The Words

By: Ashley Jade

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Erin Mallon

From USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ashley Jade comes an edgy, enemies-to-lovers standalone romance about mistakes, forgiveness, and second chances.

He was the talented bad boy everyone wanted. I was the irrelevant geek everyone hated.

He was the sun...drawing all of us in. I was a black hole...taking up space. He was destined to be a star. I was destined to remain an insignificant no one.

Until he made me believe I was special...and then he destroyed me.

I never thought I'd see Phoenix Walker again after he broke my heart, but fate had other plans. One tour. Eight weeks. Forty shows. Countless opportunities to make him pay.

The world thought he was a god...but I know the truth.

©2022 Ashley Jade (P)2022 Podium Audio

Two broken souls...

Phoenix Walker and Lennon Michael couldn't be more different: he's the cool, talented bad boy all the girls want and all the boys want to be. She's the nerdy, fat, geeky loner everyone loves to bully. They were never supposed to cross paths. Lennon, like every girl in school, finds him irresistible, but completely unattainable. Phoenix doesn't let anyone get near. But he's failing a class and won't graduate unless he gets a tutor to help him and the teacher assigns him Lennon. She's always known he was special. Now he's making her feel like she is too. Until he destroys her using what's most dear to her. And she vows to never see him again.

Fast forward to four years later and Phoenix has indeed become a star, an uncontrollable star. No one can handle him because they all fall for his charm, so the best person to do it is someone who hates him. Lennon never wanted to see him again. Now she will make him pay. 

Boy oh boy... Thanks @jpbooklife for recommending this one and for listening to me rant and scream (and swoon too). I felt deep for Lennon. ALL the feelings. If you ever wore a piece of clothing bigger than a size 10 you will get her. Even if, like myself, you were never bullied, you will get all the insecurities and the self-image issues. Some people say that she has no backbone, but it's so much more complicated than that. Yes, Phoenix is a jerk and betrays her in a horrible way, but (not defending here, just explaining) he was 18 and and absolutely disoriented because he NEVER knew what love was until he met her. With his own feelings of no self-worth because of his dyslexia, his only lifeline is his music... and he sacrificed Lennon for it.

It's a hard story. These two are broken and their relationship is toxic at times, but they have deeply loved each other because they got to know each other's souls. It had to be messy to get to their HEA. It's a brick of a book (over 700 pages and more than 16 hours of audio) but it's worth every page. 

Narration: Erin Mallon is superb, bringing all the vulnerability to Lennon and Teddy does the same to Phoenix. A thousand stars. 

Rep and possible triggers: MMC is severely dyslexic and FMC is plus-sized. Child abandonment, child emotional and physical abuse, domestic abuse, bullying, grief, secondary character has early onset dementia, secondary killed in car accident, drug use, surprise pregnancy (secondary character)

Raw, Emotional, and hot as hell!!!

everything you could ever want in a book! I was hooked from start to finish, loved the witty banter, embarrassing moments, spicy scenes, and the heartbreak too!! amazing!

Perfect.

Period.
Redemption arc, deep side characters, the perfect balance of sweet and sour from the mains, I loved every second of this.

Wrecked and hung over.

It has been a little while since I have been obsessed with a couple like this. I felt like I knew them. The pull in this story is inevitable. I tried to find fault. I wanted to hate Phoenix, I wanted to get annoyed with Lennon, but I couldn't. I felt her pain for so many reasons. I have been a fan of Ashley's for a while. The Devil series is in my favorites. Those books are also very well-written.
But, this here is an evolving masterpiece with layers that rip away at you. I found this book as a recommend through Booktok. I am so glad I found it. My only beef is that it is not a series. The character build in this book has you craving more about the side characters. I can wholeheartedly say the hype for this one is well deserved.
I would also like to add that Erin and Teddy killed this! I have really been frustrated with good books but not so good choices for narration. So thank you!

👌

Good story, good narration, has a nice emotional pull.
I'll listen to it again ⭐️

Spicy!

I listened to this particular audio book in my car driving back and forth to work and appointments. While it’s steamy enough to turn down the volume at drive through windows, the story line keeps you entertained between steam sessions. I’ll admit there were parts of this story that made me blush, but by the end I was cheering for the main characters to find resolution. Would love a part two! I’m invested!

Heartfelt

I loved this book….one of the best I’ve read by far…well worth the credit!

Loved it!

it's a great story. it's raw, emotional and pulls you in. Sometimes, however it did feel the narrators rushed through some of the reading but over all it was a great love story.

Great author, characters and narrator

I'm a sucker for an enemies to lovers story and this one was perfect! the dynamic between Lennon and Phoenix is amazing along with all the other characters. I'm officially an Ashley Jade stan after this book. The narrators are amazing too, they really bring the story to life.

Pretty good story!

I love Teddy Hamilton's voice, but his girl voice makes me a little uncomfortable hahaha. The story was good, a LOT of up and down and back and forth which got a little old towards the end of the book. Wish it would have tied up a few loose ends better but I would recommend the book to a friend!