{Audiobook} Review: Four Seconds to Lose by K.A. Tucker

Title: Four Seconds to Lose
Author: K.A. Tucker
Narrator:  Elizabeth Louise, Sebastian York
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths, book #3
Length:  12 hrs 41 mins
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication Date: November 5, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

When a gorgeous young dancer walks through his door, a strip club owner must decide whether to follow his rules or his heart in the third novel by the author of One Tiny Lie and Ten Tiny Breaths.

Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine-year-old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.

Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her can't get distracted by romance.

Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, and that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.

Cain's always been a bit of an enigma throughout the course of this series, periodically playing the role of the strip club owner with the heart of gold and then fading back in to the shadows just as quickly as he appeared.  Naturally, I was intrigued by his story and how he came to lead the life he did.  I've had to suspend belief with this series quite a bit, but I think it went above and beyond in this book.  It bothers me a little how nice and neatly each of these books wraps up, and this one was no different.  But I'll get to that.

I was slightly disappointed that this story was told from a dual perspective.  It was supposed to be Cain's story, and honestly, I really only cared about his point-of-view.  Charlie didn't really add much to the story for me, and what she did bring to the table made me sick to my stomach.  Not only is she lying about her identity and her age, but she's harboring some serious secrets...the kind people kill for.  She redeems herself a bit near the end, but there's always a choice and I think she made a lot of wrong ones before finally doing the right thing.  I know it added drama to the story to have her scenario play out the way it did, but it just left me feeling all kinds of squicky.

Cain, on the other hand, was everything I'd hoped his character would be...and more.  He truly is the strip club owner with a heart of gold, doing everything he can -- and I mean everything -- to protect the people who work for him and ensure their safety.  Because they're not just his employees...they're real people who've become his friends over the years.  And then to discover how he came to be the owner of Penny's was more than a little heartbreaking.  Here's a man who's lost everything, and yet he's still striving to help others avoid a fate like his own.  He doesn't hold the girls in the club back; his actual goal is for them to all make something of themselves and move on.  This is another instance where some of that suspension of belief comes into play, but I appreciated the sentiment, so it didn't bother me too much.

There's some serious chemistry between Cain and Charlie, but once I found out that he was actually ten years her senior, it didn't seem so hot anymore.  But it's not his fault she's been lying about her age, so I can't fault Cain for the relationship that develops.  I do, however, fault Charlie for the situation she's placed Cain in.  At times, Charlie did seem much older than she was, and so it was easy forget that she's not even of legal drinking age, but then she'd make another idiotic decision and show her true age.  The hardest thing to swallow about this story was how easily everyone accepted her deceit simply because of the extenuating circumstances surrounding it.

Perfect endings are hit or miss with me, depending on execution, but something that's never a miss is a good narrator. And both narrators for this audiobook were phenomenal.  Elizabeth Louise has narrated the previous books in this series, and though it was hard to envision this voice as different from Kacey and Livie, she still provides an enjoyable presentation.  Where this audiobook really rocked was in the casting of Cain's voice.  Sebastian York has this deep, seductive voice that just oozes sexiness, and I'll admit trying to look up the narrator to put a face to the voice.  (Sorry, no luck, ladies.  Wah wah wah.)

This isn't my favorite of the series, and I definitely had some issues with the book, but it was a very addicting read/listen. That fact alone -- okay and, well, Sebastian York's performance, too -- caused me to add another star to my rating for the audiobook.  Had I simply read the book, I probably would have only given it three, maybe 3 1/2 stars.  But this is such a readable series, full of high stakes and drama and romance, that even if I hadn't enjoyed this book -- and I did, despite what it might sound like -- I'd still continue on to the next book.  Especially since it's Ben's story.  He might not be as mysterious as Cain, but he's intriguing nonetheless, working as a bouncer at Penny's while he finishes up law school. Yeah, I'll definitely be checking out his story.  ;0)

About the author:

Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.

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Labels: audiobooks, contemporary, k.a. tucker, new adult, post hs ya, reviews, simon schuster, ten tiny breaths