I Stand Before You cover art

I Stand Before You

Judge Me Not, Book 1

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I Stand Before You

By: S.R. Grey
Narrated by: Amber Bray
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About this listen

Winner of Best Character Development Award at Ever After Author Affair Event.

A story of love, a story of hope. How can you move forward when you're anchored to the past?

When it comes to tattooed bad boys, Chase Gartner was the real deal. Partying, engaging in meaningless sex, getting into fights - Chase indulged in it all during his late teen years, thus firmly solidifying his status as a heartbreakingly gorgeous but way-too-dangerous-to-trust guy in his hometown of Harmony Creek, Ohio. Then, following one fateful night of reckless decisions, Chase's actions finally caught up to him and landed him in prison.

Now, four years have passed, and Chase finds himself a free man. He returns to Harmony Creek, ready to pick up the pieces and start rebuilding his shattered life.

Things are off on a promising start when he meets Kay Stanton, a young woman with a tragic past of her own. Despite a powerful attraction, Chase and Kay are naturally hesitant to become involved. That's why friendship feels like the safest option. But when passions ignite and love blossoms, a relationship that is destined and meant to be can only be resisted for so long.

When Chase and Kay finally succumb to their feelings, they realize that being together feels more right and true than anything they have ever experienced. But their love is soon tested. Chase's wild past still haunts and tempts him, and Kay is keeping a secret that could tear them apart.

I Stand Before You is a journey of hope and forgiveness, coming to terms with the past and moving forward. But mostly, it's a story of two damaged people who take a chance, open their hearts, and find true love.

Warning: It contains explicit sexual situations, drug use, some violence, and profanity.

©2013 S.R. Grey (P)2019 S.R. Grey Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance Heartfelt Tear-jerking

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All stars
Most relevant  
Wow. I read this book years ago. Having the opportunity to listen to it, I loved the audio version more. The combination of the incredible writing and narration just made this book so good. Chase and Kay go through a lot, and this audio brings all the feels with it. Loved it.


🎧AudiobookObsessionReviewer

Chase and Kay

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I've read several other books by S. R. Grey but this one surprised me. It has complex, developed characters and deals with much darker themes than I had expected. These themes are very clearly mentioned in a warning on the book description, I just underestimated how central the themes would be to the book (compared to Inevitable Detour or the Boys of Winter series). That being said, I still liked it. The story is very detailed, essentially taking nearly 29 hours over 3 books to tell the full story. That pace allows for much more depth to the characters and a well developed storyline. There is some predictable drama, but it's not overboard and it ends in an okay place as far as breaking up the story. There is a lead-in to the second book for the epilogue, which does end in a cliffhanger, but it's very clearly stated that it's an intro to the next book so you could pause there if you don't have the next book ready (which you just should).

This is the first audiobook I've listened to narrated by Amber Bray and she was fabulous. I liked the way she presented the characters and how she handled the dual points of view without a second narrator. There were a couple occasions where it seemed like a phrase was repeated, but it wasn't so often that it was annoying. I wouldn't hesitate to listen to other performances by her in the future.

#AudiobookObsession

More serious themes than I expected

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A powerful and emotional story. Chase and Kay made some bad choices and were dealt pretty crappy hands. Yet they both are still determined to live their lives. I am a sucker for second chances at life and live and believe everyone deserves them. Amber did a great job bringing this to life and I highly recommend the listen.

AudiobookObsessionReviewer

Great listen

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I have never read anything by this author or listened to anything by this narrator, but having listened to the sample on Audible I decided I wanted to listen to this book. It's a gritty and moving story about two broken people both in their early twenties for most of the book but the author does take us on many flashbacks to their younger selves.

I'm going to start with Chase as it's him we meet first. He once had everything a perfect childhood as part of a loving family, a home and everything he wanted. Then his father, whom he adored, died and his life began to spiral downward, his mother can't cope and after a time pins her hopes for a future on another man. Chase who is rebelling is sent away to live with his grandmother in his father's childhood home. It's a situation he can't face, he misses his younger brother, to whom he's a hero, very much and so he turns to drugs, sex, and alcohol to numb his pain, he's such a gorgeous specimen he has no trouble finding willing females. But this behavior lands him in prison.

