Audiobook Review – Stormwalker (Stormwalker, Book 1) by Allyson James (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins (352 pages)
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Release Date: December 31, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1452661223
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Stormwalker series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 2/5 stars

This is the first book in the Stormwalker series. The fifth book in that series will be titled, Dreamwalker, and is expected to release in June 2015. This was an action packed paranormal romance with a story that was incredibly flawed.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was okay. It was nothing spectacular but the narrator did a decent job distinguishing between character voices.

Janet Begay is a Stormwalker whose mother is a Goddess from Beneath. Janet moves back to her hometown to face her mother once and for all and to investigate the disappearance of a young woman. Right after her arrival things start to get tricky. Janet is being attacked by Skinwalkers and her ex-boyfriend (the mysterious Mick) shows up to help. Janet hasn’t seen Mick in five years but is still drawn to him. Together they try and track down the missing woman, all the while dodging evil attacks from Janet’s mother.

I was intrigued by the idea of a character, Janet, who can harness the power of storms. The idea ended up being cooler than what was actually done in this book. I actually struggled to finish this book, it was just so ridiculous. Considering I was listening to this as an audiobook while I languished in traffic, that’s saying something…I hardly ever stop reading an audiobook.

There were a lot of problems with this story and a lot of things I didn’t enjoy about the story. My main issue was the relationship between Mick and Janet, which left a lot to be desired. Pretty much if they have any problems they just have sex and then everything is good until they have problems again. So silly.

Sex is a huge part of this book, Janet is pretty much obsessed with sex. Which I don’t have a problem with…except the sex scenes were very poorly done. They are boring and not at all creative. I feel like if you are going to make a book that features sex, you should be able to write about it in a way that is engaging.

Even sillier is the part where Mick tells Janet that he’s not sleeping with her again until she decides that she really wants Mick in her life…then…you guessed it…a couple chapters later they get pissed at each other and have sex. Huge eye roll here.

When Mick reveals his big secret Janet gets all whiny and immature about it all. I swear she acted like a two year old throwing a tantrum. I mean is she seriously that blind that she didn’t see something was going on with Mick? I understand she is pissed about the secret thing, however she is the one who lets this guy walk all over her without ever questioning his motives. In general Janet’s character is extremely immature and makes a lot of bad decisions throughout the book. I hate dumb heroines.

There was some good action scenes in here and the fight scenes are decently done. However, there were also a lot of parts where things don’t quite make sense or are over-explained. There is some awkward dialogue as well.

Overall this was a paranormal romance (PNR) that epitomizes a lot of things I hate about poorly done PNR. There is an abusive relationship (that is pushed as being a loving one), a stupid and dense heroine, lots of sex that is poorly done, and an underdeveloped world. The book does have a bit of an urban fantasy feel to it because there is a lot of action, but there is also a lot of relationship drama and sex that reminded me more of a PNR. I pretty much detested this book and won’t be reading any more of this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Audio Book Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge