Torgo

A good start to a series.

Revisado: 05-26-16

What about Nick Podehl’s performance did you like?

Nick Podehl is the narrator in this series and I love his voice and pacing. So if you're looking good book to listen in on, I suggest getting it from Audible while its still on sale.

Any additional comments?

I've apparently missed a few books that could have assisted me in understanding one of the supporting characters. Though after reading a few of the reviews on the Myron Bolitar series, I can see where it also might have clouded my opinion. Not that the books were bad, but that other readers have stated a similarity in Mickey and Myron. Which is fine, it will give me a chance to go back and read them if I like the rest of the series.

This audio book was purchased during an Audible sale. The description came off as a mystery/thriller and while it was definitely a mystery that left many, many questions at its end, I didn't find it particularly thrilling.

Mickey Bolitar is a high school student whos life has been shattered. His father died in a car accident and his mother has resorted to drug use to ease the pain. To make matters worse, he isn't exactly making friends at his high school, but he does have a girlfriend who...oops...goes missing.

I felt that the author had a lot of good ideas, the mystery and intrigue of Ashley's disappearance however was often clouded by high school drama. While Mickey manages to make some friends, namely Emma and Spoon, I did find that while Spoon was adorkable, he along with the jocks were incredibly stereotypical. The smart, nerdy dorks and the dumb jocks. There is the ridiculously beautiful cheerleader and lets not forget, the stiff lipped authoritarian teacher. This is a trend throughout the book however and doesnt stop short with the teens.

That being said, I still enjoyed the book. Harlan Coben has made a lot of promises when it comes to the plot and how it threads around history so Im looking forward to see if he will come through with the story. There were many funny moments and few that made me cringe, but all in all it was enjoyable. What else can you ask from a book? Ill be downloading the second book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Jenny Lawson is my emotional super hero.

Revisado: 04-27-16

Any additional comments?

There is beauty in imperfection, there is laughter in the bizarre and strange. No one’s life is meant to fit into a single mold and this book has helped me realize that many of us expect it to be. I listened to the audio book and I am so glad I did because there is something so much more personal about listening to the way the author tells her tale through her own voice. Jenny Lawson does an amazing job in narrating her own work and while it doesn't have the crisp edges of a professional narrator, that was what made it all the more intimate. Half way through the book I felt that I understood this quirky, insane , broken person and I kinda love her.

I love her for having no filter.

For saying all the silly things I keep to myself out loud.

For not caring what other people think enough to sacrifice who she is.

I loved her for being real.

It helped of course that the book was hilarious, and scattered. It didn't matter that hidden within funny anecdotes and what felt like what I can only describe as Murphy’s Law Rumpus Room, that she hid gems of heartache and pain that left my eyes stinging. I found myself chuckling throughout work while listening to it and wondering how I hadn't heard about this book sooner. Then 3/4 of the way through I realize that I had heard a story she was sharing about a big metal chicken and I realized that I read her blog once, years ago and somehow it had completely escaped me. I can't recommend this book more. If you have a love for life, even your most imperfect one, I suggest letting Jenny give you a tour into her own.

Cuz this girl has seen some shit. Props.

PS..REVIEW: Just because I loved this quote, Ill leave it here.

You are defined not by life’s imperfect moments but rather your reaction to them because there is joy in embracing rather than screaming from the utter absurdity of life..

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Wonderful first novel

Revisado: 04-07-16

Any additional comments?

Jonathan Tibbs is a 22 year old college student with a road map in mind but no real gas to get him there. That is the best way I can describe Jonathan's life. he reminds me of many of my friends, they knew what they wanted to do, just not why and sometimes thats the important question to ask yourself. he has no motivation, but when he applies himself he is dedicated.

Then one night, his life changes. Jonathan is attacked, violently and the trauma leaves him struggling to find meaning. These are the least of his problems when a creature appears in the city and begins to kill, screaming out for a Challenger.

T. Ellery Hodges, The Never Hero reads like a great first novel, complete with a bit of preaching. Sometimes the explanations are too crisp, especially when Jonathan's roommates are talking about movies and super heroes, dissecting them like only nerds can. I loved that part by the way, listening to how the author translates incredible stories and their motivations. This plays very well into Jonathan's position as the reluctant hero. I felt that he was honestly portrayed, not accepting the lot that he has been given and questioning himself at every turn. The supporting cast, especially the roommates are the comic relief, when I felt that Jonathan often came out a little flat.

I am looking forward to the sequel. So far I think T. Ellery has a solid foundation on his hands, an alien race, guardian angels, complicated moral dilemmas and the chance to expand his world indefinitely. The Never Hero takes on a modern twist complete with so many 80's and 90's pop culture references that it made me feel right at home. It is action packed and brimming at the edges with so many possible translations. A great book. Ill be picking up the second one once it comes out.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Just okay.

Revisado: 03-10-16

Would you try another book from Michael Wallace and/or Rosemary Benson?

This will be a short review.

I listened to this one on Audible and I found the narrator to be a little overwhelmed by playing several male characters all which had the same inflections in their voices. Unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed by the story in general. Prudence Cotton is a New Englander puritan whose village was ransacked by Nipmuck natives. She was taken hostage along with her young daughter and held captive for several years. Since then she has been freed, but her daughter is thought dead when the British soldiers raided the Indian village. Prudence believes she is alive.

James Bailey is an English spy, in the colonies to steal their charters. With the help of Peter Church he hopes to investigate the native attack on Prudence's village and that of Crow's Hollow. Events bring Prudy and James together to solve this mystery. While I find myself fascinated by historical fiction, this one felt strained. The unyielding Puritan faith was often quite annoying and while I was sure the author purposefully injected Gods wrath and the threat of eternal torment to depict the people of that age as well as the hypocrisy of their actions, I eventually found it so incredibly tedious.

That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book. Prudence is clever but she feels opportunistic and you never know what to make of James, who comes off as arrogant for the majority of the story. There are no good guys and no bad guys in this story. The native Americans are portrayed as villains and victims, as much as the British. Other than a few brief mentions, Crow Hollow has little to nothing to do with the story making me believe the name was selected because it sounded cool.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Im ok. Im ok. I need to keep telling myself that!

Revisado: 02-19-16

Who was your favorite character and why?

Josh Bennett is my favorite. He is protective and vulnerable. Loved him.

Which character – as performed by Kirby Heyborne and Candace Thaxton – was your favorite?

BOTH. Nastya and Josh were incredible.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

All of the above and more.

Any additional comments?

If there was a way to double up the stars I could give this book I would. I was skeptical about it at first, the genre wasnt one I would usually pick, but I am a big enough woman to say I was wrong.

I was dead wrong.

I wish I could say that I was speechless, but Im not. I want to say so much about this that the words have backed up in my brain and the narrow passageway were words filter into my surface thoughts is all sorts of jumbled and hectic. I feel as it Katja Millay gathered up all my feelings and then racked them through hot coals. There was so much laughter, even more pain, anguish, joy, hate and angst that reached me from these pages. The narrators became the characters and even the most two dimensional characters popped out of the page and earned their third dimension by the end of the book. The narrators were phenomenal. In fact Im tempted to listen to every single book Kirby Heyborne and Candace Thaxton have recorded. Kirby made me cry and Candace's voice is perfection.

The author thrusts you, not into action and adventure, but into the minds of young adults just wadding out of the small pond. For the majority of the book you are treated, not to spoken words, but to the main character's thoughts, their feelings, jumbled and imperfect but so eloquent that you begin to wonder if at one point in time you werent just like them. I know I was.

Josh Bennet has lost everyone he has ever cared about. They are all gone and he is alone. He is lost and broken, taking his days one at a time while trying to distract himself by creating. Nastya Kashnikov was a child prodigy in the piano. She had a bright future, a loving family, a community who raised her and all that was dashed away by a random act of violence. I loved how you knew what happened, sort of, throughout the book, she thought about it constantly, but the author does not give away the extent of it until the end. Instead, she makes you focus on the pain, on seeing this bright, clever and angry girl both the way she sees herself and how others see her. Nastya does everything she can, not to hide so much as to force others to ignore her. This is a heart wrenching story, filled with mistakes.

I may not agree with how Nastya handles her pain, how she copes and makes the choices she does. We like to think that if something terrible happened to us, that we would be able to pick ourselves up, dust off the knees, patch the hurt and move on in a show of strength. We like to think that if someone we loved went through such trauma that we could give them all the support they would need and maybe every one of us would be forming a line to dish out advice on how to get better. There is no perfect recipe for healing, there is no right way. There are only tailored choices that each of us have to make. Nastya makes mistakes and then she makes even bigger ones and it doesnt get better right away but the reader follows her and Josh through their broken spirits and watch, with joy as two broken people learn to fit perfectly together. This has easily become one of my most favorite books and I truly hope that Millay has more in store for us.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña