✱✱Audio Book Review✱✱ The Paper Swan by Leylah Attar

 

The Paper Swan

By: Leylah Attar

Narrated by: Shirl Rae & Zachary Webber

Publisher: Tantor Audio

A New York Times bestseller, The Paper Swan is a haunting tale of passion, loss, and redemption. Dark, gritty romance that sizzles with intrigue and suspense.

"You can either choose love or you can choose hate, because where one lives, the other will die."

Kidnapped a day short of her twenty-fourth birthday, Skye Sedgewick struggles to uncover her captor's motives. Damian Caballero is not only impossible to read, but also dark, troubled, and unflinchingly brutal. 

For twenty-one days, Skye holds on. But on Day Twenty-Two, she yearns for the sweet slumber of death. Because on Day Twenty-Two, Skye realizes that her only way out means certain death for one of the two men she loves.

Intended for mature audiences due to violence, sex, and language. Subject may be disturbing for some listeners.

Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Paper Swan is my first time reading/listening to Leylah Attar's work, and I'll just go ahead and tell you that this woman definitely knows how to string some words together. Her writing is lyrical, maybe a little too wordy at times, but still lyrical. It flows so well, and while the narrators did a terrific job, I feel like I would've thought the same thing if I'd read it myself.

The story had me bouncing back and forth a bit, and I'll try to explain that without getting too far into spoiler territory. At the beginning of the book, I had to check that I was listening to the right book because I really thought I was listening to a thriller, not romantic suspense. I kept listening, and as the story progressed, I thought, "oh no, it's a case of Stockholm syndrome," - definitely not my cup of tea. Well, it kind of is Stockholm and kind of not. Technically, all the markers are there, but the history makes the difference. And I can't go further into it without giving things away.

Now, Stockholm syndrome or not, this is where I started bouncing. Not because the story isn't good. Not because there was anything wrong with the writing. Not because the narration was lacking. On the contrary, the story is dark and gritty as promised, which I like, the writing is quite good, and the narration is excellent. My problem lay in trying to connect with Skye. She drove me a little crazy, and I couldn't wrap my head around some of her actions. And to be honest, I spent most of this book undecided on what I wanted the outcome to be. I also don't mind telling you that even as I write this review, I'm still not sure if I wanted that conclusion. Nevertheless, that's the conclusion I got. 

So, after all that, why the four-star rating? It's simple, really. All that is why. Whether or not I understood or agreed with Skye's decisions, and whether or not I agreed with the ending, this book kept my mind whirling from the very first word to the very last, and it's not one I'll soon forget.

I also have to mention just how impressed I was with the narration. Shirl Rae and Zachary Webber knocked it out of the park. They capture the emotion and turmoil of this book perfectly, and I don't think Leylah Attar could've chosen any better than these narrators. 

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