Susan

Self-congratulatory retelling reveals little that wasn't already public

Revisado: 03-18-16

Patrick Lawler's narration is listenable and likable. The rest left me feeling disappointed. I suppose I expected some behind-the-scenes revelations, but there's nothing here that Nancy Grace didn't beat to death.

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Obvious obvious outcome

Revisado: 03-23-15

If you don't figure this one out immediately, you aren't paying attention, Lazy plotting by an author capable of so much more. And not a note of humor to create a break from the relentless unpleasantness.

I'm still hoping for another thriller from Tami Hoag like Dark Horse and The Alibi Man (snarky noir detective Elena Estes) or Kill the Messenger.

This one was so predictable, I kept thinking that the obvious villain couldn't possibly be the villain. Wrong; it's exactly who you think it is. And I'm pretty sure the second-choice bad guy will be the villain of the book after this one, which will take place at a landscaping business and involve an unsolved murder alluded to in Cold Cold Heart.

Excellent narration by Julia Whelan. And there's an appealing dog.

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Lazy rehash of Chill Factor

Revisado: 09-07-14

Major disappointment from my favorite romantic suspense author. Utterly implausible, from the hero's motivation for his threatening behavior, to the villain's out-of-nowhere confession, to the heroine's ridiculous reactions. Plotwise, nothing gels. This was so much more believable the first time Brown wrote the same basic premise, in Chill Factor. She's disguised it, but sloppily.

There are a couple of excellent sex scenes (and I remain grateful that this author avoids insipid euphemisms. She writes hot, frank, erotic joinings in an adult way.) Narrator is really good, although I did miss Victor Slezak's sexy gruff voice.

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Fist pump! Well played, Lisa Unger.

Revisado: 09-07-14

Just when I imagine I'm thinking a step ahead of Unger, she slips in a twist so clever it makes me grin like a mean little monkey. Creepy psychological horror with a child villain who made me glad I forgot to have children. Excellent. Maybe her sharpest work since Die For You.

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Her pink part

Revisado: 07-19-14

Her pink part? Her PINK PART? Seriously? I've listened to a lot of erotica, and I've never laughed during the sex scenes before. We are asked to believe that a successful businesswoman refers to her vagina by a little-girl euphemism. Comedy ensues. I can honestly say it was a credit well spent, just not for the reasons you might expect .

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Narrator's female voices sound cartoonish

Revisado: 02-03-14

I've run across two male narrators of romance/romantic suspense who are able to voice the heroine's role without sounding the way men do when they make fun of women's high-pitched voices: Victor Slezak and Dennis Boutsikaris. I know Phil Gigante is popular here, so I'm in the minority on this. But I find it terribly distracting and off-putting when the female protagonist sounds, well, silly. Slezak in particular has demonstrated that it's not necessary to do a high-pitched girlie voice in order to bring the feminine roles to life. He goes softer and quieter when reading the heroines' lines, rather than changing his pitch. Sorry, fans of Phil Gigante, but I could hardly get through this. Every line of the heroine's sounds like the set-up for a joke about a woman who walks into a bar and…

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Cute, predictable, zero heat

Revisado: 12-13-13

I'm a huge fan of Connie Brockway's so I chose this book expecting something a bit, well, steamier. This trilogy of connected stories is nicely done, and there some funny moments, but the love stories have little time to develop. There is one recurring character, a ridiculously flirtatious and spoiled younger sister, who is written as so unlikeable that I found myself actually resenting her HEA. Favorite character: the barbaric but mostly harmless laird who sets the stories in motion by kidnapping prospective brides for his embarrassed nephews. I enjoyed Susan Duerdon's narration, for the most part, but her female characters were almost impossible to distinguish from one another when sharing a conversation.

I hesitate to call this boring, because all three authors and the narrator do a competent job. However, when forgot to put this audiobook on pause while on the phone, then went back to it realizing I had missed several minutes of the second story, I didn't bother to go back and see what I had missed. That's pretty unusual for me.

A pretty piece of fluff.

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Robards is back, minus the paranormal. Yay!

Revisado: 12-12-13

After "The Last Victim," I was afraid Karen Robards had left behind the formula that's worked so well for her: contemporary romantic suspense, not erotic but nicely spicy; a sort of Sandra Brown Lite. (I mean this as a compliment. I've long relied on both authors for fun, sexy reads with hot alpha heroes; if Robards doesn't delve as deeply as Brown into her characters' angst and the conflicts between them, that's not necessarily a bad thing when I'm looking for escapist fiction.

