Out of Nowhere...

I read a few book related websites and blogs and often know about upcoming books months before they hit the virtual shelves of Audible, but I must admit, this book came out of nowhere. I'd never heard of this series nor the author. I saw it in a sale a while back, liked the synopsis and thought I'd take a chance. Usually when this happens, I get a reasonably decent romance, but nothing to crow about. This book, however, was a quality piece of paranormal romantic fiction read by a marvelous narrator.

I didn't recognize Angela Dawe's name when I bought the book, but I sure recognized her voice. She was the fantastic narrator that brought Nalini Singh's Psy-changling series to heart pounding life. She pulls off some of the sexiest male voices I've ever came across from a female narrator. Combine her emotive voice with excellent pacing and flawless delivery and you get a truly marvelous audiobook experience.

The story line itself fits well within the paranormal romance genre, but it does have a nice twist to the vampire tale. The history behind the story is this: The world is struck by a pandemic, killing millions or humans as well as the vampires that drank from those infected. Following the pandemic, a vaccination is created and the vast majority of humans are vaccinated. Unfortunately, drinking blood from vaccinated humans has the same effect on vampires as drinking from the humans who were infected with the disease, making food supplies impossibly low for vampire-kind.

Our hero Aiden is trying to do his small part to rebuild the decimated vampire population, particularly those vampires in his inner circle of friends. He's done this by essentially buying a small Southern town and moving his vampire friends and their willing human blood donars (called fams) to this town. He finds more unvaccinated humans from the impoverished and addicted in the cities and offers them a second chance at life if they are willing to feed his kind.

The community aspect of this book is one of the elements that sets it apart from the herd of vampire fiction out there. The symbiotic relationship between human and vampires notwithstanding, there's a feeling of something a bit more than community, but not quite family, and Aiden is the leader, the founder and the cornerstone of it all.

After the town's physician, the human mate of one of the vampires, is killed, the town needs a new doctor, and our heroine, comes to Penton to fill this role. Expecting a quiet country life caring for the locals, she gets way more than she's bargained for.

All the elements are here. A brooding hero, a troubled but brilliant heroine, trusted sidekicks, unfaithful betrayers and a truly evil villain. Give it a try. It's a fantastic read on it's own, but it's also a promising start to a new series. I will be eagerly be looking for more work from this author.

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36 people found this helpful

CAN I SAT NAV MY WAY TO PENTON PLEASE?

Yes, there's a real overload of vampire books out there now but I found this one is one of the good ones with it's different direction to the usual evil bloodsuckers story. Aidan's dreams of co-existing with the human blood donors in Penton was very touching and so was his feelings for Krystal. Instant attractions between the two grew rapidly until it's ultimate consummation (quite mild on the spice scale) and it was a pleasant change to have a flower growing, thoughtful and mild mannered vampire that's in charge and not the usual strong Alpha vamp.

The imaganative plot includes some very interesting characters that bring more intrigues to the story along with them.

Narrator did a great job and I'm off now to listen to the next in the trilogy about the executioner Mirren's story.

Worth a credit? It's definately absolutely worth a credit but, at $9.79 for 10.5 hours, it's great value for your money so, if you can, I would say just buy it and save your credits for more expensive listens.

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16 people found this helpful

Wow, actually worth a credit!!

I really enjoyed this one. There were a few moments that felt a little forced or too far fetched but overall this was good. It's a different take on vamps which I found unique and interesting.
My only complaint was the kidnapping plot. Can you say "Stockholm Syndrome"?
Otherwise this was a solid listen and definitely credit worthy.

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15 people found this helpful

Surprised

Any additional comments?

I really liked this book. I was surprised, I thought that it was going to be a train wreck. The plot was original and entertaining. Can't wait to read more from this author.

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9 people found this helpful

Excellent Paranormal Romance

The reader is invited to a small town in Penton, Alabama, to witness an unfamiliar world behind the scenes, a world unknown to most. A Vampire world created by Aidan, where vampires and pure-blooded humans coexist, safely, and peacefully. However, trouble begins to brew when Aidan's brother plans to destroy the empire built by Aidan. In a desperate search for answers to protest against total destruction of the fall of his clever empire, Aidan kidnaps a Doctor and bites her in the neck against her will to replenish food supply, then realizes he fell in love with her. A world of vampires are starving and donors of unvaccinated blood are scarce, who will survive? Did Aidan put the love of his life in danger? I highly recommend "REDEMPTION:The Penton Legacy-Book One" to all paranormal romance lovers. The story is mesmerizing, the setting is picture-perfect, and the characters come to life! Susannah Sandlin delivers an addicting debut novel that will send chills up your spine, while entertaining the reader from beginning to end with sparkling romance, and a craving for more.

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8 people found this helpful

Vampire story in a different angle

What i love about this book:

1.) Story is catchy and different
2.) The pace is reasonably fast and consistent
3.) Sexual tension is off the chart (a bit cliché at times, but can't complain)
4.) Action packed
5.) Absolutely capable narrator

Grab this book! You can't stop listening :) i guarantee....

<3

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8 people found this helpful

Love those Alabama Vampires

Being from a small town in Alabama I enjoyed this book about a band of vampires trying to survive in rural Alabama. I enjoy vampire genre and this is a good start to a series. The plot is interesting and it has it's "sexy" moments. Of course your introduced to other sexy vampires who you want to know about. It was well worth my credit.

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6 people found this helpful

Wasn't expecting this book

First all, I chose this book based solely off a solid review. I received some credits for Christmas and was debating on what book to listen to. The reader’s review that I read painted this book as something worth giving a shot. I’m extremely happy that I decided to listen.

I have to give Susannah some credit for adding a decent pin on a genre that is being played heavily these days. She made the storyline enthralling with a hint of mystery to keep you guessing and listening until the very end.

I enjoyed the relationship between the vampires and their “fam”. That added a new aspect that I wasn’t exactly prepared for but enjoyed nonetheless. The lead hero, Aiden, can we say mmmmm. The lead heroine, Chris, strong, independent and has a tendency to linger in her head to long. But I think that made for some funny moments. I’m glad to see that the characters aren’t to overly serious and still shared jokes amongst themselves. At times, it caught me off guard and I found myself laughing.

Angela did an excellent job with the voices, which really kept me listening. Sometimes with female narrators, they don't get the depth of the males voices. I have to applaud Angela for the voices she did with Aiden and Mirren. Delicious.

I have already started listening to the second book of this series. I hope it’s as good as the first.

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6 people found this helpful

good story....but needs a different narrator

What didn’t you like about Angela Dawe’s performance?

the narrator had a sing-songy voice that gets on your nerves after a while. I think the book would have been better served by a male narrator who could pull off a deep sexy male voice. (and not sound like a woman with a head cold trying to do a male voice)

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6 people found this helpful

Looking forward to more

I adore Angela Dawe and I found this book because I was specifically looking for stories narrated by her. I'm not a huge fan of vampire stories, but I found this surprisingly interesting and original. The Penton Legacy is a trilogy - Redemption is followed by Absolution and Omega and I'm looking forward to listening to those when they are available.

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5 people found this helpful