Jane from Texas

Major Snooze Fest, Unfortunately

Revisado: 03-12-16

Wow, I don't even know what to say about this except it is as different from the first book in this series as apples are from oranges which is a crying shame as the first book was absolutely wonderful.

There was no real conflict whatsoever and pretty much the entire book centered around the main characters praising each other's various attributes, both physical and otherwise, to the heavens. Whose bright idea was it to put two artists together? I actually skipped several chapters when I just couldn't take the Mutual Admiration Club antics any longer. I am so hoping the next one doesn't follow this formula.

As usual the narrator, Eva Kaminsky, is wonderful.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Grisly, gory fun! (yes, I said fun)

Revisado: 01-14-16

Would you consider the audio edition of Endurance to be better than the print version?

I don't know. I didn't read the print version

What was one of the most memorable moments of Endurance?

The interactions between the characters especially Mal and Deb and between Kelly, Florence, and Letty.

Have you listened to any of Christopher Lane’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to anything else by Christopher Lane but you can be sure I will in the future. This guy is absolutely awesome!! There were tons of characters in this book and he nailed every. Single. One. I cannot say enough about his talent.

If you could take any character from Endurance out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Hmmm...I think I would take Florence because she was so interesting and had seen so much in her life. I want to hear more.

Any additional comments?

No doubt, this book was extremely gory and grisly and the bad guys were so, so disgusting, but Kilborn did a great job offsetting the darker moments with humor and I honestly shed a tear or two during the more emotional scenes. The characters' unceasing will to survive completely entranced me.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Good story but not so good narration.

Revisado: 11-24-15

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

For the most part. The narration made this slightly boring.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Added a female narrator as well. York is pretty much a one-note performer.

What didn’t you like about Sebastian York’s performance?

While I generally like Sebastian York's voice in other audiobooks, there was very little inflection or tonal changes. Hero is of Hispanic heritage yet there is no accent whatsoever even when he says the one Spanish word ever uttered in the entire book, "mijita" (little girl), never mind the exceedingly boring representation of the heroine.

Could you see The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Mmm...not really.

Any additional comments?

Just an 'ok' read overall. Would not re-listen to.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Bored to tears...

Revisado: 01-27-15

Perfect in every way heroine? Check.

Perfect in every way hero? Check.

Plenty of big and totally unnecessary misunderstandings? Check.

Most boring book on earth? Check.

I am literally scratching my head over the many awesome ratings and am frankly disbelieving that this many readers thought this an even half-way decent book.

Don't waste your time or money on this tripe when there are so many other good books out there.

I had no problem with the narrator by the way.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Meh...just not my cuppa.

Revisado: 10-16-14

I received this book free from the narrator, Karen Commins. Thanks Karen, for the chance to try out a new author and narrator.

First of all, a couple of caveats: #1 - I'm not a fan of law/courtroom procedurals. At all. Especially dry, texbook-like procedurals, which this was and I felt like the author was 'telling' instead of 'showing'. Add to that, the delivery was so slow and dry even during the few action scenes. #2 - I compare every single narrator I listen to to Anna Fields/Kate Fleming whose gift was to effortlessly give genuine and artful characterizations to every player in the books she read no matter how big or small their part may have been. I think anyone who narrates professionally or wants to, should study Anna/Kate at length.

Not to say that this narrator is not enjoyable. I do like Karen's voice and tone overall but for this type of book, I thought she was a poor choice. Even during the action scenes or more emotional parts, there seemed to be no real change of the tone or meter of her voice. Also, she read very, very slowly. I somewhat fixed this by upping the speed of my Audible app to x1.25 which I felt helped. Also, several of her characterizations were either totally wrong for the character (e.g. Irwin) or just plain old over the top (e.g. Naya, Flora)

While the plot itself wasn't half-bad the writing was sub-par in my opinion. I am not a fan of the 'See Spot run' method of writing and an awful lot of this book was formatted in that way, unfortunately. Law is number one on my list of those professions that are hard make interesting though many authors have succeeded in doing this such as Scott Turow or John Grisham, etc. Unfortunately, Ms. Miller didn't show too much imagination regarding events not in the courtroom or in Sasha's offices and totally irrelevant minutiae (legal stuff and even the decor) gets in the way of the story. Readers are treated to the same lack of color and imagination on the outside of the courtroom as they are on the inside.

