second of it. What starts as a fantasy soon becomes something inescapable for us both.

He’s unhinged, psychotic, and utterly obsessed with me. And while those things should be deplorable, I can’t help thinking that maybe they aren’t so bad. I’m just as addicted, no matter what it might mean for my sanity or safety.

Can a depraved serial killer learn to love me, or will I fall prey to the pleasure he brings?

Depraved is a contemporary dark romance stand-alone set in the Pleasure & Prey universe. This is an MF romance. Please see author’s note at the front of the book for a full list of content warnings.

©2022 AJ Merlin (P)2022 Pink Flamingo Productions

What listeners say about Depraved

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Review 🖤

This was an amazing dark romance and I highly recommend it. It’s underrated and deserves more hype. It had some of my favourite things to read: Stalker, serial unaliver, mask k!nk and dirty talk galore. The spice was super hot, had great k!nks and CNC which is my favourite. It wasn’t too dark which was fine. Also loved the realistic portrayal of mental health that Sloane goes through. Enjoyed the writing style and plot as well, looking forward to reading more from this author.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Love? Obsession? Or both?

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I mean don’t we all want a masked man to become obsessed with us in all the best ways? Protect us from the bad people of the world and fulfill all of our fantasies (and a few we did not know we had). I liked that we still got a little bit of backstory for the characters to help us better understand them. The spice is great as well! I hope we get to learn more about Virgil’s friends in the subsequent books, because they seemed very interesting! I received this book as a gift. This review is my own personal opinion.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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It was good but not the best

Overall Thoughts: This was my second book by AJ, and while I liked it, there were aspects that kept me from loving it. I’ve listened to a couple of books narrated by Lia, but this one felt disconnected, like she was just reading it to get through it and wasn’t putting enough emotion into it to make me feel it in a several point throughout the book. I wish there was more about Virgil’s, the MMC, background and there were some things that seemed predictable, but it may just be me, since I have been swimming in a deep pool of dark romances lately.

Narration: Solo narration, first-person present tense multiple POVs, with some flashbacks/memories.

Tropes: Mentally fragile FMC, service animals, dark, serial unaliver, CNC, rough s3x, st@lker, wilderness, past comes back to haunt her, masked MMC

Overall: 3.5
Spice: 3.5
Humor: 2
Drama: 3.5
Darkness: 3.5

Sloan lives in a reclusive setting taking care of houses at a remote campground in northeastern Ohio. After the trauma of her childhood she is happy living a quiet life with her two dogs. Until Virgil shows up and decides to rent a cabin for a while. Sloan is instantly attracted to Virgil, but shy around the new visitor, even as he tries to break her out of her shell.

Then some weird things start occurring. One of her faithful pups starts disappearing for a short time in the woods, and then a masked man shows up in her room, while she is using her toys for some alone time fun. Going against everything she knows and believes, she lets him stay, and allows him to come back again and again.

Could this masked man be the answer to Sloane living a truly, happy life, or his he going to be a living nightmare?

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Audio after ebook

I am a huge fan of AJ Merlin and I devoured this book in one sitting as an ebook, the audio took me two sittings but it was much of the same! I really like this series and the performance by Lia Holland was incredible.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Depraved

This is the first book in the Pleasure and Prey series. This book is a bit twisted just like all of AJ Merlin’s books. I loved ever “depraved” moment of it. Can’t wait for the next book! Lia Holland did a fantastic job narrating.

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Interesting story!

I enjoyed this story. I really liked the MMC and his personality. I was looking forward to each new thing he did. The narrator does a great job telling the story.
#TheFlock

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ekkk

ohhh yazzz this was amazing!! I started it on my way to work and ssooooo glad I charged my ear buds cause I coulndnt stop

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Enjoyed the narration and story

🌜Serial Unaliver
🌜St@lker
🌜Mental Illness themes
🌜 Working dog representation

I just finished listening to Depraved today, after I just finished another book by AJ Merlin, Owned by the Lost Boys, just yesterday. I'm a fan, AJ Merlin ! Reading/ listening to 2 books in a row that include praise has me ecstatic. I already have 2 more on audio by AJ Merlin to listen to, and they are my current priority listens. If you love dark romance with MMC(s) who are obsessed with the FMC, include praise, and have you questioning your sanity, pick up something by AJ Merlin!