In "Hunted," an implausible but ultimately enjoyable premise sets the stage for the couple-on-the-run storyline: a "rogue" New Orleans cop takes the mayor and other bigwigs hostage, and winds up kidnapping the pretty hostage negotiator who had a crush on him when she was a teenager. There's chemistry between them, a bayou to hide in, a fishing shack with a single narrow bed, and one appealing side character who is conveniently moved aside by the plot just in time for things to heat up between H/h.

In other words, this is the Karen Robards I've relied on for fast, sexy suspense tales like Paradise County, Bait, etc. No fan of the paranormal, I was more than pleased to spend a credit on this enjoyable return to the genre Robards writes so well.

Nicely performed by male and female narrators, who alternate chapters as the book alternates between male and female points-of-view. The actress is quite good (she also narrates the audiobook of Gillian Flynn's brilliant noir novel, "Gone Girl." The actor is good as well, although I wasn't crazy about the way he voiced the female character. Both narrators do pretty well with hero Reed's N'awlins cajun accent. In contrast to the previous Robards' audiobook, "The Last Victim," these narrators sound like grown-ups. A huge relief.

More like this one, please, Ms. Robards. It's this kind of book, not a flirtation with paranormal romance, that will keep you on my auto-buy list!

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Not the series' best, but a lot of fun

Revisado: 12-04-13

This was not what I expected.

I adored "Promise Me Heaven," fell head-over-heels for the darker and intensely erotic "All Through the Night," and was so excited to know that Connie Brockway had finally written the story of Giles, who was present in both of the earlier books as a rejected love interest and showed glimpses of unexplored depth.

I had read on the author's own website that this third book in the series would be very dark; that when we met Giles again, he would have changed a great deal from the earlier books. If that was Brockway's plan originally, something must have changed her mind along the way.First of all, we pick up Giles' story almost exactly where we left him at the end of "All Through the Night": engaged to scheming Sophia and unhappily accepting of the fact that he lost both Kat and Anne (heroines of the earlier books) to "better men." Secondly, "No Place for a Dame" has very little of the darkness that made "All Through the Night" an almost painful if ultimately rewarding romance. In fact, "Dame" is more lighthearted and comedic than even the first in the series. That's not a complaint, mind you; just not what I expected based on what I'd read.

If I had to choose a weakest book of the trilogy, I'm afraid it would be this long-awaited final chapter. That said, it's still a delightful, sweetly sexy romance with an unconventional, imminently likable heroine. Connie Brockway is always delightful, and Alison Larkin is a wonderful narrator for this series. The way Audible is pricing this series, any and all three are an incredible bargain.

I'm hoping to see more of Connie Brockway's work on Audible. In the meantime, if you haven't listened to "The Other Guy's Bride," you're in for a huge treat. It's delicious!

CAUTION: SPOILER BELOW. If you don't want to know how these characters meet and fall in love, don't read any further.

I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see Giles and Avery meet and discover each other. Instead, we learn that they've known each other for years, and have each secretly -and separately - longed for a deeper relationship with the other. That seems a bit like cheating to me. Silly, right? But for me, a big part of the sensual tension that builds between the couples in the first two books is in their first impressions of each other, the feeling of being drawn to the forbidden, the giving-in to physical temptation, accompanied however reluctantly by a realization that they are in love. In "No Place for a Dame," those moments of budding love are already in the past, and in fact there's nothing to keep these two people apart except for class distinctions that neither of them gives a fig about. The result is a romance that you can relax and enjoy, confident that it's headed exactly where it seems to be. That's not a bad thing, especially if "All Through the Night" left you emotionally exhausted from wanting that happy ending. But neither does it lead to those moments of OMG erotic discovery.

Still one of the best buys on Audible in my recent memory. Enjoy. And let's hope for more from Connie Brockway.

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Sexy Southern drawl, or Honey Boo-Boo?

Revisado: 12-01-13

I can't honestly say whether the story was awful, or simply rendered almost unlistenable by the choice of a narrator who sounds almost like a little girl. It's frankly a little creepy to hear a sex scene read by someone so young, I'd want to see some ID before letting her see some of those words in print.

If you can tune-out the age issue, there remains a serious flaw in the narrator's interpretation of the key male character. He's described as having a sexy, smooth-as-honey Southern drawl. Unfortunately, the voice Lee gives him is a lot more backwoods than Rhett Butler.

Too bad. The story delivers an intriguing premise, with the psychic-medium heroine torn between a nice live guy and a life signs-challenged bad boy. I'm a little curious to know how it will play out in the series, but not enough to listen to more of this miscast production. If I can't resist the sequel, I'll be reading it in paperback.

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