Scarlettleigh

Laborious to listen to - - Not well integrated

Revisado: 01-22-25

If this hadn't been a Loretta Chase book, I would have quit 1/4 of the way through. I listened to the whole thing, but honestly the storyline was not well-integrated with the previous books.

In book one and two we are told of the issues between the couple. So I went into the book with the expectation that it would be about difficulties in the marriage based on the hero's anti-feminist view. You have the hero reading the feminist book, which makes you think it is about his personal growth. But no, 3/4 of the books is about pre-marriage. And not that exciting. Jonesy (the boy in book and book 2) is part of the story - and then her brother gets into trouble.

It is pretty much boiler plate. So much like her other books, and to be honest, the put down of men as being dumb as rocks was funny the first time. But now not so much. Maybe it has just gotten old, or maybe I am more enlightened..

They get married, and the big issue is very benign.

I wouldn't advise purchasing. Rent it from the library.

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Won't pre-order her again

Revisado: 04-23-24

Why do I get the feeling that some editor/publisher/agent told Abbi Waxman to get increase readership she needed to add more romance/sex to her story. I used to read a lot of romance, and occasionally still do read straight romance stories. However, I've branched out and like stories that build on other relationships. So the pages and pages of mental lust was just an irritant. That is not what I come to expect of an Abbi Waxman book.

There were so many missed opportunities here. More exploration of Crista relationship with her mother, or sisters, or even her snake of a father. Instead it seems Nathan was the focus. There were some nice moments -like when he took her to a private beach but other wise, honestly, I didn't see why Nathan liked her. He called her a bad-ass. I thought she was immature and ridiculous. Nathan offers help when the press blanketed her house. She almost jumps out of the car to show she can handle it herself. If they were a real couple I would give the relationship 2 years before it fizzled out.

Not only did Crista's immaturity grate, honestly I sort of got tired of her Jeopardy knowledge. Yes, I get that she is a geek and it must have taken a ton of research to add all those miscellaneous fact but in my opinion it was more distracting to the story then a bonus. I will never remember any of it so it was just noise to get through to get to the actual story.

I reached about chapter 24 and then just jumped to the end, tired of the story, tired of Crista, interested in the Jasper scenario but not that interested to continue listening for almost 20 more chapters.

Next time, I will wait for the book release, and listen/read the samples provided.

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At the end I felt sorry for Arthur

Revisado: 11-07-23

In the beginning, I was thoroughly enthralled with this book but now, I sort of wish that I had never read the book, It is one of those books, that you look back at and just see holes in the plot line, even though the author has such a way with words. And yes, she does bring you to tears, and make your throat choke-up.

Mabel and Arthur have been married for sixty-two years, but immediately the author lets the reader know, that Arthur has always been Mabel's second choice. Someone she settled with. There is a scene, where Mabel and Arthur are walking side by side, and she thinks about reaching for him, so they can hold hands while walking and she decides against it, thinking it is too late for that now. Mabel wonders why Arthur didn't reach out to her, and if maybe she had pushed his hand away too many times. Most of us have been in unequal relationships, where someone is attracted to us, and we like them, but not in that way, so we are afraid to show affection in case it is attributed to sexual attraction. At the end of the book, I felt more melancholia for Arthur over Mabel, because while she had to pretend to be someone she wasn't, Arthur was left wanting. It is difficult to write anymore without giving spoilers. But there was never a chance that she was going to love Arthur in a romantic "in love" with type passion. Arthur missed out on that and children because after their marriage she decided she didn't want them. I am not saying Arthur was perfect, but her lack of passion had him seeking affection, and sex outside the marriage.

Before Arthur's death, it appears Mabel has no friends. He dies and no one checks on her. No one misses him either. She leaves him at the funeral home for ten days before even starting to plan his service or tell anyone. Ten days after he dies, she finally calls his sister to let her know he is dead.

Arthur took seriously his job of taking care of her. Soon after his funeral, a home health aide appears at her door. Arthur had pre-paid for the service, to help her adjust to his death.

I am not sure if the complete personality change in Mabel after Arthur's death was intentional in the "I am out of prison now, so I no longer have to pretend" or if it was just a plot device to show character growth, If it was a plot device, it failed for me, because the change was so dramatic. With the home health aide's help, Mabel develops three close friendships and reaches out on her own to a young adolescent. These three women come to support her in her quest to find her best friend, Dot, who disappeared right before her wedding to Arthur. The young adolescent allows Mabel to be giver.

I did enjoy the friendship between the women. A bit unrealistic, but the characters were well-developed and appealing. What wasn't appealing was the horrible intrusive things she did to her new friends, in the "I know best because I've lived over eighty years" and "I'll fix this for you". Honestly, talk about bringing me out of the story. If I hadn't liked the narrator and secondary characters so much this would have been a deal breaker,

In the end, what bothered me most is that while I understand Mabel's motivation, and I do feel sorry for her, she wasn't written as caring. Maybe if the author had balanced it a bit -- Not showing so much of her sorrow for the loss of her brother and best friend 62 years in the past but balancing it with examples of her caring for Arthur, or even being a friend to other people during her marriage. I was left feeling that 62 years were wasted, and she only came alive after he died.


P.S. And she gave away the dog!

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Not sure why I bought this

Revisado: 09-05-23

I am not a fan of historical fiction, but this sounded like it had potential. Not in contemporary woman placed in a historical setting but as a woman of her time doing something unusual.

I never got to that part. It is filled with mundane chatter. Telling the listener what a scurry maid does or describing clothes or mentioning that horses were inside a temple.

It is a DNF for me. I am going to jump to the end to see how she figures out the mystery.

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For the most part waste of credit

Revisado: 08-10-23

1. Overly obsessed with proving her boyfriend was gaslighting her and her actions at the end were sort of creepy.
2. Moved on too fast to next relationship, making it seem like a rebound.
3. Why wasn't more of the friends upset at writer using group as inspiration?



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Very Melodramatic

Revisado: 06-02-23

.I did like the book’s narrators, but overall, I was not so excited about the storyline. While the backdrop is three children who ran away from home to visit an author on his supposedly magical island, are now as adults invited back for a chance to win the author’s newest book manuscript to do with what they want. The story felt almost as simplistic as a children's story. Mainly because the characters seem one-dimensional. Only one of the children, Lucy, is a main character and her motivation for winning the contest is to adopt a young boy who lost his parents. She works as a teacher’s aide and because of her financial situation – credit card debt, lack of transportation, and lack of suitable housing- she is not a qualified candidate for foster to adopt. Winning the manuscript and then selling it would give her financial stability.
Most of the book is about why she must win, interspersed with memories of her miserable childhood. Along with riddles, and more riddles.
The ending is supposed to inspire joy, but everything is tied up too neatly, except for the one relationship that would have challenged Lucy to grow as a person. Disappointedly Lucy doesn’t save herself, she is rescued.
If you enjoy Cinderella stories—a poor mistreated child, but universally loved, is rescued from her poverty, and taken off to become Queen, then you will enjoy this more than I did.

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Bro-Romance between Man and Spider

Revisado: 05-11-21

Wow . . I listened to 16 hours for this? When the story first started, I thought, "Hmm, should I return this" because immediately it was so technical. All that just goes over my head. Still, I loved, loved the "Martian" and it was technical too. So while working in the yard the book just sort of flowed over me. Listening, but not really engaged. Still, when an alien spaceship appears at the same location as the hero's, I thought this is going to get interesting. And it did for a while but then it didn't. Problem; problem solved; problem; problem solved. Wash, rinse, and repeat. I realize with the problem; problem solved, so repetitive the author had to throw some spanners in the story, but honestly, they were a turn-off, like how the hero ended up on the ship and the ending.

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esto le resultó útil a 13 personas

What a waste- author is narrator

Revisado: 11-30-19

I'm not going to be able to finish this. The author is the narrator and EVERYONE sounds the same. It is horrible. Why do authors think that they can narrate? Have requested the book from the library so I can finish.

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Almost ruined Andy Carpenter

Revisado: 05-08-19

The story is okay . . I have gotten to where I know if anyone is helping out the investigation by being cooperative (both in these books and the Andy Carpenter series). . then they are the bad guy. . .but this narrator almost ruined Andy Carpenter for me for life. He made Andy sound like Marlon Brando from the Godfather. . . I have to get that voice out of my head. Surely MacMillan publishing could have had Grover Gardner read a couple of chapters. Honestly it was not good. And I am not saying the narrator was bad. . it just when you a conceived voice for a character and that voice changes a 180 degrees . you are going to notice. .

When I first started these books I wasn't that impressed. . but they are growing on me. There are a couple of cute scenes with girlfriend.

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Skipped ahead

Revisado: 03-24-19

Really wanted to like this series, but I've skipped ahead on all three books to the end. Mystery is intriguing about the country's political unrest, but the whole Echo thing is not working for me.

If you haven't read the blurb, Echo are beings that are carbon copies of nobility. Doing everything that their person does -- including making love -which is why most people with 3 Echos attempt to pick partners with someone who has 3 Echos -- so everyone has a mate. Honestly I thought that was sort of a bizarre plot device. So supposedly you can't stop your Echo from mimicking your actions . . . but wait. . . you can in book 2 and 3. So why even put this in the book. .

It is not that authors can't build on a theme, but it seems sort of cheating to say this is the premise, and then revise it almost immediately. Although I can see that this wouldn't be a big problem for other people.

The book(s) seemed to move at a snail's pace. Not that I don't appreciate world building. Shinn's Twelve House series is one of my favorite series. Once I start one of those books, I have to read them all because I can't stand to leave the characters. This didn't happen in this series --but to be honest it didn't happen in Elemental Blessing series either. (I love the concept of blessings)

There is too much extraneous information . .and not enough relationship building for me to recommend these books.

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esto le resultó útil a 20 personas