absolutely fascinating insights presented through an easily digestible audio book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc!

I found this Audio book heavy going and weird it kept flicking through different subjects , Hypochondria , Paranoia , Pandemic , Weed, An affair and eventually a stalker and a murderer
I lost the plot a couple of times and had to re-listen to a couple of chapters and didn't even realise the book had finished as its only 17 Chapters but sorry the shortness of the book to me was the best part of the book

Touching strangers witten by Stacey Madden and narrated by Cherlanda Estrada and Nate Drury.
Sam and Aaron are a young couple living together in a germ free environment, Sam doesn't leave the apartment, spends her time bleaching surfaces, washing everything and spying on the neighbors. Aaron works in a supplies shop, donning his face mask and gloves he leaves the house everyday trying to avoid strangers on the way to the store. On arrival sanitiser is sprayed liberally and people are avoided. Using the 'back in 5 mins' sign to prevent contamination from the public he fills his time doing crosswords until time to leave. When birds star dying and people in the building start getting sick the couple understandably panic, this manifests in different ways. Aaron is convinced he's going to die, off to the doctor's he goes with a new spot he's noticed where as Sam's sex drive seems to have gone into overdrive and the consequences are not as hygienic as she'd like.
The characters are likable in a child like way, ah bless them, they are scared of germs but it does get a bit silly, in reality most people need to work and would not be able to hold down jobs acting like these two. Is this wrong of society or them?
The side characters are mostly those in the building that get Ill, a peculiar bunch of people too, the business man who invites prostitutes to his house, the pervert drug dealer and the eye candy Sam's attention turns to. None had any redeeming qualities so little emotion was felt when they became sick.
The plot is actually quite clever, about how people react when their lives are seemingly threatened, but it's executed in an amateur way. I would say it was more of a young adult style of writing but the sex scenes make this inappropriate for that audience, so who is the book aimed at?
The narrators were quite good, the Scottish Canadian accent appropriately cringy, and Aaron was pronounced Erin but the rest was read with feeling and tone.
I am overall a little confused about the book. The plot idea was good just weak on delivery, the main characters on the surface likable and I cared about what happened to them but the rest, no interest. Although I did listen to it all, I wouldn't rush to recommend this book, sorry.
2.5*
Thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the ARC.

Weird and wonderful. This is certainly a very different read. I loved the concept of this book and this made me want to download it. It is certainly a story that is of an acquired taste, the detailed descriptions leave little to the imagination and the erotica element is certain to put some people off. I however am a bit of a weirdo and with that enjoyed every minute of this audiobook.

This book is one of the oddest storylines I have ever read…. And that’s saying something! The book has some good exploration of themes which are often underrepresented in texts. The book is slow in parts due to some long winded character’s thoughts. The main characters weren’t likeable and this could be down to their individual issues. It’s a shame the story stopped where it did. Don’t read this if you’re particularly sensitive to anything
Thanks to NetGalley for this coph

A Satisfying Rummage Through Tangled Minds and Stories

💛 This is all about delightfully dysfunctional lives and those who lead them. There’s drama, there’s action, but behind it all is a thread of comedy.

💚 So, what are we dealing with? One building, one bird flu pandemic, a smorgasbord of fascinating characters. And, let me tell you, Madden created quite the cast. They are so vivid, complex and raw, it felt voyeuristic to intrude on their thoughts. In a good way. I particularly liked the relationship between main characters Aaron and Samantha. You could see how it had built over time and why.

💜 As the pandemic unfolds, the plot weaves from one narrative to the next, tying them closer and closer together.

❤️️ I’m not opposed to, but am not generally a fan of erotica. But I thought the use of it here was clever. It was both weapon and exposition. And, at times, just funny.
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 The production of this book was excellent and just as unique as the story itself. It’s a mix between recorded performance and audiobook. Told from several perspectives, there is one male and one female narrator to take on respective roles according to gender. What I found so interesting was that dialogue was always split. So, when a male narrator was speaking to a female, the voices would accord. I thought it worked really well, especially as other sound effects were minimal.

🎧 Narrators Nate Drury and Cherlanda Estrada were great to listen to. They brought characters to life with nuance and versatility.
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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO...

2021 seems to be the year of the off-beat and darkly comic. This falls nicely in line with TV shows like Physical, Mr Corman and Glow.
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Big thanks to NetGalley and Now or Never Publishing for providing me with an ALC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an Audio ARC in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately I was unable to finish this book. It was a bit too pornographic for me. I was expecting something completely different from the blurb and front cover. The dead made me feel a tad uncomfortable. It wasn’t my cup of tea. It I’m sure others will enjoy it.

