From the description and tags, I thought this would have a lot more steamy scenes. Even the prologue seems promising, but then nothing happens for the first half of the book. Chandler is hot and cold with Cassandra to the point that I didn't even want them to get together. If he's going to throw her out of his apartment after inviting her over, forget it.

The sort-of mystery involving Cassandra's uncle and Chandler's father wasn't that interesting until everything exploded in the final quarter of the book. Maybe if the sex and mystery had been more spread out across the whole story and ramped up more, I would have enjoyed it?

I did like that the audiobook was dual narration. It's my favorite style and helps pull you into the story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Liza Snow Romance and NetGalley for the copy.

So much of this book falls well outside my comfort zone. If I had explicitly known that I was embarking on an age-gap, teacher-student, BDSM novel, I probably would have passed. However, I’m happy I didn’t.

What doesn’t work about so many “rich older guy that is a control freak in the bedroom” stories is that the guy is a profoundly flawed psycho (see: Twisted Lies and Fifty Shades). That’s not what this book is, and somehow all of those tropes I think are so <ugh> actually work in the context of this story.

Cassandra is awarded a scholarship to attend the premier training school for circus performers and to study under Chandler Moreau, whom she has admired her entire life. Cassandra and Chandler are taken with each other immediately, initially for their shared passion and talent in their aerial silk performances and later a more profound attraction and connection through erotic hobbies. Although this is usually where a book loses me, the precision and control required in their jobs naturally translates to a desire for power in other aspects of their lives. What I enjoyed about this is that, although this whole BDSM storyline is there (a lot, geez), it doesn’t define their relationship or power dynamic outside of the bedroom.

The most exciting part of the book is unraveling the connections between Cassandra and Chandler’s families. As the story evolves, it moves from a romance with a hint of mystery to a thriller with a side of romance. Unfortunately, much of the mystery/intrigue is left unresolved, and I assume it will be addressed in a future book.

The audiobook version was a cast narration with special effects. The male narrator was excellent. However, I wish the female narrator’s voice sounded slightly more mature to match the 40/25 age gap of the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Liza Snow for the opportunity to review this audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

I’m a sucker for a circus story and entangle that with romance you have me intrigued. Cassandra was mesmerized by the circus from a young age the day before they die they took her to see Chandler Moreau. She knew from then on that she needed to be a part of this, and she would do whatever it took to get there.

Obviously, this entangles romance and the circus and growing up without parents, and most of all falling in love. I think the idea for the book was great in thought, but the execution of it was something that I struggled with a little bit more. I didn’t find myself super intrigued in the story, and every time I put it down it took a long time to pick up the audiobook again. I do think that the audio book narration was fine however, I think I would’ve had a better time if I was physically reading this book because it was hard to follow at certain points.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for my audio copy of this book.

Love love this audio book. Author picked the right voices for the book
Highly recommend it. I'll have to dig through the book for a few sayings I liked but this audio book was a pain to put down. Kept me pulled into it 5 star audio
Added the audio on my wishlist because I abostly loved it. So happy I found this book on netgally
Already told a few people that they need this book and I so hope they get it

I just finished listening to Liza Snow's Obedience, and I have to say, I was captivated from beginning to end. The story centers around Cassandra, a young woman who is drawn to Chandler Moreau's silk aerialist performance and becomes his apprentice. As their relationship develops, their shared past and attraction make it difficult to keep their love affair a secret, especially with the added tension of the age gap and the forbidden aspect of their student-teacher dynamic.

What I loved about this book was the slow-burn romance and the mysterious and suspenseful plot. The characters' dark and tragic family backgrounds, combined with the circus and mafia atmosphere, made for an intriguing read. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next.

The audiobook is full cast, and the sound effects and music add to the overall experience. However, some of the more intimate sounds were a little awkward to listen to. Despite that, the production quality is top-notch, and I can't wait for the next book in the series after that cliffhanger ending.

Overall, Obedience is a great choice for readers who enjoy complex characters and relationships, set in a unique and fascinating world.

I'm so sorry. I love a good romance. But this audiobook made my skin crawl. The difference in volume. In the age sounding of their voice. It came across as grooming and I honestly could not make it through it. I had to dnf. It made me wildly uncomfortable

I was given this book for a honest review by net galley. I went into this book, not 100% sure what to expect. It seemed interesting based on the blurb. At first, I wasn't a huge fan. But it did get better the more you got into it. I think the author tried to do a slow burn, but I didn't get that. The relationship didn't slowly build. There wasn't much of a build of the relationship. Some points in the book that was slow and there was some holes in the plot. The twist at the end was great! If you like bondage, teacher student relationship, or slow burn, this book is for you.