The narration was well done with consistent sound and appropriate pitch and tone for what's happening on page. I found her voice to be enjoyable to listen to and would listen to other narrations by her.

On to the book! This was a shorter listen, and it's listed as only 224 pages long. I downloaded and began listening last night and finished it this morning. The MMC is her st@lker and a serial unaliver who rents a campsite that she happens to work at and lives on-site full time. The FMC has a panic disorder/PTSD and has 2 dogs, 1 of which is a working dog to help her immediately before or during a panic attack. When she was 12, her stepfather kidnapped and threatened to unalive her. I really enjoyed the plot and story. The level of detail was good, and I may end up listening to this again someday despite rarely repeating reading/listening.

My heat rating is based on the amount of occurrence, the length of scenes, and how filthy/unconventional the scenes are. I wanna give this a 4/5. There is some Dub-Con and other minor taboo aspects, and it's on the heavier side for smut for the length.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Terrific Story & Narration🎧 Wickedly Twisted!

AJ Merlin pens another dark and twisted steamy romantic suspense, one that will bring you to the edge of your seat one minute and have you fanning yourself the next. The story grabbed my attention right from the start and held it hostage, straight to the end. Sloane Walker lives in a cabin on the campground where she works, it is just her and her dogs surrounded my secluded woods. She suffers from PTSD from a traumatic event when she was twelve years old, but she always felt safe in her cabin, though repeated phone calls from her former stepfather are getting to her and putting her on edge. He claims he has changed and wants her forgiveness, but she does not want to hear it and is not buying it. Then her safety is breached by a masked man who visits her at night and strangely enough, she does not fear him and neither do her dogs. Virgil was a self-proclaimed killer and planned on doing just that, but there was something about Sloane that made him want her all for himself and he could not stay away. Sloane looks forward to his visits, the chemistry between them is through the roof and they are great together and for each other. I loved the originality of this fast moving and cleverly plotted story that has plenty of drama, angst, twists and turns, thrilling suspense, heartfelt emotions and steamy romance. AJ Merlin, thank you for another amazing story and wild and crazy ride.

🎧📚🎧 And for the fantastic narration, Lia Holland is a talented narrator and versatile voice artist. She did an awesome job bringing the characters to life, performing the voices for both the male and female characters, giving each their own distinct sound, making it easy to follow along and know who is who. Her portrayal of these characters was spot on, she had a complete understanding of who they were, grasped every side of their personality and was believable in every role she played. She set the perfect tone for the story, captured all the characters’ emotions and projected them into her performance and had you feeling every single one. Lia Holland is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for another great listen.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Depravity is the name of the game

Actual rating 4.5
An aptly named book that is for sure. I listened to this via Audible.

Definitely read trigger warnings!! You have been warned.

I don’t know what it says about me but I actually enjoyed this book. It was like a front row seat into dateline or whatever those investigation shows are called. I wasn’t expecting to be impacted like I was as I read this book. This was dark, gritty, had my anxiety rising by the second and so much more. The emotions the narrator invokes while listening was insane. Usually, I don’t absorb as much of a story when I listen to it as opposed to reading it firsthand, but this one had me seeing the imagery so vividly it was like a movie was playing out in my head as clearly as I can see my hand in front of my face. So much detail and layers to the story. I found myself captivated by this book and I was disappointed when it was over. I need more.

So much complexity to the characters also. Man, I loved their journey, the growth was steady and developed well. The more the story went the more invested I got in their story and their characters. I wanted to know every single thing about them and I have never had that kind of reaction to characters before. There is still so much I want to know about these characters that I hope like all hell we see them again whether in a sequel or in future books by the author.

This is a first for me by A j Merlin and I gotta say this was amazing and I will definitely be checking out more of their work!!

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