it's one of those titles that seems to fall into a weird crack between platforms. I found it on Audible first, no surprise there. But I've got a Scribd subscription, and it popped up there last month, which was a nice bonus because it saved me a credit. I always check Libby through my local library as well, though the waitlist can be brutal for popular stuff—took me three weeks.
If you're dead-set on getting it free, the library apps are your only legit bet. Just be ready to wait. Any other way you find it online is probably sailing the high seas, and I'd rather not mess with that. The audio quality is crisp on the official apps, and the narrator for 'Collateral' really nails the tension.
Libby or Hoopla, absolutely. Free is the way to go if you can manage it. I borrowed 'Collateral' on Libby, listened at 1.5x speed, finished it in two days. The hold time wasn't bad for me, maybe a week? Much better than paying.
Man, I had the worst time trying to listen to this. My library's digital catalog didn't have it at all, which was super frustrating. I ended up caving and buying it on Audible during one of their 2-for-1 sales. Worth it, though. The story's pace really works in audio format, all that procedural detail flies by when you're listening on a commute. I'd say just bite the bullet if you're eager; waiting for a library copy can take forever and ruin the momentum if you're in the middle of a series or something. Check if your credit card offers any Audible discounts, sometimes they do.
Wanted to add a different angle here—don't forget about Google Play Books or Apple Books. I'm not a huge Audible fan personally, so I got 'Collateral' on Google. It was the same price, syncs across my devices fine, and the playback controls are simpler for me. Sometimes these stores have sales Audible misses. Also, if you've got any audiobook credits stacked up on other services, check there first before paying cash. I've found random titles on Kobo before too.
2026-07-20 00:47:14
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CAMILLA WALTERS thought she had come to the end of the road when fate caught up with her. No where left to run or hide, on the verge of becoming fish food at the hands of drug runners she owed a lot of money to.
That was until fate brought her ALEXI, head of the family CARRERO - The unexpected hero who saved her ass and changed her life in one easy manouvre.
Who knew she would have to sign her soul over to the devil in a bid to stay alive and in doing so, lose her heart and mind in the process.
This is not your typical hearts and roses story - Let the games begin and the war commence.
This is book 7 in The Carrero Series, although you can read this without prior books. There are back story hints from previous books worked in, so this new trio can be read alone.
For a fuller understanding then start with The Carrero Effect .
I am Wyatt Hayes, New York's most eligible bachelor, CEO of Hayes Enterprises. I’m also known as The Reaper, New York’s most feared Mafia Lord. The Reaper is my secret identity, and no one knows I am the man everyone wants to do business with, but will have nightmares about.
I am getting engaged with the woman every man has dreams about, except me. She is a business deal. A business deal I will have to break because when I see HER, everything I know about Love seems wrong. She is someone from my past I didn’t see coming. She is a loose end that I have to end or bring into the darkness that is my life.
My name is Blake Pierce. I am a promising freelancer journalist who specializes in crime. My friends call me the next Avenger. Bringing criminals to their knees is my passion. I do a better than the police. I am not afraid to bend the law to get the scoop I need. But when I see HIM, I realize that Love and hate walk hand in hand. He is my worst nightmare and the man I have always dreamed of having by my side.
Between Love and Hate, there’s only a thin line. Will Wyatt and Blake hate loving each other or love hating one another?
Lucien Valez, billionaire CEO of Valez International and secret money launderer for the world’s most dangerous cartels, isn’t used to mistakes. But when a cartel’s heiress, Elena Ramirez, vanishes with $20 million in product, Lucien needs leverage to save his own life.
His solution? Kidnap Cassia Monroe, Elena’s quiet best friend from school. A gifted violinist with no ties to the criminal underworld, Cassia is suddenly pulled into a game where love and survival are equally dangerous.
Synopsis
Ava:
My sister Ivy was supposed to marry Dante Rossi.
Heir to a billion-dollar empire. Cold, heartless, cruel, and terrifyingly perfect. He was perfect, she was perfect. Together, they were everything.
But then the accident happened.
Ivy died. I survived. And somehow, I became the one expected to take her place.
Forced into a marriage with a man who won’t even look at me without resentment in his eyes, a man who promised to make my life hell for living. Abandoned by my family, and blamed for an accident I can’t even remember.
