Fancy Nancy

It was okay…

Revisado: 02-05-25

The narrator speaks way to fast and, with her accent, you frequently have to listen a couple of times to understand her.

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Great Story, Great Writing, Great Narration:

Revisado: 04-25-20

Darynda Jones writes fantastic books. This one is no exception and it's the first entry in what promises to be a fun and exciting series.

Yes, there are similarities to the Charley Davidson series, but this is definitely not just the same story with different names. The new characters are engaging, fully fleshed, and worth reading about. The plot is intricate enough to be interesting, mysterious but not frustrating, and an enjoyable ride. The underlying premise, which seems to be "What happened to Sunshine?" is definitely intriguing.

Lorelei King is the uncontested queen of narration and her not inconsiderable skills at voice acting work well here (and in everything she does), making the book even better.

Get it. Read it, listen to it, and start your new "I can't wait for the next book!" obsession.

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Just okay story, narration doesn't help.

Revisado: 02-05-20

This review is meant to include the entire Legend series: The Fall of Legend, The House of Scarlett, and The Fight for Forever.

I can accept that I need to suspend my disbelief when I enter a Meghan March world. I can accept the fabulous wealth of her characters, the ridiculous concept of "alpha males" and all the rest, as long as the story's good and emotional, the writing is good and creative, the sex is hot and plentiful, and the narration - if it's an audio book - is decent. This book fails at most of that.

The story is flimsy, completely unbelievable, and (given the talent I know March can bring to bear when she gets it right) largely unaffecting. The plot is much weaker than I'd expect from her, and her usual trope - a bad guy who falls for a good girl and is suddenly changed and committed, and they overcome some very far-fetched conflict while they talk endlessly about how a.) the guy is such an alpha, b.) he's so protective he'd die for her c.) she's got to be protected, d.) he doesn't deserve her, e.) ad nasuem - is beginning to wear thin with me.

Then, there's the execution of it all. Some of the lines and internal monologues are cringe-worthy. Most of this story just fell short for me. The twists were predictable and the tertiary characters were little more than cardboard cutouts of stereotypes. The conclusion is a big letdown; when you've invested hours upon hours of reading and listening in a story, you just expect a bigger payoff than the contrived and almost comical climax of this series. Situations and personal conflicts (Scarlett and her father, for instance) are left unresolved and incomplete. I frequently found the dialog to be cringe-worthy, repetitive, and/or banal; much of the drama is forced and not compelling in the least. Overall, I expect much, much more from Meghan March. It's hard to believe that the author of Take Me Back and the Beneath series also wrote this; March can do so much better.

Separate issue: The narration is barely tolerable. The only reason I stuck through the whole trilogy was to give the whole thing a fair shake. But in the end, everything listed above might have been less of a problem had the performances of the narrators been better.

Joe Arden's voice sounds as if he's suffering with allergies or something; it's got a a nasal quality that renders some of his words unintelligible and I found myself rewinding frequently to catch what was said. His attempts at female voices actually had me laughing at times, and most of his male character's voices were indistinguishable from one another. Oh, and what is up with his Creighton Karas performance? Sounds like a computer-generated voice reading the whole thing, utterly flat and oddly accented. That alone justifies my review, imho.

Erin Mallon's voice and tone were better and more easy to understand, and she seemed to put some actual feeling into some of the work. She doesn't seem to be aware, though, when she's switching characters and all her females sound like valley girls and cheerleaders. She doesn't seem to bring any kind of understanding of the story or main character to her performance, though.

The bigger problem is that overall, both narrators seem to have no actual acting skills. The performances were flat, with little emotion aside from anger. The inflection, emphasis, and overall reading did not engage me and actively put me off in some areas. For instance, if a passage read (for example) "'I love you,' she said, as she closed the door," it is often performed as three separate statements. "I love you." She said. As she closed the door." The words just don't flow naturally, as they should. It seems like the narrators were not only reading the story for the first time, but that they weren't even paying attention as they went and their narration actually detracted from the story.

Overall, if you're a Meghan March fan and you don't expect much from narration, then you might like this series. I found it to be hard to listen to, trite and unoriginal, and overall only worth listening to if it's the only thing available.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Good story, and soooooooo hot!

Revisado: 07-24-19

Meghan March has long been the queen of hot, sexy, angsty romance. Black Sheep (part 1 of the Dirty Mafia duet) is no exception and she continues her winning streak with this book.

Story recaps are everywhere, so I won't bore you with that. I will tell you that the story is good, if a bit unbelievable (most stories have a little bit of over-the-top-ness) and really well written. March is a master at evoking emotion and angst and she's highly skilled at sucking you in from the beginning. Forbidden romance, for whatever reason, is always a good trope, too. Besides the excellent writing, the story is well paced and moves along nicely. The back stories and side stories are well done and never distract from our main focus: Cannon and Carson and the crazy attraction they share, despite the fact that acting on it is a really bad idea for both of them. I would totally give the story execution and the writing 10 stars if I could.

The narration is a bit of a different story. Andi Arndt and Sebastian York are kind of audiobook darlings, and I may be the only one who thinks this way, but I didn't enjoy their performances that much. I give them 3 stars for the following reasons:

1, Arndt, despite being an actress or something, doesn't seem to understand that she should be adding emphasis to words to match the story's emotion. She's largely flat.
2. York is an adequate narrator, but his voice has a quality to it that I find distracting (kind of nasally?) and his tone is much like the narrators of documentaries.
3. Arndt tends to mispronounce words on occasion; with the advent of Google, there's no reason for it.

Overall, the book itself is a 5 and that brings the audio up, too. Give it a listen despite my complaints, because it's awesome!

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Loki's back, and he's a she! Grab your chicken!

Revisado: 07-24-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Fans of Kendall Grey will love this fresh, funny, fabulous take on Norse Mythology. Kendall Grey newbies will find this a fabulous introduction to her snappy dialogue and engrossing story telling. If you're looking for something with plenty of humor, lots to say, and an unusual take on life, love, and Odin, it's time to dive in unreservedly and get this story.

Forget everything Marvel told you about Loki and listen to this outrageously different and new story about an old character. And it's not just the new boobs that make life a problem for Loki, either. It's the fact that he's got no identity, no idea where he is, and no clue what's going on around him. Throw in a hot scholar/Viking/rescuer, a television show based ever so loosely on the life he once knew, an airplane ride (the likes of which you'll never forget), and a busted a$$ chicken, and you've got the recipe for a hysterical story featuring your favorite trickster god.

Natalie Duke is excellent at evoking Loki's attitude and bringing the snark, which is so important to this story. Excellent choice in narrator.

Get this audio book, listen, laugh, and love it! I promise you won't ever find another story like this.



I was given this free audiobook review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

An okay listen for those who like romance.

Revisado: 06-20-19

The storey was a bit uneven and I don't think the writer did much research on her topics. The "bad guys" are weak and not scary at all, the conflict is pretty contrived, and the characters remained two dimensional. The male characters are practically incidental, with little to no physical description or expository past. The author has talent, but might benefit from some writing classes.

There has to be a better narrator out there. She was fine with the women's parts, but her men sound ridiculous, just a
like a woman trying to sound like a man. Add in poor timing, mispronunciation, and some weak acting and the narration could detract from the story at times.

if you likeformer military alpha males ( although not terribly dominant) and romances with no surprises and weak premise, this book is fine for anytime you don't have anything else to read.

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