Empire of Lust

Written by J. L. Beck

Narrated by Sierra Kline and Benjamin D. Walker

The first in a new series, this age-gap, billionaire romance has an antihero love interest and contains dark themes and material that may be triggering to some.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666636703

J. L. Beck

J.L. Beck is a USA Today bestselling author who's written over one-hundred romance novels. One half of the epic writing duo Beck and Hallman, she enjoys sitting with a cup of coffee and a book in hand.

Reviews for Empire of Lust

[Scott Buck · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Had to sadly dnf. I understand the male narrator is older but he sounded way to old for the character for me to continue listening. Super bummed and sorry.

[carolynchooobe · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I finished the book but I would be lying if I said I enjoyed it, The male narrator's voice reminds me of the narrator's voice on Honest trailers and the female narrator's voice sounds like she is constantly smiling and happy, it had potential at the beginning then it lost me towards the end, the back and fourth ruined the book for me

[Sammi · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I finished it but...I don't know if I can do the other two in the series, which is unlike me when it ends on a cliffhanger. There's just so much being forced in this relationship.

[Yolandi Kruger · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Truly cannot finish this. What a ridiculous plot. Silly female opting to stay with a murdureous man, whom she happen to have a crush on from a young age, rather than with her father who is a cop. Then these spicy scenes feels forced. The male narrator sounds like a sports commentator. I laugh everytime he speaks. It is just a comedy of errors.

[Kelly Hancock · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

While I did manage to finish the first book. I couldn't force myself to get very far through the second one. I understand that everyone has their own kinks, but this story really crossed several lines into outright abuse. The story wasn't intriguing or even well-written. The character development is incredibly weak. The description of the book makes it sound like a naughty fantasy romance between a bad guy older man and an innocent young woman. In reality, it's about an abusive, controlling, murderer taking advantage of a naive, emotionally unstable, vulnerable teenager. The idea of "love" between the two characters makes absolutely zero sense, as they have nothing in common. The author spends no time at all even developing any kind of emotional relationship between the two. It's like the whole story is just haphazardly thrown together for the sheer purpose of writing raunchy sex scenes. Now, I DO love a well-written sex scene, but not at the expense of story building. As far as the narrators, the female was okay, but the man sounds like Danny Devito. His version of the female character voices is almost as cringeworthy as the plot.


****SPOILER ALERT****
Aside from weak writing in general, I found so much about the relationship between the main characters to be just WRONG. There was nothing sexy or romantic about it after a while. It wasn't the whole age thing or even that the man had known this girl since she was very underage. He is outright abusive. He has her followed, puts a tracker on her phone, and engages in forceful sex acts without clearly establishing consent or boundaries. Worst of all was that he tampers with her birth control to induce a forced pregnancy in order to further control her! I made myself finish book one, and I started book two, but when more things are revealed about him that just sickened me, I couldn't stand it any more.

[Kim Alejo · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Had to DNF this book. The male narrator made me think of Optimus Prime, then i started picturing the characters as autobots ???

[Rebecca Hall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So far this is off to a great start! The only thing I had a problem I had with it is the h voice. I don't understand why she sounds like she is constantly whispering?!