What do you think?
Rate this book
Phantom River #4
The Sound of Salvation
Book four in the Phantom River Series
One man is trapped in a continual existence of hellish nightmares—the other strives to finally see the silver eyes of his mate glow with happiness.
Charlie Chaunterel may have been rescued from Adam Broyles ten year ago, however damage from his experience has festered deep in his mind, slowly eating away at Charlie’s will to live. He has alienated himself from nearly all his friends and family, except for the big brother who saved him from the demon’s clutches.
Bryan Etchason has been in love with Charlie and known he is his mate since they were teenagers. Charlie’s kidnapping and torture by Bryan’s creator has left the man constantly hovering between the need to hold Charlie in his arms and the acceptance that Charlie must have time to heal if their mating is to have any chance of survival.
As Charlie and Bryan navigate the pathway to his recovery, Charlie finds himself having to make a choice between the man whose touch keeps him warm and stirs a heat inside his body...or the voice that comes to him frequently in the dark of night, calming the tempest of his mind. If only he could have them both...
Reader Advisory: This book can be read as a stand alone but may be best read in sequence as part of a series
One man is trapped in a continual existence of hellish nightmares—the other strives to finally see the silver eyes of his mate glow with happiness.
Charlie Chaunterel may have been rescued from Adam Broyles ten year ago, however damage from his experience has festered deep in his mind, slowly eating away at Charlie’s will to live. He has alienated himself from nearly all his friends and family, except for the big brother who saved him from the demon’s clutches.
Bryan Etchason has been in love with Charlie and known he is his mate since they were teenagers. Charlie’s kidnapping and torture by Bryan’s creator has left the man constantly hovering between the need to hold Charlie in his arms and the acceptance that Charlie must have time to heal if their mating is to have any chance of survival.
As Charlie and Bryan navigate the pathway to his recovery, Charlie finds himself having to make a choice between the man whose touch keeps him warm and stirs a heat inside his body...or the voice that comes to him frequently in the dark of night, calming the tempest of his mind. If only he could have them both...
Reader Advisory: This book can be read as a stand alone but may be best read in sequence as part of a series
193 pages, ebook
First published September 24, 2012
2 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Trina Lane
35 books74 followersTrina is a scientist with a passion for history, music, and photography. She loves to travel and experience new places but is terminally shy around people she doesn't know. When the zombie apocalypse occurs, you'll want to find her because she's a crack shot, and promises to take out those nasty decomposing flesh-eating vermin before they have a chance to make you their snack. Her favorite aunt gave Trina a sultry romance novel to read while they were on vacation together back when Trina was in middle school and made her promise not to tell her mother. She's been hooked ever since! Her choices in reading and writing material are as diverse as her Apple Music library, which contains music from Mozart to Metallica. Her one concession is all stories must have a happily ever after ending-did we mention she's incurably romantic? She's the mother of a very strong-willed and sweet little boy who frequently makes her smile and grimace within seconds of each other. She firmly believes that the sweetness comes from her, and the other part is her husband's fault. She loves to hear from readers, and her greatest wish is that we all strive to achieve bigger dreams.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 13, 2024
I was waiting for Charlie story since reading the previous book and I loved it, the way it developed was very engaging, angsty and heartbreaking. I loved Bryan, even with the secrets he held for a long time, there was no doubt he had an immense love for Charlie and their bond was so profound and beyond any understanding. Really good one.
October 30, 2012
This review was originally written for MM Good Book Reviews and can also be found there.
This was my first experience with one of Trina Lane’s books and while it held a lot of promise the plot unfortunately didn’t live up to my expectations. I do tend to lean toward stories with wounded characters and Charlie seemed just perfect for me.
He is a man who has been kidnapped, abused and had his wolf taken from him. He carried on living with the consequences, unable to make peace with his loss and suffering from severe panic attacks and paranoia. The whole plot happens in a distant future and we do get to read about all these cool modifications to his home where anything can happen if Charlie just says the word.
Bryan is one of the modified or created shifters from previous books which I haven’t read. This is after all the fourth book in the Phantom River series. Anyway, he has been friends with Charlie for a long time but after his kidnapping Charlie distanced himself from everyone and his friendships suffered for it. What Charlie doesn’t know and Bryan is more than aware is the fact that the two of them are mates.
Charlie seems too vulnerable and damaged for the bigger part of the book and Bryan doesn’t want to be another burden, instead he uses his telepathy and the beginnings of their bond to help Charlie to the best of his ability.
All of that worked really well for me, or would have, had it not been so drawn out. Nothing happens in the good two thirds of the book. There are a lot of descriptions, of feelings, surroundings and a few interactions between the characters which are all lovely, but even if there were no bigger twists planned for the rest of the story, I felt that the contact between the main characters and their relationship should have been charged and more of a focus of the story. Since that wasn't the case I really did have trouble staying with the plot and constantly listening to Charlie whine about his fate. Now don’t get me wrong, I'm not really annoyed with him, because I do love the whining and the characters who'd had it rough, but I did need something more to tie me over until the action/unraveling started.
Unfortunately, instead of something more dynamic, the rest of the book continues in the same tone where the main characters dance around each other and the side characters keep putting in their two cents. Maybe my opinion would have been different if I'd followed the series from the start and not just dropped in the middle of things, but I thought the author did a good job in making this story able to stand on its own. There were plenty of details concerning the back story that I was able to follow the plot and not feel completely lost.
At the end I am left with the opinion that this book just wasn’t for me despite all of its positive points. If you do like something slow going with a lot of inner turmoil, I would still point you in the direction of this book, but I would encourage any reader to start with the first one in the series. I do believe it would give The Sound of Salvation that extra touch.
This was my first experience with one of Trina Lane’s books and while it held a lot of promise the plot unfortunately didn’t live up to my expectations. I do tend to lean toward stories with wounded characters and Charlie seemed just perfect for me.
He is a man who has been kidnapped, abused and had his wolf taken from him. He carried on living with the consequences, unable to make peace with his loss and suffering from severe panic attacks and paranoia. The whole plot happens in a distant future and we do get to read about all these cool modifications to his home where anything can happen if Charlie just says the word.
Bryan is one of the modified or created shifters from previous books which I haven’t read. This is after all the fourth book in the Phantom River series. Anyway, he has been friends with Charlie for a long time but after his kidnapping Charlie distanced himself from everyone and his friendships suffered for it. What Charlie doesn’t know and Bryan is more than aware is the fact that the two of them are mates.
Charlie seems too vulnerable and damaged for the bigger part of the book and Bryan doesn’t want to be another burden, instead he uses his telepathy and the beginnings of their bond to help Charlie to the best of his ability.
All of that worked really well for me, or would have, had it not been so drawn out. Nothing happens in the good two thirds of the book. There are a lot of descriptions, of feelings, surroundings and a few interactions between the characters which are all lovely, but even if there were no bigger twists planned for the rest of the story, I felt that the contact between the main characters and their relationship should have been charged and more of a focus of the story. Since that wasn't the case I really did have trouble staying with the plot and constantly listening to Charlie whine about his fate. Now don’t get me wrong, I'm not really annoyed with him, because I do love the whining and the characters who'd had it rough, but I did need something more to tie me over until the action/unraveling started.
Unfortunately, instead of something more dynamic, the rest of the book continues in the same tone where the main characters dance around each other and the side characters keep putting in their two cents. Maybe my opinion would have been different if I'd followed the series from the start and not just dropped in the middle of things, but I thought the author did a good job in making this story able to stand on its own. There were plenty of details concerning the back story that I was able to follow the plot and not feel completely lost.
At the end I am left with the opinion that this book just wasn’t for me despite all of its positive points. If you do like something slow going with a lot of inner turmoil, I would still point you in the direction of this book, but I would encourage any reader to start with the first one in the series. I do believe it would give The Sound of Salvation that extra touch.
September 9, 2012
In general this is a well written even developed romance, between Charlie and his destined mate Bryan. Overall, I liked them as a mated pair. Bryan is amazing in this story really patient and kind with Charlie, admirable. Charlie was so so, his whole story was a bit to melodramatic or tragic for my taste. This is a story for four stars, but for my taste it was to drawn out. At the end I was nearly fed up with Charlie medical condition and his troubles.
July 14, 2020
The cover was the sole reason I started this series. I mean, the man on the cover is gorgeous, and if I had to read 3 books (of which two were m/f) before I could get to this one, so be it. But unfortunately the story was not as beautiful as the man that graced the cover. Not bad, but I wanted Charlie's story to be more exceptional, and it wasn't.
September 29, 2012
4.25 stars
The best in the series so far. Very angsty but lightened by the love between the main characters. Solid read and interesting take on the mates trope.
The best in the series so far. Very angsty but lightened by the love between the main characters. Solid read and interesting take on the mates trope.
October 1, 2012
4,5 *
This book is amazing - Even not reading the previous books, It was easy to catch up the story - totally lvoed
This book is amazing - Even not reading the previous books, It was easy to catch up the story - totally lvoed
December 7, 2014
Really enjoyed this one, sorry it took me so long to get around to reading it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews