Title: From Ashes
Series: Heathens Ink: Book Three
Author: K.M. Neuhold
Narrator: Kenneth Obi
Publisher: Self-Published
Run Time: 6 hours and 7 minutes
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: Kenneth Obi uses all of his considerable talent to tell a difficult story and helps us see why and how what could have gone so wrong winds up right and satisfying.
Reviewed By: Mike
Blurb: “When the broken man with scarred skin walked into Heathens, asked for a job, and showed me a sketch of a phoenix, it felt like fate.” – Adam
It started with an anonymous post by someone who didn’t want to live anymore. I read it over and over again, unable to get it out of my mind. What if my brother Johnny had posted something like this before he’d taken his own life? Would someone have been able to save him?
I’ve been living a lie for 16 long years, and I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to keep it up. And when a beautiful, broken man walks into my tattoo shop asking for a second chance at life, I know I’ll never be able to turn him away.
“When I was so far down I couldn’t even see the light, a stranger reached in to save me.” – Nox
I didn’t have anything to live for, until a kind stranger pulled me back from the brink. With physical and emotional scars, I have nowhere to turn now but to that same stranger who saved my life without realizing it. But as my feelings for Adam grow, will I ever be anything other than a surrogate for the brother he couldn’t save? Am I even worthy of his love?
From Ashes is the third book in the Heathens Ink series; each book in the series can be enjoyed as a standalone.
Caution: This audiobook contains graphic descriptions of domestic violence and drug use that may be disturbing to some listeners.
Review: Nox lives half a continent from Heathen’s ink and the words on his phone screen that become a sympathetic voice—a sympathy and care Nox has never felt before.
Adam is that voice, with a demon that needs exercising and the suicidal overdose of his little brother years before.
Nox has not had a good life. From a distant, junkie mother, to a life selling his body and soul to the highest offer, to a boyfriend who uses him as a whipping post and meal ticket, he sees no reason to continue with life. Until that voice in the distance give him a hope he has never had before. But when that hope is finally within reach, it is cruelly and ruthlessly yanked away.
Kenneth Obi uses all of his considerable talent to tell a difficult story. There are not a lot of bright spots in the early portion of the book, so much so that the author adds a warning about the content and abuse. Obi takes that rocky dirt and grows a garden in it. Adam and Nox do meet. Nox knows who Adam is. Adam has no clue who Nox is at first. When they meet, the attraction is undeniable—and possibly just wrong.
Obi takes the story and helps us see why and how what could have gone so wrong winds up right and satisfying. As the title indicates, this is book three in a series, but this is a story on its own. You do not need to have read the previous two books to be completely drawn into the story by Obi’s talents. Warnings aside, the material may be difficult for some but Obi does not shy away or rush through any of it. The story is well formed, the voice talent is above average, the book is easy to get into and enjoy, and the ending is believable and satisfying. Don’t let the trigger warning stop you from enjoying the book and the narration. You won’t be sorry you gave this one a try.
You can buy From Ashes here:
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