I was alone from the very beginning.
Dante disappeared the morning after our wedding. After a night that made me believe that he saw me.
Weeks later, I found out I was pregnant.
And he was gone.
-----
Dante:
I never meant to come back for her. But I never stopped wanting her either.
Right from the beginning, I learned to chase what I didn't want to protect what I wanted, because wanting something made it a target.
*****
Three years later, Dante returns to the city with an aim, but the first thing he sees is a child that looks just like him.
Can a marriage built on loss and blame ever become something more?
Most importantly, Was Ava ever just a substitute… or a choice?
There’s only one way to find out.
A slow-burn, sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance about what happens when the one person you despise becomes the only person you can trust.
The Accidental Heart follows Avery Cross, a fiercely independent artist forced into a marriage of convenience with Vivian Thorne, the ruthless CEO of her family's rival empire.
Bound by an ancient legal agreement to prevent mutual financial ruin, they establish a tense, divided home built on boundaries and passive-aggressive hostility.
However, when an industry crisis forces Vivian to protect Avery's firm, their cold war melts into genuine respect.
When an outside threat targets Vivian’s career, Avery steps into the spotlight to defend her, turning a corporate transaction into a real-life romance.
Twenty-two year old Lorena, who had been living in secret at her parents' house with no contact with the outside world, suddenly finds herself in the arms of Andrew Sanchez, the ruthless son of Jacob Sanchez, a loan shark and king of the underworld, as collateral for her father's loan. As she breaks out of her life long bondage, she begins to discover secrets about who she really was, who her parents actually were, and a twin sister she never knew existed. And more than that, she realizes that fate had brought her to the man she saved years ago when she snuck out to explore the world.
But, the world isn't as rosy as she pictured and soon, she realizes that her life was in danger amongst her new family. She teams up with her cop twin to uncover secrets surrounding her stepmother and stepbrother who would do anything to inherit the family wealth.
Had low expectations going in, honestly. Heard it was just another legal thriller, and the premise about a defense attorney stumbling into a conspiracy sounded so played out. But I was stuck on a long flight, so I gave it a shot.
Turns out, the pace is relentless. The way the tension builds from the first client meeting, through the procedural details that actually feel authentic, to the point where the protagonist can't trust his own firm—it got under my skin. The moral compromises aren't just window dressing; they drive every twist.
What surprised me was the lack of a clear-cut villain. Everyone's shades of gray, and the 'collateral' damage spirals in a way that feels frighteningly plausible. Finished it in one sitting, which I haven't done with a book in ages. If you like your thrillers with a side of existential dread rather than just car chases, this one delivers.
I picked up 'Collateral' expecting one of those straightforward thrillers you zip through on a flight. Boy, was I wrong. The whole time you're following this high-stakes political deal, right? The tension is around whether this arms agreement will go through and who's trying to sabotage it. You're led to suspect a rival corporation, maybe a disgruntled aide. It's classic cat-and-mouse.
Then, in this one quiet scene after a major confrontation, the protagonist—the one you've been rooting for as the ethical negotiator trying to prevent a war—finds a piece of evidence in his own safe. It's a document with his own fingerprints, literally. The twist isn't that he's been manipulated; it's that he's been the primary saboteur the entire time, operating under a dissociative state triggered by trauma from a past conflict he'd buried. His 'investigation' was actually him meticulously covering his own tracks while in another mental state. It reframes every single interaction in the book. The collateral damage wasn't just geopolitical; it was his own shattered psyche.
The term 'Collateral' made me think immediately of the movie with Tom Cruise, but after some digging, I believe you're referring to the 2005 novel by Ellen Hopkins. That's a tough one, because the narrative structure intertwines multiple voices so tightly.
The central figures are driven by their addictions and trauma. Seth is a teen runaway from abuse, caught in a cycle of drugs and prostitution to survive. Ashley is from a wealthy family but her mother's addiction has shattered their home. Their stories collide and spiral, each pushing the other toward more desperate choices. The book doesn't have a singular hero; it's about the collateral damage of addiction on every person it touches.
Hopkins writes in verse, so you get these raw, fragmented glimpses into their psyches rather than tidy character bios. The real key might be how they mirror each other's pain, even when they're hurting each other.