Okay first off, the connection between the MCs Chandler and Cassandra is undeniable from the beginning.

The secrets, the lies, and the danger of being associated with the Mafia give this book some tense scenes but overall I felt the story lacked depth and a wow factor that made me want to keep listening.

My main complaint is a very personal opinion in that this audiobook is unnecessarily long. I considered not finishing this audiobook multiple times...around 40%, 60%, and even 90%...lol. It wasn't a bad book, it just couldn't keep my attention long enough for me to want to really want to listen for almost 15 hours.

Aside from that, I imagine this book will have a fairly targeted audience. The age gap trope and bondage are just not for me.

On the other hand, I love aerial silks. It's a beautiful art and the author did a lovely job in describing the routines.

Obedience is the first 'full cast' audiobook I've listened to, and wow - very enjoyable! It really brings the characters and story to life, and makes for quite the listening experience. Some of the sound effects were a bit cringey, but overall good. The narration was done well, but the voices (particularly Cassandra's) chosen for the characters weren't what I'd pair with the story. This is a slow burn, tension, angsty, student/teacher age gap romance. I enjoyed the story lines and I look forward to listening to part 2.

Thank you to Liza Snow Romance and NetGalley for this ALC!

Hmm, I don't know where to start. This was SO good, I don't even know how to express that. I haven't read something so refreshing and REALLY enjoyed since Dance Butterfly Dance, back in March.

Obedience is an exciting romance novel that takes readers on a thrilling emotional journey. This first book in the Ties That Bind series centers around the two main characters, Chandler and Cassandra. Chandler is a mysterious aerialist, while Cassandra has been captivated by him since she was 13 years old, especially after she lost her famous parents in a fire. She finds solace in her determination to become a silk aerialist like Chandler, and years later, at the age of 25, she auditions for the Dreamers Academy, where Chandler is on the audition panel.

As Chandler becomes more than just a professional inspiration to Cassandra, she becomes his protege and TA at the school where he teaches, and the tension between them intensifies. Despite Chandler's struggle with an injury and a recent divorce, meeting Cassandra reignites his passion for the silks and for life. Their attraction grows as they showcase their skills in a live performance, highlighting Chandler's Shibari talents, and their sizzling sessions lead to an intensely hot relationship.

However, their dangerous pasts haunt their present, with Cassandra's threatening uncle and Chandler's dark and violent family. Despite the risks, they cannot stay away from each other. The circus acts and silk aerial performances provide a perfect backdrop for their story, while the Shibari scenes add a deliciously decadent and compelling aspect to the plot. Cassandra's sassy no-nonsense spark and Chandler's brooding demeanor create a unique dynamic between them.

This contemporary New Adult romance novel had an atmospheric setting with a circus backdrop and a focus on acrobats and fire performers.  I absolutely loved the whole circus atmosphere and the mafia vibes in this book, and both Cassandra and Chandler are such fantastic characters.  I listened to the audiobook version of this and appreciated the unique elements that added to the immersive experience.  If you're going to read this book, I HIGHLY recommend listening to the audiobook, it's so immersive and you will FEEL like you're there in the audience, during performances, etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the occasional musical interludes throughout the book, although some of the more explicit noises were a bit awkward to listen to.  But awkwardness aside, I cannot express how good the audiobook was. 

The writing is as mesmerizing as Chandler's aerial silk performances. You'll find yourself holding your breath as Cassie gets tied up in knots in some seriously steamy Shibari scenes. The BDSM-inspired romance is refreshingly free of misogyny, and craziness, giving Fifty Shades of Grey a run for its money.

The book has intrigue, action, angst-filled romance, and steamy love scenes that will entertain anyone. However, be warned that the book is a slow burn, but it's well worth the wait. The first 50-60% of the book had me completely enamored, and I couldn't put it down. I was completely captivated by the unique premise, slow-burn romance, and intriguing characters. Cassandra's journey from fan to protege was fascinating, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

Overall, this is a great series opener that ends on an unexpected cliffhanger. The world-building is impressive, and the characters are well-developed. I highly recommend Obedience to anyone who enjoys the student-teacher dynamic, age gap, light BDSM, and a slow-burn romance.

This audiobook did one of my things, it have each character differing voices! This adds depth and brings the characters alive.

Overall, the book wasn't bad but wasn't my favorite either.