The story jumps four years to the present day, he's out of prison but he still fighting his demons. His brother whom he adores will have nothing to do with him and his beloved grandmother has died while he was in prison. She left him the home she lived in along with all the surrounding buildings and land so at least he has a home to go to. The priest of the parish who believes everyone deserves a second chance has given him a job and Chase has no intention of letting him down he's determined to do better and has no intention of going back to the life he lived before. But trying to cope with loneliness and loss makes his fight to stay on the straight and narrow a difficult one.

Kay is broken too but for a different reason, her younger sister died four years ago and she blames herself for her death. Her mother cut her off from her family on the day of the funeral, then her parents moved away leaving Kay alone to finish school, graduate and make a life for herself. She belongs to the same church Chase does, he sees her at mass and can sense that she too is broken, she looks sad and lost. He never expects to meet her because he always leaves immediately after mass and as he sits right at the back she sits in the front row meeting seems unlikely.

But fate can change a life in a moment, and they bump into each other, literally, bump into each other, after church one Sunday and so begins a slowly built friendship. They start with lunch at the diner where they make each other laugh they talk, really talk, then they slowly reveal themselves to each other as their feelings for each other begin to deepen into something more. They both feel that their pasts make them unloveable but eventually, their hearts win out and they admit their feelings and so begins their relationship. But Kay still hides a secret, one only a few people know and it's eating away at her day and although Chase has told Kay every single detail of his life no matter how dark, she's afraid that if she tells him this secret he will leave her.

These two were broken but they made one another whole, they still have things to face going forward, things I'm not going to tell you as they will spoil your enjoyment of this moving and gritty story.

Chase was a wonderful character, he's a bad boy and admits it but he battles every day to do better. He loves Kay something fierce, he loves her in a way one else has. The author writes the story in such a way that you don't think about his past. It's not important because he's just so good for Kay. As for Kay she's a perfect foil for Chase, she doesn't judge him, she's kind and loving and knows the battles he faces and she is there to hold his hand and love him through it all.

The author did an amazing job with this one, the descriptive writing and the moving but gritty storyline held my attention from beginning to end. I have to say that the narration of this book by A M Bray was spot on, I love her portrayal of every character, she brought all of the characters to life for me. She and the author made a perfect partnership for this particular book.

I was given this audiobook as a gift and am voluntarily writing my review.

Realistically Gritty and Moving

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This book has lots of tough issues in it. It’s not sugar coated at all. Great emotion throughout. Fantastic performance from Amber.
#audiobookobsessionreviewer

Tough times

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book three of this a Judge Me Not series has been an interesting journey, Chase spending time with his Mom, brother and of course Kay but most of all it has been about Chase saving his brother from his own destruction, his Mom finally seeing clearly, Chase and Kay are at peace they have finally let go, healed and got there HEA.
Amber as in the first two books did an amazing job narrating.
🎧Reviewed for Audiobook Obsession 🎧

🎧Reviewed for Audiobook Obsession 🎧

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Chase is returning home from prison and Kay has a shaky past. Both want to take the safe rout with this relationship and be friends. Their chemistry was overwhelming and inevitable. This has a lot of up and downs, but had its sweet and playful moments. I recommend this book to others and to follow up with the second book.

#AudiobookObession

So Emotional

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First in a new series . This story from S.R. Grey will have you believing in yourself and not giving up. The end will always work out .
Hero is Chase. Heroine is Kay .

Chase needs to redeem himself. He had a rough time , spending time in jail for having drugs on him . It was a backlash when things with his family went bad . Chase went back to Harmony Creek where everything fell apart.
Kay is in Harmony Creek she’s having a hard time herself .

Once they meet there is an instant attraction between them. It’s strong that makes the air sizzle . They learn to rely on each other and they get strong. See how their lives gets on a great path
Amber performance is strong, clear and smooth


This story will make you believe

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Title: I Stand Before You
Author: S. R. Grey
Format: audio
Narrator: Amber Bray
Genre: Romance
Standalone: ish. The epilogue leads into book 2
Part of a Series: Yes book 1 of the Judge Me Not series
POV: Chase and Kay
Steam Level: slow burn to steamy
4/5

I Stand Before You was a sweet but gritty romance. Both characters deal with grief in different ways and live how Chase and Jay come together and strengthen each other. S.R. Grey does a fantastic job of portraying Chase’s struggles of recovery - probably more accurate than I’ve ever seen in a book.

I received this audiobook for free from Audiobooks Unleashed. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Good Story, So-so Narration

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