Tami

Had potential, yet underwhelming

Revisado: 03-10-21

First, Lori Prince’s performance was excellent as always. Overall this story was wholly underwhelming for me though. I kept waiting for it to become more substantial but the “meat” of the story was missing all throughout.

Instead of describing certain important events, we’re just told that they happened. From one paragraph to the next significant developments happened without any details or dialogue filled...like the MC’s falling in love, MC’s getting married, Nana dying, etc.

I kept thinking wow this is being rushed, maybe these aren’t important events & the author’s just leading up to the point when it’s gonna become more dense. But no they go from meeting, to dating, to married, to one of them dying in literally like 2-3 chapters. It doesn’t give much time for the reader to become invested in the story or connect with characters.

And honestly I didn’t come to like Sloane as a character very much; she’s described as aloof, flaky, & kinda disloyal. With the story advancing so quickly without much description of pivotal moments I just never connected with her much. It had potential to be compelling but there were tons of missed opportunities & failure to really delve beneath the surface of the characters.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

What I expect from Lee Winter..

Revisado: 02-19-21

I’ve read most of Lew Winter’s books & this one was right along the same lines of the rest. It’s always well written with a unique plot/setting, which makes it enjoyable. But nearly every single story features an untouchable “ice queen” who others hate but ends up being melted & beguiled by their complete opposite. Requiem is the most distinctive character & yet I feel like I’ve read/heard this story before because it’s so similar to the other books. I still gave it overall 4 star rating because if it’s your first exposure to Winter you’ll likely enjoy it quite a bit.

Also, this narrator just didn’t do it for me. The audio version could’ve been MUCH shorter if her narration was so dang slow & at times extremely flat. The drama of the story was missing from her telling of it. I actually had to backtrack & re-listen to a couple chapters because I dozed off more than once. Her voice & cadence quite literally put me to sleep. I may have overlooked the redundancy of Winter’s storyline had the narrator been different & caused me to get a little more lost in the story like in Red Files & Under Your Skin with Victoria Mei. I’m not a fan of Angela Dawe either so after suffering through audio version of Breaking Character & seeing Dawe was the narrator for all other Winter Audibles I decided to just read her other books. I rate them much higher that way lol sorry just not my preference

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Not my jam..

Revisado: 01-28-21

I gave high rating to be fair. Lori gave excellent performance as per usual & the book is well written also as per usual for Clevenger. But it’s not my cup of tea.

Most books create the angsty moments just for the sake of it to bring about the inevitable reunion & HEA. This story is just straight up sad from the jump right to the very end until things are finally resolved. And when I say sad I mean super heavy emotional issues & situations that get me waaaaay too deep into my feels...but in a not so great way. It’s just a very heavy depressing story without nearly enough highs to at least balance out all the lows. Well written heartfelt story that just isn’t what I like listening to for 10+ hrs. Too depressing for my tastes, sorry to say. It’ll likely strike some chords for someone out there though.

I also feel like this one is prob based at least somewhat on a true story for the author & I imagine was a cathartic writing for them. Good on them for achieving that, truly. If it is a realistic story I genuinely hope things turned out well for all involved <3

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Hire Lori Prince again!

Revisado: 01-06-21

I really wish all of Robin Alexander’s books were narrated by Lori Prince because they’re both my faves & the absolute perfect combo. Robin truly writes the best rom-coms that make me cry laughing every single story. I’ve read all her books, love love love her.

Then Lori is someone who makes even the worst books bearable & brings the best ones to life bc she gives so much to all her performances. Makes me feel even more present within the stories being told when the narrator is that excellent. I think Temporary Girl is my fave out of Robin’s books that Lori has narrated but she did great job with this one too & I think I actually enjoyed it more than when I simply read the Kindle version.

I would also LOVE to hear her narrate both of the Cat Island & White Oak series. Pleeeeease bring at least one of those series to Audible with Lori as the narrator!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Interesting but extremely busy

Revisado: 01-03-21

The book’s named after a particular case, which is where the story begins with a handful of MC’s that seem to be the focus. But like a quarter of the way into it all suddenly all these other side characters suddenly take center stage & introduced with multiple other cases while the main one is still happening somewhat in the background. While I found each set of characters & the occupant of criminal cases interesting, it was a tad bit too busy for my liking. It started getting difficult to follow. I listened to several chapters twice bc the pace changed so quickly I got confused about where it was all leading...& more than once it didn’t seem to actual lead anywhere, it was just a side story thrown in the mix for whatever reason. It was kinda like five books mashed into one. This is my first Erin Wade book so I’m not sure if this is commonplace for her or just this particular story. I feel like it could’ve been turned into a series of multiple books where each of the couples & their stories could’ve been developed individually more thoroughly. If it was spread out I might’ve enjoyed it more. I found it interesting but just very difficult to follow & absorb. Victoria Mei did excellent job though as per usual. I gave 4 stars overall in large part because of her performance & just the intriguing factor of the creative stories within the book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Narrator makes or breaks

Revisado: 12-16-20

I received this audiobook in a free giveaway through the publisher’s newsletter. I’m a big fan of TB Markinson. I love her books, many are among some of my faves. I’ve read this one & liked it so I was looking forward to the audible version when I saw I won a free copy.