I did a tandem read and listen for this one. I absolutely loved the story and I'll have a longer review out tomorrow as part of RMWB's tour.

For the audio specifically, I really loved having different voices for the dialogue. It brought the characters to life for me in a way a traditional audio book does not. I think my only complaint was that whatever the narrator for Cassadra used for recording most of the dialogue (or the way she was edited) gave her a very thin sound (almost tinny). There were moments where that would change, almost like she recorded on a different microphone or with different settings and it could be a little jarring.

Overall though I very much enjoyed this one, and I can't wait for part 2.

*This is the 1st book in the Ties That Bind series.

Well then. That was interesting! Of course I did not read the description, I requested the book because I liked the cover. I loved the light blue butterfly in contrast to the darkness and the red. Without reading the description, I started listening to the story and it was this light innocent female voice and then this deep male voice starts talking, scared the ever loving crap out of me. With that being said, this audio book is like a graphic audio book (minus the branding) with some music, sound effects, and a full cast.

Whilst listening to sexy times in an audio book....I always find the sex and kissy noises cringe. I get that it's an enhancement to your experience. But this was my face:

But alas we made it through, the audio cast did a pretty great job. There were a few of the French pronunciations I kept correcting in my brain, but that's alright.

Let's get into the story, we have a youngish mid 20s young lady who is in circus college getting her Masters. First of all this made me google circus colleges, and there are quite a few out there. Impressed. She idolizes her soon to be professor in his 40s that is an amazing silks performer. Cassandra has idolized Chandler pretty much her whole life. Cassandra also come from a line of circus performers so she already knows people at the school/circus she's attending.

So we have a person of power lusting after a young woman, but whatever consenting adults and all. Cassandra gets involved in a special night club and Shibari which is a traditional Japanese style rope bondage. We have sexy times all tied up.

So we have circus school and a love hate relationship with a professor. Sexy night club and bondage. Let's throw in organized crime and mystery deaths and we have a romantic suspense book! There is a lot going on in this story and with that much meat it would be easy to get lost in one direction or another and forgo some part of the plot line you're building up to.

The author did a great job weaving her tale with this beautiful depiction of being in the silks, and the very hard work these athletes put into their crafts. She builds this romance up as kind of a medium burn in the romance department, too much back and forth for me, but at least it wasn't insta-love. Then we have the suspense plot, we kind of start learning along with the characters, though we get the POV of both our MCs so we do know more than the other person about varying things, but we still don't know a lot. So there are lots of twists and turns, some are very obvious, some are less so.

I liked the suspense part, but there is so much alluded to that both are MCs might not be all sunshine and rainbows. That ending. UGH! That was just a mean.

Now some of you like to have warnings for spicy. This was a spicy book somewhat, there were several sexy scenes but I would put it on the mild to moderate spice rating 2-2.5 chili peppers 🌶️🌶️. That's what I'd say. There were times where we got very little descriptions and times. I've read some raunchy stuff in the past and this was not raunchy.

If you'd like to read something different like about life in a circus with some romance and intrigue, this is definitely a fun one to pick up. The next boo

This book is perhaps the few audiobooks I've listened to and I really enjoyed the narration. I was drawn into the lovely setting of aerial silk acrobatics from the start and looked forward to a thrilling and magical circus romance. But I was eventually disappointed.

I liked Chandler and Cassandra but their love story gave me yikes at times. I think it's mostly because of the age gap and the student/teacher relationship but I knew what I was getting into. Despite my reservations, I still rooted for them. I wanted them to find some balance and prove their love wasn't wrong. The end result was definitely not satisfying, whether I was proved wrong or not. The book dragged at times- adding subplots that seemed unnecessary. The story seemed to move in circles, and there were some problems with the overall pacing. After creating so much tension, the plot ended with nothing impressive at the end. It lacked depth and the characters failed to evolve from their initial development.

What’s it about?
Cassandra has been training to realize her dream as a silk aerialist her whole life–ever since she saw Chandler Moreau perform when she was a child. And she’s had to overcome the death of her parents, and the arrest of her uncle–who she suspects killed her parents with a fire.

When Cassandra auditions for the School of Dreams, Chandler is one of the people on the audition panel, and he’s captivated by her. But he knows that if he shows too much interest in Cassandra, she will draw his dangerous father’s attention. So instead, he pushes her away with grumpiness, fighting the attraction blooming between them.

And it doesn’t help that Cassandra wanders into his club one night and, despite masks, the two recognize one another end up in a shibari demonstration together.

