Nikhil by M.K. Eidem

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As the Squad Leader of the Elite Warriors, Nikhil Kozar was the largest warrior in the Kaliszian Empire. When a shuttle crashes on one of their planets the search and rescue mission turned into something much more complicated.

Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Wharton had agreed to guide a group that had wanted an adventure on her mountain. They got more than they bargained for when they were all abducted by a group of aliens called the Ganglians. Badly beaten and barely alive Mac finds herself in the arms of the largest male she’s ever seen. She should fear him, should be fighting to get away from him, but there was something about the massive male that called to her.

A traitor threatens the Empire… Someone wants Nikhil dead…. The Zaludians want Mackenzie back… And then there was the secret she is keeping…. Would it be the one thing that finally brought down the Kaliszian Empire? Or would it be the first step in its rebirth?

Nikhil

Duet narration with background sounds!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙❤️💚💜
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 😊😘😟
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Duet Narration

The Hero: Nikhil Kozar – he is a Kaliszian warrior and squad leader. The Tornian Emporer was attacked after leaving a meeting with the Kaliszian Empire. They found that the Ganglians and the Zaludians had been using slave labor to reopen power crystal mines and a bunch of bodies were found at the mines. So now Nikhil and the Kaliszian forces were clearing out the mines. When he finds a severely beaten and chained female at one of the mines.

The heroine: Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Wharton – she was a human female from Earth. She lived on a mountain where she was a guide, and she was abducted by the Ganglians. Mac saw her life play out in her dreams while she was in a coma after being beaten and abused by her alien captors. She saw the death of her father when she was six, and her mother leaving her after that. She lived with her father’s dad after that on his mountain which she grew to love. She studied forestry in college and became a guide for her grandfather’s company.

The Story: When Mac first got to the mines, she and the only other female, Jen were hidden by the men and when the Zaludians found her, they found that she was female and took her away and beat her, then chained her up. Nikhil finds Mackenzie and takes her to the Kaliszian healer. He finds out immediately that she is his true mate and prays for her to live.

I have to say I wasn’t too fond about how the book started and immediately went into some complicated background information. I would rather get to know the characters a bit first before getting into the history of the kaliszian empire. Though it did show how Mac ended up getting rescued by Nikhil. The writing seemed a bit immature. For example, some things were described fully when they were obvious, so no description was necessary.

There were certain things that weren’t explained well enough and seemed a bit silly. The Kaliszian men wore beads in their braided hair and when Nikhil found out that Mac was his true mate it was because she was wearing his ashy bead (true mate bead) in her hair. So apparently the bead just magically moved from his braid to hers. Very odd indeed. Though I really did like the story and the book was plenty steamy but was still more story than steam which I like.

This audiobook was done in multiple points of view via duet narration. It was narrated by Ian Gordon, Jennifer Gil, Griffin Murphy and Jess Friedman. Ian Gordon is a bit stiff, and his voice isn’t as deep as I like for an alien Hero. I did like the fact that this was a full cast audiobook and included background sounds, like walking, fighting and more. The odd thing was that Ian Gordon did the thoughts of Nikhil but Griffen Murphy did the voice of Nikhil, and his voice was nice and deep. Similar for Mac, Ian did the thought narrations while Jennifer did the voice. Overall, I was very happy with the narration, and it made me put a bunch of other M.K. Eidem audiobooks on my wishlist.

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