Narrators can make or break it for me every time.

In this case, it was broken, sorry. I am not fond of Stephanie Murphy’s narration style. Like at all. Actually, I was incredibly disappointed by her being the narrator for Markinson’s entire Woman Lost series; it’s my fave by her & I would’ve loved to have a reliable audio series in my library to replay numerous times over the years. But Murphy just doesn’t do it for me. She ruined Sarah & Maddie for me completely in that series.

Her cadence makes it incredibly hard to listen. She has a pleasant enough voice but she reads sooooooooooooo slow & literally never changes the pitch or tone throughout the entirety of a story. That remained true with this book unfortunately. I really really tried to give it a chance but as always didn’t get past the first 2-3 chapters.

It moves along so slow I can’t seem to get into the book & stay interested more than 5 mins at a time, my brain starts to wander too quickly. There are so many unnecessary long pauses between words & sentences; sometimes I even thought my Audible app had crashed & needed to be restarted but no it was just Murphy taking a 15 second pause between sentences for whatever reason.

Also, I can never tell one character from another when she speaks bc they all sound the same. And I do mean literally all—male, female, young, old, various accents. This is especially awful with Markinson’s books bc she weaves a ton of dialog into her stories & offers such a variety of interesting characters. It’s impossible to follow along when one character is speaking to another. If I have to concentrate that hard it kinda defeats the purpose of an audiobook for me bc it’s supposed to be a relaxing & distracting escape :(

Sorry to rant but I much prefer the styles Lori Prince or Abby Crayden—both are very talented at bringing multiple characters to life & making you feel like your watching a story unfold instead of just listening. Sigh.

Sorry, it really bugged me this time. If the publisher wants their free copy back to give to someone else who does like Stephanie Murphy I would gladly return. Would’ve given this book 5 stars across the board if it were any narrator but her or maybe Keira Grace (who’s the same exact way sigh).

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

It was okay

Revisado: 12-10-20

Not a bad story but also not my fave Elle Spencer book. I enjoyed the characters, just never really fell in love with any of them. It’s humorous in parts, just not the funniest of her books that I’ve read. Lori Prince’s performance was perfect as per usual so that def helped me stick it out til the end. Honestly I may have given up altogether after the second crash & burn between the MC’s if the narrator was anyone but Lori or someone equally talented.

I think I may have liked it more overall had it not taken til literally the very end for them to finally unite & let us share in them being an actual couple longer after all that build up. If we had more time to enjoy them as a couple maybe it wouldn’t have felt so drawn out? The angsty back & forth just dragged on a lot longer than I prefer so everything felt rushed & obligatory at the end.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Far more comedy than romance but still good

Revisado: 12-05-20

I laughed until I cried several times listening to this. I applaud Lori Prince’s performance start to finish because it really made everything much funnier. I gave it 5 stars across the board for the constant hilarity & excellent narration but I was a little disappointed that it was so heavy on comedy & not balanced with at least a little more romance before the story was nearly over. The story is so focused on punch lines & funny scenarios that it kinda forgets to build intimacy & that special spark between the MC’s. I was invested in all the characters bc they’re all so comical/likable & was rooting for the MC’s to become a couple, regardless...but the lack of focus on the romantic stuff just sorta left me feeling a bit of a disconnect with the 2 ladies. idk how else to explain it. Still a great book & gave me stomach cramps from laughing so hard, which we ALL need regularly nowadays.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Meh

Revisado: 10-29-20

I liked that it wasn’t just a typical law story. Changing it to judge & law clerk instead of just 2 lawyers or intern/boss element. As far as the plot though it was a bit predictable about halfway through. I can also tell this was an earlier performance by Lori Prince because it was a bit too mechanical & slow, plus the male voices were super hokie & made me laugh. She did okay overall though. Not my fave book but I would’ve given it 3.5 stars if I was able.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Whew that’s a lot of anxiety

Revisado: 10-29-20

Unique & interesting plot, sweet love story overall, & steamy romantic moments. Just a TON of angst. And I mean almost to the point of being absurd & kinda felt like it was thrown in just to serve as points of drama that was senseless & made the story feel a bit drawn out. Also, Lori Prince did great job with narration...I just wasn’t crazy about her voice for Dakota. At times she sounded more like a lofty teenage boy than a 50 y/o semi-butch woman...& it was kinda awkward. At times I laughed (not at anything funny, just the way she was portraying the character’s pitch & tone). It’s a decent book though & narration was perfect other than the Dakota thing. I enjoy the author’s writing style overall. But the angst & teen boy voice kept me from giving it 5 stars across the board & not sure this one will be permanent installment in my library.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña