Save Her: A Dystopian Novel

by Jason Bonet

Without Her, All Is Lost

DRAYDEN - His murdered brother started the bio-nanotech battle, but 16-year-old Drayden just started the war by revealing the secret technology to the enemy. Then he made things worse by getting his lover pregnant, and letting her get captured by the enemy.

NATALIE - She wakes bound to a chair in a cement room with no windows. Across from her is an interrogator. Natalie reaches to feel the small belly bump already forming but her binds restrict her. She knows immediately who her captors are. They’re Drayden’s enemy. The same enemy who killed his brother. The same enemy who stole the secret bio-tech for their evil purposes.

The enemy knows she’s pregnant. It’s why they captured her. They don’t care about her at all. All she is is a vessel for the child they’ll steal as soon as she delivers.

Natalie has to escape before revealing too much about Drayden and before her baby is born.

Drayden has to find her and save her, or else the enemy will have everything they need to destroy everything, and everyone.

Author Jason Bonet is back with this updated action-packed superhero series. With a keen balance of emotional and thrilling pacing, Jason Bonet creates a new future apocalyptic world with limitless consequences.

Will Drayden find Natalie in time? Will Natalie be able to escape from her captors? Or, will the enemy get the grand prize they’ve been after all along — Natalie’s and Drayden’s powerful child?

READ NOW and receive the first two chapters of the next book in the series, SAVE THE 7 - LAUNCHING SOON!

Genres: Young Adult

450 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 22, 2016

Reviews

[Grace A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to “Audiobook Empire” and the author for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The last scene was dramatic, full of action, and explosive as Natalie and Drayden accomplished a worthwhile victory, together. She was a fierce mother, fighting for her baby, she knew what her enemy was capable of, yet took a stand, and fought her way to freedom. Kudos to Kim Breton for a fantastic narration for this portion of the book.

Jason Bonet’s narration of Drayden’s point of view was splendid. He had a pleasant voice and his narration was evocative, immersive and engaging. Drayden’s point of view sounded like it was written to be read as an audiobook. The tone used for Drayden reflected his age, determination, youth brashness and his laser focus on his goals.

Natalie’s point of view felt like it was forced into the storyline and it was reflected in the narration. Her entire storyline was about telling Drayden’s story, getting pregnant, food cravings, and pumping milk afterwards; it was hard to connect with her character. If Natalie was not part of the story, the story feels like it could still live on without her.

Also, Natalie’s story was told in a third person perspective and it affected the feel of the performance, it sometimes sound awkward to have access to Natalie’s thoughts even though she was referenced in the third person. In addition, the friendly conversational tone Natalie had with her interrogator did not come across as realistic. She did not sound afraid, nervous, worried, or fearful for her life and her unborn child, as one would expect from a person in captivity. In one of the scenes, Natalie caught a glimpse of her best friend Liv captured through the two way interrogation mirror, the narration of her despair did not sound authentic enough to match Natalie’s emotional state. Natalie’s point of view’s performance was not very believable and less engaging.

2.5 Stars!

I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobook Empire. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story pulled me in right away with Natalie waking up as a captive. She has a part of the story that her captors very much want to hear. Yet Natalie knows she has to be careful about what she reveals and how she reveals it. Her life is protected for a time by her pregnancy, but eventually she won’t have that protection. I liked that Natalie was always considering how she could draw out the interrogation, providing one crumb of info at a time. She has few moves to make but she does her best to at least endear herself to her main interrogator, who Natalie labels Love.

Meanwhile, the timeline jumps us back to Drayden and how he stumbled upon super secret info and super powers. His older brother Reginald has gone missing and has left clues for Drayden. There’s a powerful organization out there that most likely killed Reginald, kidnapped Natalie, and now hunts Drayden. The jumping around in time did sometimes confuse me, but for the most part it worked.

Natalie was sometimes a charming character, clever, and dedicated to the survival of her baby (who she names Vegas, not knowing the gender). At other times, she was annoying. While I understand that she’s trying to come off as a lovable idiot with her long-winded stories, I did find my mind wandering, wanting the plot to move on. I also did this sometimes with Drayden. Supposedly he’s a smart guy to start with and the nanotechnology has made him smarter. Yet he takes forever to figure out what ‘external sync’ means (for this story). I have a wee bit of brain damage and I figured it out ages before he did. So I would have liked Drayden to live up to all the hype.

Overall, it’s a slow simmer thriller. As Natalie is forced into a corner and has to give up more info, as the timelines converge, the pacing picks up. We learn more about the malevolent organization, Ryan’s part, and what they had to do with Reginald’s disappearance. We also get to know Drayden’s step-dad Oscar better. I did like how the anticipation built and the tale unfolded. I liked the little side touch of Soda Pop the dog too. Over all, I felt another edit could have tightened up the plot, made the characters pop more. 3.5 stars.

The Narration: Kim Bretton narrated Natalie’s parts and the author Jason Bonet narrated Drayden’s parts. Kim Bretton was perfect for Natalie’s voice. I also liked her light German accent for interrogator Love. However, her American accents for Natalie’s friend Liv and also the few times she had to perform a few lines from Drayden were awful. It was like a New Hampshire accent smashed into a Texan accent. Bretton’s parts of the audiobook sounded clear, the audio quality being excellent. Author Jason Bonet has a pleasant voice to listen to. He makes a great Drayden. He didn’t have many character voices but the role didn’t call for many. The audio quality for his parts could use some polishing. They often sounded like they were recorded in a bathroom. 3.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook from the author Jason Bonet. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

[The Book Junkie Reads . . . · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different interesting entertaining
Overall 4 out of 5 stars
Performance 4 out of 5 stars
Story 3 out of 5 stars

I have to think a bit on what I think of all that I have heard and consumed during this read. There was a lot here that was interesting and then a bit confusing. I loved the idea of Drayden and his abilities. I was on the fence about Natalie and why she did the things she did while being held captive. The by the intense ending I was thinking that maybe she was a lot smarter than I initial thought. This would most certainly be a more futuristic setting with the level of intelligence of the young characters.

Narration for me was also on the fence. I am not sure if it was suppose to be this way by design or if it was an add on at a later time. I found the voice of the narrators to be helpful and a hindrance. I was not so sure of the third person and the first person back and forth. It had my mind all over the place. That was more writing than the narration. The duo was an added bonus.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Jason Bonet. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

[Sara Avrams]

Loved it!

Great surprise at the end. Thrilling and exciting story. Well written with lots of suspenseful moments. This book is a lovely story for older teens.