Audio Review ~ American Queen ~ Sierra Simone #2017NewRelease #AudioChallenge

American Queen by Sierra Simone
New Camelot Trilogy #1
Narrated by: Stephanie Rose
Release Date: April 30, 2017
Genre: Adult, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Source: I received a complimentary copy from Tantor Audio. This did not affect my rating and my review is voluntarily provided. 
Rating: 4.5 Bookworms
Challenges: #2017NewReleasee, #AudioChallenge
Goodreads

Synopsis
It starts with a stolen kiss under an English sky, and it ends with a walk down the aisle. It starts with the President sending his best friend to woo me on his behalf, and it ends with my heart split in two. It starts with buried secrets and dangerous desires...and ends with the three of us bound together with a hateful love sharper than any barbed wire.

My name is Greer Galloway, and I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.

This is the story of an American Queen.

First thing, I want to give a BIG thank you to an author who shall go unnamed (*cough* Jana Aston *cough*) for waxing poetic about this book to the point where I almost immediately went and dug it out of the pile of audiobooks I have hiding. Jana, you were so right!

Oh my! What to say about this book. Captivating. Stunning. Compelling. I started this book after Ms. Aston discussed, on her Facebook page, how affected she was by it. I don't typically listen to audiobooks very quickly but American Queen? I finished it in two days! Yeah.

Highlights

• Political Drama
  Greer Galloway is the granddaughter of a former Vice President. She grew up around politics, even being used by her grandpa as a spy of sorts. She's beautiful, intelligent, reserved, and reads people well. All qualities that serve nicely in politics.
  Maxen "Ash" Colchester grew up to become a war hero and eventually the President. He's compassionate yet demanding, brave, skilled on a battlefield and a congressional floor.
  Greer and Ash met when Greer was only sixteen. The meeting made quite an impression and neither forgot the other. Ten years later, Ash re-enters Greer's life and what follows is one effed up fairytale.
• Characters
  The main characters, Greer, Ash, and Embry, are all so well drawn and charismatic. I rather hung on every word any of them said. Greer is a strong, independent, and very intelligent woman who has shunned romantic entanglements after essentially having her heart broken twice. Ash is a widower, having lost his wife very young. He's a force to reckon with in his position and he's set his sights on Greer. Embry was a fellow officer in the military and fought alongside Ash, is Ash's best friend, and is the Vice President. Both men are handsome but Embry is a bit softer than Ash. The secondary cast is well developed as well. What would a political drama be without conniving, calculating cousins, sisters, and political advisors as well as heads of state conspiring against you?
• Format
  The way Simone doled out information about the past and present kept me riveted as I learned more about the characters, who they could and couldn't trust, what they wanted from each other, and how they'd all become involved in each others' lives.
• Layers
  Not only is this a political drama, it's also a romance - an erotic romance at that - plus it incorporates suspense via political intrigue. Simone adeptly wove it all together to create a story I was loathe to press "stop" on.

The narration was also well done. Stephanie Rose has a nice range and did well with both male and female voices as well as creating accents for certain characters. She's a new-to-me narrator but one I won't hesitate to listen to again.

I started American Prince, the second installment, immediately. :)