Kick at the Darkness

By: Keira Andrews

Narrated by: Tristan James

To live through the zombie apocalypse, they have to survive each other first.

College freshman Parker Osborne is having the worst day ever. He humiliated himself trying to pick up a cute guy, he hasn't made any friends at school, and his stupidly hot jerk of a TA gave him a crappy grade on his paper. He's going to drop Adam Hawkins' film class and start fresh tomorrow after he's had a good sulk.

But Parker's about to find out what a bad day really looks like - if he can survive the night.

A virus is unleashed, transforming infected people into zombielike killers. After these quick and deadly creepers swarm campus, Parker only escapes thanks to Adam swooping him onto the back of his trusty motorcycle. Now they're on the run - and stuck with each other.

When they're not bickering, they're fighting off the infected in a bloody battle for survival. Their only hope is to head east to Parker's family, but orphaned Adam has a secret he's not sure Parker will accept: He's a werewolf. Can they trust each other enough to find some light in these dark days?

Contains mature themes.

©2015 Keira Andrews (P)2015 Tantor

PERFECT.

Oh my gods. I was IMMEDIATELY obsessed with this opposites attract, paranormal dystopian romance. Seriously, go in blind and you’ll never regret it. I loved every single moment.

Wow, way better than I thought it would be!

The summary for this book makes it sound kind of cheesy, but the actual story is really good. The emcees are believable and they really grow on you. Throughout the book, you get to see their personalities develop and their feelings for each other organically grow. The situations they find themselves in and the people they meet along the way really help drive the narrative and establish the plot. The thesis of one of the MC's straight up tells you what the point of the book is about, fyi, but it's no secret that this is a "found family" book. All in all this is a great story and I highly recommend this book if you're into after zombie/infected apocalypse romance books. That one of them is a werewolf is a fun supernatural side thrown in there because why not, lol.

Original MM paranormal romance

This story was so sweet and original, even if it was based in a post apocalyptic world and one of the mc’s is a werewolf. I found it on accident, which is where the best stories I’ve found tend to be. I wish there had been a bit more of the story fleshed out, but my favorite book is “The Stand,” so rarely does any other book reach my need for details. This book had some of “The Stand” atmosphere, though, in a sweet paranormal MM romance.

Surprisingly, the story sucked me in

I’m not a regular Keira Andrews fan, mostly because I dislike period romances. I did try her Pirate book but only got a third of the way through it before I lost interest. The big pull for me for this book was the werewolf bit. It seemed like an odd addition to a zombie/end of the world story and I was mostly curious to see how it worked. Plus...Tristan James is a spectacular narrator. Yes, his voices for the two MC’s seemed to get mixed up a bit (Parker sounded like Adam sometimes and vice versa), but overall he’s got a great voice. The story revolves around a college Freshman and one of the TA’s in his class that he has an altercation with in the beginning surviving a zombie-like pandemic together. This book was easy to get sucked into, even if you’re not a fan of The Walking Dead (which I’m not). It is eerily similar to today’s pandemic and that makes it slightly terrifying as well. The only time I was tempted to drop off and leave it was because of the Ramon situation at The Pines. I always lean towards less angst in a storyline and everything surrounding The Pines tipped the scales too far in the angst department for my liking. In fact, the only reason I didn’t stop listening was because I read the blurb for Book 2 and found out that they didn’t actually stay at the retreat. Irregardless, I listened to the entire book in less than 24 hours and would absolutely consider re-listening at a later point in time. I would rate it as a full five star experience if I felt I *had* to go on to listen to the second book in the series. Series that revolve around the same pairing are almost always a no-go for me and I’m perfectly content with leaving this series as it is and not continuing on. I will give further thought to trying some of Keira Andrews’ more contemporary books, however.

Absolutely loved it!

I am a huge Keira Andrews fan and own almost every single book she’s written, but this duet has to be my favorite thing ever by her.
Tristian James did a WONDERFUL job and I cannot wait to hear how he does with the second one as well!!

Whew - worth a go

I usually draw a hard line on anything zombie. Like, it is a firm no, do not pass go, do not collect $200. But I have liked other performances by Tristian James and Keira Andrews' pirate book is one I have both read and listened to, so I gave this one a chance. Plus zombies WITH werewolves? Color me intrigued.

Adam and Parker are friggin' adorable. And overall I really enjoyed the story but it was just flowing along when suddenly, something super intense and scary happened (no spoilers here), but then it sorta just......ended. Like, the whole book was building to this and then bam, no more story necessary.

Now, I know I know. You are going to tell me there is a second book. But honestly, after the way this one ended and the description of the next one, I don't think I can physically stomach it. So I am going to give it a pass. I will just go on imagining Adam and Parker getting the same island ending as the couple from Kidnapped by a Pirate. lol

Zombie + Romance = a win!

Gah… so good. I’m a sucker for a good zombie story, but I barely even knew that’s what I was getting as I basically went in blind. I was able to guess Adam’s secret long before Parker learned the truth, but I was pleasantly pleased with how easily Parker came to terms with the knowledge.
I’m so excited to continue the series and see where Parker, Adam, and the Bella Luna end up.

keeps you listening

the story is good, I was kept mildly interested the whole time and most books cant even do that for me, however those feeling changed to excitement and anger at some of the stuff that happens later on, I have to say that was awesome because it went from slow pace to a great few new scenes. I wish most of the book had more of that bit I still enjoyed it very much. there are some areas where the volume of the narration drops but it's very minor. not sure if a sequel is happening but I would love to hear of some new adventures or even something telling what happened to Ramon.

Very Good Story

Even though I avoid apocalyptic books this story was very good. Not graphic or gross. I can envision the two main characters arguing in the classroom then going at it later. Tristan James is the best narrator. It is why I picked this series.

Wowzers

Amazing mix of apocalyptic romance and the paranormal which was a huge surprise! I would never have thought to put these two tropes together but the author did it and made it amazing! Can't wait till I'm able to grab the next book.