Ruthless

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at the ‘billionaire meets royalty’ premise—until the first chapter, when it became clear *Ruthless* wasn’t playing by the usual rules. This isn’t a fantasy of wealth; it’s a dissection of how power corrupts *and* seduces. The audiobook’s strength lies in its narration: Sean Masters nails the protagonist’s fall from grace, his voice roughening with every self-destructive decision, while Charlie David’s performance as the prince is a revelation. He doesn’t just *sound* regal; he sounds *dangerous*, like a man who’s spent a lifetime learning to weaponize politeness. Their back-and-forth in the boardroom scenes had me rewinding just to savor the subtext. That said, the pacing stumbles in the middle. Blaine’s knack for dialogue can’t always mask the fact that the plot occasionally spins its wheels—there’s a stretch where the blackmail subplot feels more like a delay tactic than a catalyst. And while the steamy scenes sizzle (thanks in no small part to the narrators’ commitment), the emotional beats sometimes land unevenly. The prince’s vulnerability, when it finally surfaces, arrives so late it borders on whiplash. Still, the audiobook’s production is flawless: crisp editing, seamless transitions between narrators, and a score of ambient sounds (a clinking glass, a slamming door) that ground the story in reality. If you’re tired of romance heroes who are all bark and no bite, *Ruthless* delivers—just be prepared for a few bruises along the way.