After listening to and loving Jessica Sorensen's  Breaking Nova, I couldn't wait to get my hands on Saving Quinton. The first book left me with so many unanswered questions, and I wanted so much for Nova and Quinton to get the happily ever after they deserved. However, Saving Quinton left me with even more questions and even fewer answers.

The book starts a year after Breaking Nova ended. Nova Reed is finishing up her sophomore year of college. She and her best friend are planning to head home for the summer, but Nova can't get Quinton Carter out of her mind. She has a feeling he's in a really bad place, and she wants to save him.

Quinton is living in Vegas with his cousin. Addicted to crystal meth, Quinton spends his days trying to forget everyone he's loved and lost. He doesn't care about his life and even wishes it would end. He never envisioned himself as a drug dealer, but now that it's the life he's living, he has no problem with it. He's hit rock bottom, and he's pretty sure he doesn't deserve anything better. There are times when thoughts of beautiful Nova Reed penetrate his drug-inflicted haze, but doing another line or two solves that problem.

The closer she gets to summer break, the more obsessed with the thought of Quinton Nova becomes. She wasn't able to save her high school boyfriend, and he killed himself, so she is determined to go to Vegas and save Quinton from himself. She heads for Vegas, reluctantly accompanied by her best friend, and enters a world far beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

Stephanie Willis and Jed Drummond did a fabulous job narrating this book. They both sound older than the characters they're meant to portray, but it works well. Given the darkness Quinton and Nova have experienced, both are more mature than most people their age, so youthful-sounding narrators would not have worked well at all. I was particularly impressed with Jed Drummond's portrayal of Quinton. I felt like he knew the character. There were times he spoke in a monotone, something that is usually a turn-off, but worked well in this case. Quinton is high most of the time. His emotions are definitely not close to the surface. Drummond's narration helped me understand the fog Quinton lived in.

Drummond made it easy to tell one character from another. Sometimes, I had trouble with Willis's female characters, but I found that paying close attention helped. I don't imagine this was a particularly easy book to narrate. It's full of the dark side of humanity, tempered by a little bit of light in the form of Nova. There is a ton of emotional baggage attached to all the characters, but both narrators took it on and brought it to the forefront beautifully.

When I listened to Breaking Nova, I developed a soft spot for Nova. She was a young woman who made bad choices but came out on top. In this book, I liked her far less. She has a major savior complex going on, believing that her mere presence in Quinton's life will make him wake up and take notice. She doesn't listen to anyone who tries to tell her that drug addiction is a serious and difficult thing. She just goes about her business, not seeming to have a clue that she might be doing more harm than good. There were times I wanted to slap her. She simply couldn't admit to being in over her head.

I found myself similarly impatient with Quinton. In the first book, we learned that he feels guilty for driving the car that killed his girlfriend and his cousin. But, like Nova, he refuses to see sense. People tell him he's not responsible for every bad thing that's happened since the accident, but he refuses to hear them. He insists that he's worthless. I felt like he took it too far. It was a constant refrain, and it got old after a while.

Do Quinton and Nova finally get their happy ever after? I don't honestly know. Sorensen ends the book without letting us know what happens. I'm guessing there's a third book in this series. Maybe it will tell us what every romance reader wants to know about their hero and heroine.

Breakdown of Grade - Book Content: B- and Narration: Stephanie Willis A- and Jed Drummond A

Unabridged. Length - 10 hours 53 minutes