Audio Review: Forged in Trust by Mickie B. Ashling – Narrated by John Solo

Author: Mickie B. Ashling

Narrator: John Solo

Run Time: 6 hours and 51 minutes

At a Glance: John Solo is a very good narrator; however, with the content of this book that could only take me so far.

Reviewed By: Amy

Blurb: Dr. Ethan Marshall is the young medical student on call the night Tessa Duran murders her husband for abusing her twelve-year-old-son, Rino. Ethan stays in the cubicle while the rape kit is performed and is surprised when the boy resorts to prayers instead of tears.

Despite compelling evidence, Tessa is sent to jail for life. To avoid placing Rino in foster care, their parish priest agrees to raise him. Ethan is touched by Rino’s plight and visits whenever possible, but the connection is broken when the priest and young boy leave the area months later.

Raised by the Dominicans in California, Rino considers joining the order until a romance blossoms with a fellow student. After much soul-searching, he turns his back on everything familiar, and chooses his orientation over his perceived vocation. Upon graduating dental hygiene school, Rino takes a job at the office of Scott Gregory and Robin Kennedy.

Seventeen years have passed since that horrible night in the emergency room. Forty-three-year-old Ethan is now a Dominant in search of a full-time submissive. Twenty-nine-year-old Rino is adrift, longing for someone or something to help him find the serenity he’s lost along the way. As they rekindle their friendship, they realize they might be perfect for each other.

Review: I don’t know where to begin with this review. I had such problems with this story in general. The beginning of book was disturbing because the mother indicates that she noticed the way that the man she is marrying is eyeing her son; however, she needs out of her country so badly that she risks this.

There is then a four year jump to the mom murdering that husband because he has messed with her son. And the synopsis says the rest up top.

The next time we see Rino, he’s an adult raised by the Dominicans in a very religious background. He gets his bachelor’s degree in religion, but walks away after he has a romance with a classmate. He doesn’t seem extremely experienced, but at the same time comes off as all knowing and ironically, he is considering a BDSM relationship. I feel that throughout the story there is no character growth for Rino. In the beginning, he is still having the same inner turmoil that he has at the end. He has sex with Ethan and then balks at a blow job, and this is towards the end. He flip-flops back and forth in the story line from a survivor to a petulant child, and this behavior didn’t make him endearing at all.

Rino is working as a dental hygienist after getting his bachelor’s in religion. This is a very weird jump from religion–the schooling alone would take forever. After a chance meeting at the dentist’s office with Ethan, within a few days Rino is committing to Ethan. The thing is, he isn’t just committing to Ethan…he is committing to a BDSM relationship. Rino didn’t even know about BDSM before Ethan talked about it. This is crazy. I don’t like BDSM used as a crutch for a broken person, and I was left feeling this way.

Spoilery/Triggery?

Overall, I finished this book because I was reviewing it. I, however, can’t recommend it.

Narration: John Solo is a very good narrator; however, with the content of this book, that could only take me so far.

You can buy Forged in Trust here:
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