Against the Grain: A Human's Guide to Wooing an Asexual Incubi

An Urban Fantasy MM Romance

De: Nikole Knight

Narrado por: Jason Chacon

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Ellian has a problem, and his name is Felix Masters. When Ellie, a high society male succubus, joins Against the Grain, he has a foolproof plan: attend the support group for supernatural misfits, figure out how to correct his...abnormality, and then return to the Incubi compound to join his betrothed. For once in Ellie’s suffocatingly controlled existence, he will bring honor to his family name, regardless of the personal cost. As long as a certain awkwardly sweet human does not ruin his carefully laid plans.

Felix Masters has a problem, and his name is Ellian. Felix never meant to crash into a therapy group for magical oddballs, but that single stumble changes his world forever. Magic, glamour, and succubus tails are only the beginning, and when faced with a skittish Incubi dead set on self-destruction, Felix is determined to change Ellie’s mind and, with a little bit of luck, capture his heart as well.

An asexual succubus trapped by fate and expectation. An insecure human desperate to set him free. Join Felix and Ellie as they find acceptance, courage, and unconditional love in the one place they never expected: each other.

Possible triggering material includes: Supernatural culture “norms” that border on child abuse (past), emotional abuse, and dubious consent (non-graphic/off-page). One character struggles with a form of gender dysphoria and self-harm manifesting in a type of eating disorder. Side note: mpreg exists in this magical race/universe, but it is not featured on page or experienced by the main characters.

©2021 Nikole Knight (P)2021 Nikole Knight

Loved this book

This is one of my favorite books of the year, so of course I had to jump at the chance to get the audio version. I love the unique approach to having a discussion about transgender issues and gender dysphoria and even asexuality. I thought it was really clever and well written and well thought out. The world building is excellent and is presented in such a way that you won't feel like you've been info dumped on.

Now, as for the narration, I was less of a fan. I forgot that Felix, the human main character, had a New York accent. The two main characters had very different characterizations and I could mostly always tell who was talking although the other characters were pretty generic in their vocal characterizations. But I really disliked the vocal characterization for Felix. I felt like it was all wrong for his personality, which was shy, sensitive, and hesitant. He had a very aggressive and manly New York accent in this narration and I just didn't really buy it. The accent also had very little subtlety in that it was always delivered at 100% aggression, which I didn't really feel was necessary. The vocal narration for Ellie was better but I just feel like I don't know that I would ever listen to this book again even though I loved it so much.

Bottom line: If you love audio and don't read a lot of ebooks or paperbacks, this is a great story and it would really be a shame to miss out on it. I just wish the narration was a little different than it is.

Good story with goo narration

Who would have thought an asexual incubus would be a good story. I enjoyed learning about the authors version of incubus. The narrator did a great job voicing the characters and using emotion as he did so.

Cute romance

A cute romance that follows the predictable beats on the way to a Happily Ever After. Uses some of the Omegaverse tropes, but doesn't rely too heavily on them for the story. Narrator does a solid job giving different voices/accents/cadences to various characters. Easy to listen to and enjoy.

Loved the Story

I loved the story set in a unique world Nikole Knight created where paranormal characters are living among humans in New York city. I thought it was a very cool premise of support group for paranormal creatures who are having difficulties with who they are and parallel to support groups for people with anxiety and other mental health issues. I liked all the characters in the story, Ellian, Felix and all the cute and funny supporting cast of characters making this story so much fun. This is my second book by this author and I love the writing style very much, I am looking forward to reading and listening to all other books written by this author. Narrator did an okay job, his voices were good for many characters, but his voice for Felix was not at all how he sounded in my head. Overall I loved the story and excited to listen to more books by this author.

Must listen

I wasn't quite sure if I'd like this book but decided to give it a chance after listening to her other series. I'm typically not a fan of slow burn or little heat in my books. I'm glad I did. I loved it. First off, the narration, Jason Chacon was phenomenal. His voices and accents were fantastic. I want a million more books narrated by him. If you, like I was concerned with the "asexual" in the title, don't be. It still got a little heated. Another concern - there is a scene of dub-con, it is off page but it still hits home. Also, mpreg exists in the world but it is only mentioned. Oh, I forgot to mention, this book was funny. I laughed out loud several times. Buy this book.

Great listen!

This is such a great listen. Ellie and Felix are so cute. I just absolutely love these two and just all the other characters too. This is such a funny, sweet and beautiful listen. Jason Chacon did a great job with the narration.

Exactly what I needed

This is both a new to me author and narrator, and I am def a new found fan. This book hit me with all the feels. Nice light/fluffy moments, some laugh out loud moments, and moments with some surprising depth and parallels def worth the listen, and complete holds its own as a stand-alone

A Delightfully Heartfelt Story! Great Narration🎧

I loved everything about this wonderfully delightful paranormal romance novel, from Nikole Knight’s fabulous writing style to the characters and storylines she created to the perfectly cast narrator who brought it all to life from the pages to your ears.The captivating story is original, fascinating and entertaining, the witty dialogue is absolutely brilliant and the world building is phenomenal, as is the character development. Ms. Knight made it so easy to fall in love with the two lead characters, Ellian “Ellie” and Felix. My heart went out to Ellie, born a succubus, but has none of the desires a succubus holds. His demanding mother has his life all planned out for him, a life he is not looking forward to living. His future holds an arranged his marriage and they will expect him to procreate. He has accepted his fate despite not being happy about it, though he really does not know much about being happy. That is until he meets Felix Masters, the human who saw past the glamour and the wards preventing humans to enter. Felix is one colorful character, he is the complete opposite of Ellie’s gloom and doom personality. I loved these two together and for each other. Felix showed Ellie how to live and be true to himself and, most of all, be happy with himself. I loved how everything played out in this book; it is a brilliantly plotted story with the perfect balance of drama, humor, heartfelt emotional and a slow burn romance.

🎧📚🎧 And for the fabulous narration, Jason Chacon is a talented narrator and voice artist. He has a complete understanding of the characters he portrays, giving each a voice that fits that character’s persona to a tee, sounding believable and just as I picture the character to sound. You could hear how much heart he put into his work as he captures the characters’ emotions and projects them into his performance. He sets the perfect tone for the story, handles the witty dialogue with ease and lands the humor flawlessly.

Thank you #GRR

Great listen!

Thoroughly enjoyed this audio from Nikole Knight! I had read this one as an ebook and had really enjoyed it but the audiobook just shone! It was humorous and satisfying and just plain fun! Jason Chacon is a new narrator for me and his work was delightful!

Different beings, one true love

First of all, I absolutely love that title. How witty, whimsical and funny that tittle is. I just can’t help imagining a bit of a roguish human wooing an asexual incubi and I’m already in love with this novel.

I love Ellie who is gullible and a bit naive but at the same time unyielding and brave. Our poor little asexual succubus is forced to mate by his own family while he absolutely has no idea to mate. But Ellie is bound by honor and family traditions and he thought he could “cure” his problem by attending a supernatural support group. And our fun loving, roguish Felix who lives above a taxidermy shop found this bombshell of an asexual, periwinkle succubus, it was love at first sight. What can go wrong when a human woo an asexual incubi?

Fun, witty, funny and super amusing, I loved everything about this amusing little story. Sure, it’s not all rainbows and sunshines but I’m truly happy that Ellie finally found freedom, happiness and love in the arms of Felix. There are some darkness but the fluffiness and true love between our two protagonists assured we got a very satisfying happy ending. Loved it. Narrator is totally new to me but his performance was enjoyable.

4.25 different beings, one true love stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨


Audio rating

Story - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Narration - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Performance - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - 4.25 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