Despite the risks, Chandler can only fight his attraction for Cassandra for so long…

My thoughts:
My brain is still spinning. This book is freaking amazing. I loved every part of it. Both Cassandra and Chandler have tragic, dark, intriguing family backgrounds. The tension of will they or won’t they, paired with the forbidden mentor / student vibes, age gap, danger, and shabari. I mean, dang. Liza went all out on this one.

That cliffhanger ending though. I was listening to the audiobook and thought it had broken when it just ended on me like that. (Cue sobbing).

Seriously, this book is amazing. I loved the whole circus atmosphere, mafia vibes, and adored both characters. I even ended up falling down the rabbit hole of watching silk aerialist YouTube videos while reading this.

And! The audiobook is full cast! It is incredibly well done. I loved the surprise of music showing up throughout the book. I will say the random, um, spice noises, were kinda awkward to listen to, but I so admire the creativity.

Now, when is book 2 coming out?

Obedience is an absolute work of art! Rated for mature audiences of course but this Physical and Audiobook is one of those tangible works of art that you soak up every word off the page and you completely wraps you up in the story and you become apart of the story.

Liza Snow went above and beyond to make sure her readers and audio listeners have been fully immersed within the Circ de lys as well as chandler and Cassandra’s life.

If you have not yet read obedience I urge you to RUN 🏃‍♀️ don’t walk to your nearest retailer and pick YOURSELF up a copy of this 5/5 star read !

Obedience is an age gap/ student & professor romance with an academic circus setting and...shibari. If that sounds like everything but the kitchen sink, that's because it is. And there's a mafia plot thrown in at 60% which was totally unnecessary. The book had so much potential, but I wish the author would have realized less is more. Everything, from the number of topics addressed in the book to the writing was overdone. I found myself getting lost frequently because the author spent too much time telling rather than just showing it through character actions. Characters are inconsistent with their actions and contradict themselves several times within a chapter. This was at 70% and I just couldn't take another 4.5 hours of this book. I quit listening there. This audiobook is 14 hours long when it could have been decently executed in 11 hours if the author had cut over-descriptive internal dialogue and the number of tropes to 2 instead of cereal bowl full. As for the performance- the cast of characters was generally good, but I found the female lead to be too wooden with her execution of lines. The background noises and music weren't my thing either.

<i>Thanks Netgalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!</i>

This is the aerial silks/acrobatics/circus romance that [book:Infini|25510924] and [book:Amour Amour|22888864] left me wanting!

Unfortunately, there is something that I cannot quite pinpoint that prevented me from enjoying this book.
If I am not mistaken, this should be Liza Snow's debut book; nonetheless, the writing style is great, captivates the reader, and is enjoyable. The plot is something for sure, there are a few dark themes that I would have appreciated more if there were written differently.

There are a few things that rubbed me in the wrong way: the fact that the heroin is broke and the hero just welcomes her in his home and caterers to her every need, and the fact that upon leaving the city, their jobs and their social circle, they were able to find a new spot in a new circus immediately, that's just pure fiction, and I like my book more realistic so to speak.

A positive note has to be said about the audiobook, I really enjoyed the added sounds and music, the final effect, with the music playing during the show or the noise of the door shutting as someone was exiting the room, were truly great.

I am now curious to find out where the story is going and how the main characters are going to resolve their differences, but I don't know if I'll be reading the next book, because it already felt like a chore finishing this one.

Firstly to start with the writing is beautiful, especially with the descriptions of the aerial scenes, you can picture the characters and it's very mesmerising and interesting to learn about this different world of the circus. Also I did like the idea of the love at first sight, although the age gap is slightly uncomfortable as Cassandra fell in love with Chandler when she was a little girl, but I understand the romance doesn't truly begin until she is older. However saying this I also think the romance was written well with some steamy scenes a lot of people will enjoy. But sadly I don't think this is for me, I don't know whether it is because I was listening to the audiobook but I could not get hooked into this storyline, it is a very slow burn and the character's voices didn't engage me into the story. I needed more of a connection the the characters and plot to truly love this and want to read on.

Wow this Audiobook was hot!!
I gave this book a 4 raiting for the story. The narrators get a 5/5. Fantastic job

About the story:
I feel like the story could have had more depth. The characters were at times immature and the connection within the story was lacking. Some chapters and situations would end and they move on to something else. It left me feeling confused. The conflict didn't get good until the end. I really liked the way it ended and yes I will be on the lookout for book 2. Hopefully the 2nd book gets deeper into the mystery of the plot.
Overall, it was a great start to a series which, i have no doubt, will get better.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

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