Pet peeve number one - using canned voices for phone conversations. Hate, hate, hate this.

Pet peeve number two - Why, oh why, do some authors insist on creating characters who are nearly perfect: Sasha is apparently a hot little number (half Russian and half Irish) who not only is a kickass lawyer but also an ass kicker. She is very proficient in some sort of martial arts and even disarms an air marshal, breaking his nose and finger in the process. Um...wow?

A last pet peeve of mine - the title which apparently was thought up based on the Turow method of naming a book. Too easy and frankly, lazy.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Narration was Awesome but Story was Huge Fail

Revisado: 07-07-14

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better, more believable story. Perhaps told in 3rd person also. Not having a TSTL heroine who puts others in danger because of her actions.

Would you ever listen to anything by M. J. Rose again?

Probably will listen to next book if can find at public library just to see what happens next.

Which character – as performed by Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross – was your favorite?

Noah, Det. Perez. Phil Gigante almost always gets characters with any kind of accent just right.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Delilah Complex?

The last scene as well as all scenes mentioning butterflies. I'm not sure why butterflies are so important to Morgan and possibly the story. Maybe I missed the reference at some point.Also, I would cut way down on Morgans' soliloquies. Her constant introspection gets very wearing and boring.

Any additional comments?

**Minor Spoilers**

What's left to say? I read the first book, The Halo Effect, and mostly enjoyed it though I had some of the same problems I had with this book (excessive introspection and sometimes whininess on the part of Morgan). Morgan Snow, for the most part, seemed to be a sensible and intelligent person who was doing her best to raise her daughter, Dulcie, and go on with her life after divorcing Dulcie's father.My main problem:If I'm reading a contemporary mystery, I have to be able to believe, with not too much of a stretch, that some actions, though they might not WOULD happen, COULD happen especially when you are talking about medical professionals, and especially medical professionals who may deal with potentially violent patients/clients. There were numerous times in this book that Morgan, as a psychotherapist, put herself and others in danger while dealing with obviously unhinged patients. She even at one point seemed to ridicule someone who was being threatened by a totally unhinged person wielding a pair of scissors and couldn't understand why he didn't simply take them away from the wielder. Another time, she instructed her receptionist to call 911 on an obviously disturbed individual who might or might not have been the murderer (he was obviously drugged out and continually brandished a razor blade) then she allowed her obviously frightened receptionist to walk into her office to deliver a pitcher of water. After the patient was taken away, Morgan's boss, Nina, dresses her down for calling the police AND not disarming the guy with the razor blade. Huh? Her explanation is that since they are, of course, trained in self-defense and karate, then she should have done this instead of calling the police (Nina has an unreasoning hatred of cops which makes me wonder how good a therapist she actually is).

Add to this the extremely unprofessional behavior exhibited by Morgan: Going to a client's (who may or may not be involved in the crimes) house for sessions and knowing a HUGE secret about another client (again, who may or may not be involved with the crimes) and not calling her on it let alone encouraging her to come clean with police and her employer. Some other minor problems I've got: Morgan's obsession with butterflies (maybe I missed the reason for this?), Morgan's obsession with her sense of smell (this is mentioned constantly throughout the book), Morgan's weird empathic link with her daughter (she always knows when she's got a headache, tummy ache, what she's thinking, feeling, blah, blah, blah).

It boils down to this story trying to go too many directions at once with the result being a thin plot that gets bogged down in too many unimportant points, a not-that-hard-to-figure-out bad guy, and a, ahem, not too terribly climactic ending. And butterflies.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña