Toxic

A Dark Romance

By: Nicole Blanchard

Narrated by: Michelle Sparks, Aiden Snow

"Intense, filthy, suspenseful--Nicole Blanchard delivers all the goods in this addictive forbidden love story! I absolutely loved this book!"—USA Today bestselling author K Webster

My life has been a series of bad decisions.

Marrying an abusive man was the first... but falling for a dangerous inmate where I’m a nurse may be the worst.

He’s brutal, heartless, and twisted.

But he’s also the only one to notice the bruises on my skin.

His forbidden touch becomes my addiction.

His drugging kisses my obsession.

After I learn the truth about why he’s in prison, I try to escape, but he finds me.

This is a dark romance with content that may be difficult for some listeners. Please see my website for a list if needed. Toxic is a standalone with a pierced morally gray antihero and features no OW drama with a guaranteed HEA.

©2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Evening Star Press (P)2024 Evening Star Press

Too short, but a good listen. Honestly wish there was more spice, but it’s worth the time to read.

King Me

This story was very well written. It has just enough of everything and the voice actors are perfection. I’m ready to go from a little mouse to a full grown cat…meow

The darkness is too rapey for me - audio is okay with one issue

I’m a fan of duet narration. The narrators do mostly a good job, but I was reading ebook text and listening and there were several times where I was like “mmm, that’s not the right tone/intonation for how *I* read that.

The plot of the book is a little rapey/abduction heavy for my taste. I like dark romance, but am very picky about the content. This was better than other books I’ve read with rapey/abduction themes, but still had levels of cringe for me.

SPOILERS AHEAD
In the scene where FMC is torturing bad guy-Andrew (I think that’s his name), there’s a paragraph that the audio book has the make narrator read, but I’m 90% certain it’s something FMC says. The writing doesn’t specify, but from context clues, it should be the female narrator saying that paragraph from FMC’s voice.

Wow, very unusual plot, but good.

This is very dark. It is suspenseful, with a very dark antihero, but I still liked him. Interesting book I enjoyed reading.

Not dark as expected. Violent but not kinky

I found the story to be the sweet vanilla version of a dark romance. No smutty dark kink here. The dark aspects of the story are due to the violence more than the romance. The main guy is a criminal and there is abuse and violence towards the mfc (not from the mmc). The story is more about a woman overcoming and a heartfelt romance with a criminal. Very lovey HEA. If you looking for lots of dark kinky sex, this is not it. Bummer I know…but it’s a sweet story with some excessive violence. Well written and the narration is well done.

Talk about girl power!

I love how you really see the development of the FMC go from being abused & scared to standing up for herself & not taking anyone’s crap. The narrators were great- I always love Aiden & Michelle. This was a really good listen. I could see myself repeating this.

You had me at Little Mouse!

Not mad about this book club pick, not mad at all! Throughly enjoyed the voice acting, great first audio book!

Nurse…

If I had to read this again I would. But I think the middle kinda dragged. I didn’t like the transition when she got in the uber ride and they didn’t stop. But overall a 2.5. The spicy was MID…. In my opinion

Duet narration audiobook with a morally grey Hero.

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💜🩷💙💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: ☹️😄😍😮🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Duet Narration

The heroine: Tessa - she was born addicted to drugs, abused by her father from a young age, she is now a nurse at a male prison facility where her husband Vic is the warden. Her husband abuses her and regularly forces her to have sex against her will. Though she acts like she enjoys it to keep him from getting angry because she has learned what happens when she doesn’t keep him happy. She is very skilled at blending into the background at both home and work, so she doesn’t draw anyone’s attention. Her husband controls almost every aspect of her life, she has to be home and have dinner ready by a specific time every night to keep her husband from getting angry.

The Hero: King (a.k.a. Gracin) - He just arrives at Blackthorn prison. His reputation proceeds him, he is considered a high-risk prisoner. When he gets sent to the infirmary right after arriving, he finds he is attracted to the pretty nurse that takes care of him, and he ends up cornering her and asking about the bruises he sees on her wrists. He ends up with a job in that same infirmary and sees her daily, getting more bruised and beaten and he draws pictures of her.

The Story: Tessa had gone to the police in the past and pressed charges against her husband, who had been abusing her since their honeymoon, but the judge dismissed the case making her look like a crazy woman. She learned to do her best to keep Vic happy since then. On the day that King arrived at the prison, Vic is told what happened by some of the guards and beats her violently for flirting with the new inmate, even though she did nothing of the sort. She had to call in sick the following day. After the beatings get worse, and she isn’t eating or sleeping, she realizes if she doesn’t do something soon, she will fade away.

“How is it possible that one man, someone who is supposed to uphold the law can tear me down, and another who is supposed to be the scum of the earth, build me up.”

I have to admit, this story took me by surprise more than once. There quite a long part that took place before Gracin escapes prison and both he and Tessa surprised me quite a bit. The blurb on Amazon said the Hero was morally grey, but I was still expecting him to turn out to be a good guy, I almost expected him to for some reason be some kind of undercover agent in the prison to look into the warden, with the way he was so interested in Tessa and what her husband did to her. Plus, there was a scene where the warden was upset because someone with more power than him, got Gracin assigned work duty in the infirmary. So, when he does something really unexpected, I was actually very surprised.

One thing I hate about romantic suspense is when the two main characters get intimate in a time when they should be getting out of dodge. That happens in this one, and it is just stupid.

This audiobook was told in dual points of view via duet narration and was narrated by Aiden Snow and Michelle Sparks. The are two of my favorite narrators. Aiden has a deep, gruff voice that is super sexy, and Michelle has a clear, feminine voice that is very expressive and natural sounding. Aiden’s parts are short and to the point in keeping with the character of Gracin, but he does a perfect job.

It was really good

I didn’t like the fact that they copied the “little mouse” from the Cat and Mouse series by H.D Carlton