- Narrator: Kale Williams handles both halves of a fraught marriage-of-secrets, keeping Ryker's guarded anger distinct from Brynleigh's guilt without either voice tipping into melodrama.
- Subjects: betrayal inside a marriage, redemption of a deeply unlikeable hero, second-half-of-a-duet stakes
- Tone: Angsty, unresolved, emotionally exhausting in the way readers seem to want
- Bottom line: Do not start here. This audiobook assumes you already know why Brynleigh is in a cell and why Ryker still can't leave her there.
Ryker Waterborn does not get an easy redemption in this audiobook, and neither does the listener who shows up without having heard A Game of Love and Betrayal first. The description says outright that this is the second half of a duet and should follow that earlier title, and the story honors that warning by opening mid-collapse, with Ryker's marriage already exposed as a foundation of murder and lies and the emotional stakes already at full volume from the first scene.
A Closer Look at A Heart of Desire and Deceit
Elayna R. Gallea builds the premise around a genuinely uncomfortable question: what do you owe someone after learning they are a killer, if you still cannot make yourself leave them behind. Ryker's answer is to strike a deal, freeing Brynleigh from confinement so she can return to her maker and find proof that Jelisette de la Point is a traitor, and the synopsis is blunt that an ocean and years of hurt now separate two people who once expected a happy ending together. That is a strong emotional engine for a duet's back half, provided the listener already has the context the first book supplies.
Kale Williams narrates both perspectives across twelve hours and forty-four minutes, and the split is the real test of the performance: Ryker's chapters carry a guarded, defensive anger that several reviewers find genuinely hard to sit with, while Brynleigh's carry guilt layered under real affection for a man she still cannot fully trust. That is a harder balance than a typical romance villain-turned-hero arc, since Brynleigh is not reformed by the story so much as still working through what she did, and the narration has to sit inside that discomfort instead of resolving it early. Keeping a deliberately unlikeable hero from curdling into a cartoon while still making his eventual change of heart land is not a small ask for a single narrator to carry across both perspectives alone.
What Makes A Heart of Desire and Deceit Worth Hearing
Five reviews are attached here, and they split in a genuinely interesting way. One reviewer, an ARC reader posting through a Kindle Customer handle, calls this as good as anything Elayna has written, singling out Easter eggs that connect back to her prior series and comparing this couple favorably to Sebastian and Luna from that earlier work. Kat's five-star review frames this specifically as an awesome conclusion to the first duet in the series, praising how the fallout from Brynleigh's revealed plans forces both leads into enemy footing before either can admit they still love each other, and specifically calling out the redemption and healing that carries the second half of the story once the initial anger burns down.
Then comes the dissent, and it lands sharp. Danielle's three-star review is explicit about loathing Ryker, calling him selfish, unsympathetic, and hypocritical for demanding support about his own family history while offering his wife none after she lost her entire family. Flory's four-star review goes further, admitting this is the first book to produce outright hatred of a male lead, and stating plainly that Ryker's betrayal earned that reaction and was not a misreading.
Where Elayna R. Gallea Loses Some Ground
Take the Ryker backlash seriously before starting. Two of the five visible reviews name him directly as the reason their rating dropped, which is a real signal that this hero's specific flavor of selfishness and hypocrisy does not land for every reader, regardless of how the romance itself resolves. Michie's more forgiving four-star review calls the plot cute and predictable and appreciates that Brynleigh gets to fight her own battles instead of needing constant rescue, so the character split in reception seems to hinge specifically on Ryker's arc, not the book's craft.
A star spread of three, four, four, five, and five across the five visible reviews tracks the Ryker divide almost exactly: Danielle's three-star review is the one clearly soured by him, while both four-star reviews still enjoy the book despite him. The badge itself shows 4.2 from four counted votes, a figure that only works cleanly under truncation, not standard rounding, and it counts one fewer vote than the five written reviews actually sitting on the page.
Who Should Pick Up A Heart of Desire and Deceit
Existing Choosing Chronicles listeners who finished A Game of Love and Betrayal and want the fallout resolved are the clear audience, especially anyone who enjoys a hero the story makes you work to forgive, not one who is easy to root for from page one. Fans of Gallea's earlier Sebastian and Luna pairing, referenced directly by more than one reviewer, will likely recognize the same emotional register here.
Newcomers should start with book one regardless of how this description reads on its own, since nothing here is built to welcome a listener who doesn't already know why Brynleigh is behind bars. Anyone who needs a likeable male lead from the first chapter should also temper expectations, given how many of the five reviewers needed real time to come around on Ryker, if they came around on him at all. Podium Audio released this in March 2025, and at just under thirteen hours it is a reasonably contained listen once you have the prerequisite first book behind you, not the kind of runtime that demands a long-term commitment on top of an already emotionally demanding story.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to listen to A Game of Love and Betrayal before this audiobook?
Yes. The description states directly that this is the second half of Ryker and Brynleigh's duet and should be heard after A Game of Love and Betrayal. It opens mid-crisis with no real recap, so skipping the first book will cost you most of the emotional context.
Is Ryker a likeable male lead in this audiobook, or do the mixed reviews reflect a real problem?
The split looks like a genuine character problem, not simply a matter of taste. Two of five reviewers, Danielle and Flory, specifically say they grew to dislike or hate Ryker for his hypocrisy and selfishness, while others found his arc toward earning Brynleigh's trust back satisfying by the end.
Does this audiobook fully resolve Ryker and Brynleigh's story, or does the series continue?
Reviewers describe it as a conclusion to this particular duet, with Kat's review calling it an awesome conclusion specifically. Nothing in the available data indicates a further sequel is currently planned for these two characters, though the listing itself doesn't state that outright either way.
