I was provided an ARC of the audiobook from netgalley in exchange for a review.

The narrators for this audiobook are excellent and do their level best to rein in this story which is all over the place. The novel is set in a fairly stereotypical cyber/dystopia future where technology is taking over all aspects of the world and control of the media is crucial to power. There were several nifty ideas for future-tech, but they felt sort of disjointed and tossed into the story willy-nilly.

The central plot surrounding the creation of a charisma potion wasn't interesting enough to hold the story together for me and having three character perspectives often made transitions confusing, particularly in audio format.

I'd read more from this author--I think she has potential to tighten up the narrative and delve more deeply into her exploration of social issues. This book just didn't quite get there.

3.75⭐
There is a priceless chemical substance causing "mildly charming" people into an almost "godlike" presence called "The Juice".

Two Problems:
1. 'The Juice' has been stolen.
2. The Creator of 'The Juice' has been murdered.

Thank you NetGalley and Dragon Moon Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Juice takes place in a futuristic type of America with media at the heart and corruption in its soul. Technology has had its boom, creating incredible feats, and with it, even larger spans between the classes in society.

The storyline follows three vastly different characters: Jarat, who knows the truth of The Juice and its origin, and wants to do what is right. Petra, a media exec with aspirations for moving even higher, but is also on a very personal journey that she feels she cannot share with others. Then there is Luscious, a teenager that grew up as one of “the poors” that happens to meet the right people at the right time & becomes a Charismite herself.

I really enjoyed this Audiobook. I found the author’s creativity with determining what the future would look like was interesting, but not so wild that it wasn’t believable. The government corruption was completely believable with the way they were using the media. I liked all three main characters, and the “villain,” was really easy to hate.

Ultimately, I had a couple of questions in the end and still was a little uneasy about how Lucious’s storyline went, but overall had a good time and enjoyed the ride.

This was such a good scifi and extremely interesting it had powers and lots of main characters but not too many that you get confused and it kept me on my toes the whole time

I was provided an ARC through NetGalley for an honest review

I feel like I'm reading a different book to everyone else. This is a DNF @ 38% for me.

The audiobook quality and narrators are great, especially compared to the first ARC audiobook I received, there are some interesting ideas here, and I really tried to give it a fair shake, but I just don't feel engaged with any of the characters or the worldbuilding.

The central conceit, the eponymous Juice, being what amounts to a powerful charisma potion, and its potential ramifications are certainly interesting, but the writing seems to be informed by and from a very liberal perspective that actually makes the relatively milquetoast and 'acceptable' ethos of Cyberpunk 2077 actually seem quite punk in comparison.

I just don't think I buy what the author is selling, which seems to be another future dystopia that makes the broad brush gestures at inequality and class prejudice, without engaging with any of the grim reality.

The fact the protagonist is the perfect symbol of the middle class rebel with a heart of gold says a lot. Not to mention the questionable language and perspective of global politics.

Maybe things change over the course of the book, but if I wasn't gripped or wasn't feeling off about it, I might have been able to push through, but this just wasn't for me.

I will say that it is better than the diabolical cover though.

This was such a wild adventure. Charisma in a bottle!

The plot is a bit loose, the world-building a bit underdone, and the point a little hard to follow ... this is more like a carnival ride through contemporary issues centred on a magical, transformative technology that makes us into the epic being we're all led to think we want to be, that will solve all our problems and raise us up from mere society ... the two characters pull us along through media tyranny and the clash of the classes in a near-future where threats to humanity, like fertility, are becoming a reality, but we're still not focusing on the right things.

I loved the narration by Emily Woo Zeller and Ron Butler ... particularly Zeller, who nailed the small town country gal accent that really brought me into story.

No. I found bits of this book highly offensive....sexual triggers outside any form of polite society. No. I will not be finishing this one.

(3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 for audio)

Thanks to #NetGalley for making this title available for reading and review.

I read the audiobook version of this book narrated by Emily Woo Zeller and Ron Butler. Both are great narrators and do well with giving each character a voice.

The book itself is almost two different stories, and I liked one of them a lot more than the other, but both were good, and they did join up into a single arc near the end.

The story is part cyberpunk, part conspiracy theory, part techno thriller, and part social commentary.

There isn't really much world-building. You are thrown into a future that is like most futures of this genre, and the author relies on stereotypes for both the world and for a lot of the characters. The character development is fair, but the real strength of this book lies in a compelling story with good dialog and a unique plot. I did like it