This was a bit of a mixed listen for me - I quite liked the premise and felt it was quite a fitting topic but I can’t quite put my finger on why it was just good rather than excellent. I felt the narrators did a good job of conveying the slightly bonkers main characters and really made them come to life. It felt very American which is almost a nonsensical statement given the setting! This isn’t a long listen and think it would appeal to someone who wants a sort of larger than life plot line. It reminded me quite a lot of End Of Men so might appeal to fans of this book too. A 3.5 from me!

For most of the book, the adjective I would use to describe it would be either surreal or bizarre. When I got to the end, the only one applicable would be pointless. I would agree with the blurb in that it is disturbing, but I can't see anything uplifting or funny about this story at all. Most of the characters are horrible, including Samantha, and the ending is atrocious. I also think that releasing this book during a global pandemic is disturbing.

The only positive I can furnish would be for the audio, which was excellently produced - I loved the two narrators and the way the dialogue was recorded.

Many thanks to NetGallery and ECW Press Audio for allowing me the chance to listen to the book - it is regrettable that I couldn't leave a more positive review.

A very weird book. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily. The combination of germophobia and voyeurism is hilarious and uncomfortable at the same time.

The synopsis made me think I’d enjoy this book. In reality I did not. As it turned out this is not my kind of book, the story was flimsy and felt like it was just ticking a few boxes until it was done.

I don't even know how to describe this book! It made me sad, made me laugh, made me think. I guess I'd settle on a dark comedy. I thought the characters were really deep and interesting, and I loved how everyone was connected. The audio performance was especially fun to listen to.

Samantha and Aaron are hyperchondriac germaphobes who are never happier than when they are home in their pristine, clinically cleaned apartment. Unfortunately for them, an epidemic of a new disease called Buzzard Flu starts in their apartment building, generating a series of consequences which change the course of Samantha and Aaron’s lives.

I requested to read this book because I thought it would be interesting to see how two characters which such complex mental health issues would cope in an epidemic. What I actually got was porn set in a plague.

It’s one of the strangest audiobooks I have ever listened to. There are multiple narrators within a chapter and sound effects so it feels like a radio play more than an audiobook. It’s unenjoyable yet compulsive listening. There are multiple characters whose lives are intertwined, but none of them are likeable. It’s repetitive, very unpleasant and both unbelievable and predictable in places….but for some reason every time I was on the verge of deciding to DNF, something made me continue to see how it ends. I can’t hand on heart say it was worth it.

The book spans several genres - erotica and dystopian are the first that comes to mind. It’s not a book I would recommend to fans of those genres or other bookworms - for me it was bizarre but unfulfilling.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion.

This was different.. 2 hypochondriacs, a slew of other- well portrayed very unique characters, lots of sex. I couldn’t stop listening to it! This was just what I needed to read right now. Perfect pandemic read- thanks!

Full of graphic descriptions of sickness and sex, this audiobook charts the progression of Aaron Cordic and Samantha Riske, from people enclosed in the sanitised apartment to possible victims of ‘Bizzard Flu’.
Aaron spends most of his time at work, locking the shop doors to clean and and sanitise everything, and Samantha does little more that lie around the apartment checking her Facebook messages in her pyjamas. Spying on the neighbours of here apartment block, she witnesses dead birds falling from the sky, and the subsequent events of neighbours cleaning up dead birds, and a cat eating the remains.
Compelling in its realism and the intertwined life’s of the locals, this pandemic style story is well paced and gory.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Touching Strangers - Stacey Madden
Narrated by Cherlanda Estrada and Nate Drury

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Now or Never Publishing and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Aaron Cordic and Samantha Riske are a couple of twenty-something hypochondriacs living in east-end Toronto. While Aaron works part-time at a bathroom supply store, donning surgical masks, plastic gloves, and a backpack full of sanitary products, Samantha hides herself away in their apartment, tip-toeing around naked and spying on the neighbours. Between paranoid trips to the doctor and extremely intimate examinations of each other's bodies, they've managed to eke out an isolated and highly sterilized existence.

Listening to this during a global pandemic was a little off-putting. It was a strange feeling finding out that this book had originally been published back in 2017. This is a very quick read - the audiobook is only 6 hours.

Honestly, having lived through a pandemic, I thought that that this was a refreshing read to see what Stacey had predicted would happen during a pandemic. Warning: this book contains a lot of smut.

Rating: 4/5