Owl's Slumber

Trials of Fear, Book 1

By: Nicky James

Narrated by: Adam Gold

Imagine what life would be like if panic ruled your world at the mere thought of going to bed at night. For as long as he can remember, Finnley Hollins has been crippled by his extreme phobia of sleep. Every night is a battle, and every morning isn’t without consequences. The root cause is something he’s ashamed to admit to anyone. It’s his war, and he will fight it alone.

When an unexpected turn of events lands the stunningly gorgeous Aven Woods at Finnley’s place of business, his life gets turned upside down.

All it would take is one night together for his secret to be exposed. Finnley wasn’t prepared to fall in love. More so, he wasn’t prepared for his phobia to completely consume his life. Not only is it affecting his job and his relationship, but now it’s affecting his health. What will it take for Finnley to finally admit he needs help?

©2018 Nicole James (P)2019 Nicole James

A phenomenal read!

To begin, Nicky James you're an incredible writer that never fails to both entertain and entice. Adam Gold, your voice is pure sex. Your narration enhanced the story, so much I found my self leaning in to listen to every word.

Owls Slumber is an intense story of profound struggle that fortunately ends in a HEA. Without giving away too much ( you really need to listen to this book! ) this story was really personal to me.
As a chronic insomniac, most nights I struggle to turn my head off. So hearing Fins anguish and struggle was both maddening and heartbreaking. I've never both loved a character so much and wanted to punch him in the face. I guess it's like with a drug addict, you can only help them when and if they admit the issues and begin to help themselves.
I hope I haven't spoiled any details, but this is the first review where I've struggled to praise the author and story while demonstrating how it personally affected me.

Good as Gold

Adam Gold has done it again! He's brought Nicky James's characters to life.

I love this book!! I love this series!!
When I heard that Owl's Slumber was coming to audio, I knew I had to hear Adam's take on Finnley and Aven.
Audios always add another dimension to the written word, but hearing Adam narrate this book, made me feel like I was there living Finn's journey.

The book - this story is well written and Finn's struggle with somniphobia was very well portrayed. The writing is solid and the characters endearing.
The audio - Adam Gold narration as Finn and Aven was great! The emotions he presented were believable and heartfelt. Finn's struggle was hard enough to read, but hearing it, was heartbreaking.

I'm glad Mrs James found Mr Gold... together, they are Golden!!
NEXT!!!!

Beautiful story and amazing narration

Loved it. Such a beautiful story full of emotion, tenderness, love and hope. And the narration was amazing

Adam Gold was perfection

Omg this audio was everything! Adam Gold made me fall in love with Finn this time around. I loved this book, but the first time around I didn’t live Finn. I do now. And his voice for Aven gutted me. Just perfect!

Great narration

After listening to and absolutely loving Love Me Whole I had such high expectations for this book. I mean Nicky James does know how to write phenomenal books with broken characters. Sadly Owl’s Slumber missed the mark just a little bit.

First of all, where was the romance? The push and pull, the attraction, the feelings between our two main characters? I was almost at the point where some added sex scenes wouldn’t have been too out of place, just to add something. And if you know me, you know that I never say that. But I just didn’t feel Finnley and Aven as a couple. It all got lost in Finnley’s sleep phobia.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked Finnley and his phobia really intrigued me, but it also overshadowed everything else. I never felt like Aven was allowed his space, I never got to know him. Which is my second issue with this story. Not only didn’t we get to know Aven, even their relationship was on the backburner from Finn’s sleep phobia. Aven was constantly bending over backwards (no pun intended) to help Finn, find solutions and helping him, but Finn never really made an effort towards anything. He was just there, or running away. Brushing Aven off. So I never believed in their relationship, I just didn’t feel it.

Narration-wise, Adam Gold did a wonderful job bringing the book to life. I especially enjoyed the sound effects he added for the inner thoughts and phone calls, it added to the feel of the book, another dimension. It also highlighted that it was a phone call or an inner monologue. What’s more, it wasn’t overdone or exaggerated. I also loved that he added the yawns or giggles (when appropriate) in the story. It’s these small things that can make all the difference for your listening experience.

In the end, this book was a nice enough listen, it wasn’t all that I hoped for and probably not one I’m likely to listen to again, but it was still a nice way to spend an afternoon/evening before enjoying a good night’s sleep – something I know I won’t take for granted for a while to come.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

I can't express to you how much this book meant to

I am a person who suffers from anxiety I cheer the writer who wrote This Book this book touch me so deeply it was unlike anything I've ever read

highly recommend!!

This book was amazingggg. So many emotions!! I've already listened to it twice. The narration was amazing and he really brought the characters to life. I highly highly recommend this book.

Fan-friggin-tastic

creative concept
great writing
lovable and relatable characters
compelling story
hot moment
emotional moments
and the BEST suited narration possible!

The narrator bring this story to life, makes it that much more real, and paired with the writing I was completely engulfed by the story.

I fell in love with this couple so completely and im not sure what more I could have asked for. There were a couple moments where I could feel our sleepy owl's complete terror, feel it in my bones. Absolutely amazing.

All the feels

I don't know why it took me so long to listen to Nicky James's books. HOLY FRICK! This book is so. freaking. good. I typically don't like angsty books and I need to be in the proper mood to listen. I could feel the angst and anxiety in my chest. Once I started this book I just couldn't turn it off. This is now one of my favorite audiobooks. This was my first audiobook narrated by Adam Gold. He does an AMAZING job. I plan on finding and listening other audiobooks that he's narrated.

Adam Gold really brought these characters to life!

Finn and Aven meet under difficult circumstances. This is a story of hurt/comfort plus lots of trust and love.
Adam Gold really brought Nicky’s words to life. When listening, you became very engrossed in the book. The special effects he uses are not like any I've ever experienced before in an audiobook. Adam is great at what he does. I’m definitely hooked on his narration style.
This series is one of my favorites and I’m definitely going to want to jump into book 2 ASAP.